Page 17 - MetalForming Magazine April 2023

What’s a Good 100-Yr. Birthday Gift?
A 1375-Ton Servo Press!
In 2022, automotive supplier A.J. Rose celebrated 100 years of supplying stampings and assemblies, primarily to the automotive industry—a significant milestone to be sure. Coming in a close second: adding a huge 1375-ton servomechanical press to the shop floor, which the firm did late in the year, along with a massive coil line and transfer system.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
14 MetalForming/April 2023
www.metalformingmagazine.com
A.J. Rose’s new 1375-ton Aida servomechanical press boasts a massive 191 by 71-in. bed. Its transfer system, from Lincoln Electric Automation, features vertical die access with the transfers lifting in the air next to the press ram to allow for die changeovers. Maximum part/tooling weight: 300 lb.
It’s not often that we get to visit a centenarian metal stamping com- pany, so walking press row at Cleve- land, OH-area A.J. Rose Manufacturing Co. was a real treat for me. Founded by Czech immigrant Anton Rose in 1922 in a small Cleveland stamping shop, the company added a second location in the Cleveland suburb of Avon in 1996, which is the subject of this article.
What drew me there? Its brand new 1375-ton servomechanical press (an Aida model) with a massive 191 by 71- in. bed, added to the floor late in 2022. The 100-yr. birthday gift is the facility’s 17th press; before its purchase the last press added to the plant was an 800- ton servomechanical press (an Aida model) with 144 by 59-in. bed, added in 2016. This was preceded by a 1200- ton mechanical press (a Nidec Minster model) with a 168 by 60-in. bed, installed in 2014. So, things are getting bigger at A.J. Rose as the firm ramps up to meet the expanding needs of the automotive industry.
Not Your Average Coil Line
A.J. Rose’s new monster servo press features a CHS/Nidec Press & Automa- tion coil line decked out to run high- strength thin- to heavy-gauge material, and a Lincoln Electric Automation (LEA) three-axis servo-transfer system, designed to park up and out of the way when running prog dies. I found the press line at the end of press row in the 150,000-sq.-ft. high-bay area of the 240,000-sq.-ft. plant.
The coil line was specifically designed to feed ultra-high-strength materials, to 1200 MPa. The heart and soul of the line: the HDX-400-9 straight- ener equipped with a special nine-roll configuration of very tight roll geom- etry, explains Dave Reiman, North American product manager at CHS, and very high straightener downforce— each of the four upper rolls provides 40,000 lb. of straightening force.
“A super-tight roll geometry not only allows for stamping of high-strength materials,” Reiman explains, “but also