Page 30 - MetalForming April 2009

Automated Turret Press
also has allowed A-G Body to expand its product diversity to include aluminum and galvanized sheetmetal, which pre- viously posed welding challenges. “We’re fabricating a lot of products now from galvanized steel,” adds Gianelo. “It’s made a big impact on our sales.”
Better Material Utilization
Combining the use of larger full- sized sheets with the upgrade in pro-
gramming software to the Finn-Power NC Express package, says Briggs, allows the firm to use tighter parts nests— even common-line nesting in some cases. As a result, material utilization has climbed to 80 percent. The company owns two seats of the programming software, one seat for nesting standard work as it routes from order entry to production and a second seat just for special projects.
“Half of our business is special or custom made-to-order products,” says Gianelo, “and the NC Express software really helps us manage the flow of these specials through the production process.”
The firm loads its automated mate- rial-handling system with as much as 10,000 lb. of sheet, running complete stacks of either 12- or 16-gauge mate- rial. To move from production of one thickness to the other typically requires atoolingchange.“Wemightproduce15 to 20 different parts nests during a pro- duction run,” says Briggs, “and five to 10 sheets of each nest. Using the automat- ed material-handling system frees up the operator to perform other tasks, such as tool maintenance or press-brake operation.”
New Press Brake Completes the Picture
Two years ago, Gianelo decided to add press-brake capacity to the shop to help keep pace with the added capacity delivered by the C5. To replace a small, aging press brake, he acquired a servo- electric 100-ton 10-ft. press brake, a Finn-Power E5. “We like the servo-elec- tric, compared to the previous hydraulic press brake,” says Briggs, “because it’s more accurate and runs much more quietly.”
Also key to the payback on the investment in the E5 has been tooling the press brake to hem and bend in one operation.
“The combination hem and form die eliminates a part handling from the process,” says Briggs. “Again, at one to two thousand drawers per month, that’s a huge time savings. And, the new press brake can run three to four times faster than our previous machine.” Also, according to Finn- Power officials, energy consumption can be cut in half.
Bottom line: New technology via a state-of-the-art CNC turret press and servo-electric press brake allows a three- employee, one-shift sheetmetal opera- tion to process 40,000 lb. of sheetmet- al per month. Sounds pretty efficient to me. MF
28 METALFORMING / APRIL 2009
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