Page 36 - MetalForming June 2009

Excellence in Productivity...continued
ART Technologies
For example, when each press was auto- mated, one person on each shift was retrained and reassigned. The setup person assumed responsibility for attending the newly automated machines, receiving a pay increase for
the assumption of increased responsi- bilities in exchange for project buy-in. The Zierick Manufacturing Corpo-
ration Productivity Award, sponsored by Zierick Manufacturing Corp., Mount Kisco, NY, recognizes outstanding achieve-
ment by a PMA manufacturing member in the development and implementation of programs, processes and use of assets that lead to significant improvements in productivity. ART Technologies will receive a $1500 cash prize.
Operators placed any out-of-spec parts into a reject container.
By designing and building the inline measurement gauge, Pridgeon & Clay not only reduced costs by more than 50 percent, but also eliminated the possibility of run- ning several thousand parts with out-of-tol- erance flatness before being checked on the offline gauge.
The Link Systems Process Control Award, sponsored by Link Systems, Nashville, TN, promotes the application of electronic-analog closed-loop process controls in the metalforming process by recognizing innovative electronic solu- tions implemented by a North Ameri- can manufacturing company, which have resulted in significant quality, cost reduc- tion and/or productivity improvements. Pridgeon & Clay will receive a $1500 cash prize.
low. Also in 2007, ppm totaled 197, while through September 2008 that number has been reduced to 30. PPAP timeliness also improved, from 70 per- cent in 2007 to 100 percent in 2008, as did the number of customer concerns.
The company identified several con- tributors to these improvements, including ongoing review of data from internal and external inspection
Excellence in Process Control
Pridgeon & Clay
Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, received the 2009 Link Systems Process Control Award for employ- ing an inline measurement gauge to inspect parts for flatness around the mounting holes on a steering support bracket. Pridgeon & Clay supplies stamped and fineblanked components to the automotive industry.
The flatness around the mounting holes on a steering support bracket manufactured at Pridgeon & Clay requires a ±0.1-mm tolerance. To ensure adherence to that tolerance, the com- pany designed and built an inline flat- ness-measurement station within its transfer-stamping process that uses seven Solotron digital probes per mounting hole—three probes establish the flatness plane and four probes check four points around the mounting holes.
The inspection gauge mounts at the end of the transfer die, with each part inspected for flatness at a speed of 22 strokes/min. An industrial PC running Windows XP, with a standalone Lab- View-built program, establishes com- munications with the digital probes, and reads the probes and digital
Excellence in Quality
Pridgeon & Clay
Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, received the 2009 Parkview Metal Products Excellence in Qual- ity Award as part of the Precision Met- alforming Association’s (PMA’s) Awards of Excellence in Metalforming.
Pridgeon & Clay attributes its success to many factors, including the imple- mentation and registration of a strong quality system and the many facets of
input/output. LabView
computes the mathe-
matical equation, com-
paring the points
around the holes to the
established plane and
establishes a flatness
measurement. LabView
also determines if flat-
ness meets the required
tolerance. If it detects a
part out of spec, it sig-
nals the part-out chute
to divert the bad part
to a reject container.
Should the gauge detect
more than five bad
parts in sequence, the process stops and personnel inspect the die and adjust it if necessary to bring flatness back with- in tolerance. Measurements from each part store in the company’s database for future reference.
Prior to incorporating an inspec- tion station in the stamping operation, the company inspected every part for flatness in an offline electronic gauging machine, which required an operator to manually load and unload the fixture.
that process. In fact, the company’s commitment to quality has delivered impressive measurable results. For example, in 2007, Pridgeon & Clay, cit- ing data from its customer scorecard that tracks its top 20 customer metrics, had six customers with a parts-per-mil- lion (ppm) score in the red and four in the yellow. In 2008, only two customers hadappmintheredandoneintheyel-
34 METALFORMING / JUNE 2009
www.metalformingmagazine.com