Page 22 - MetalForming July 2009

Medical Market
best,” says Nisco. “And although we do not require six-sigma blackbelt certifi- cation from our suppliers, we do prefer to see our suppliers working toward
New Metal-Fabrication Equipment Enables Supplier’s Expansion
into Custom Products
Thanks to increased production flexibility gained by the addi- tion of a new CNC press brake and a new laser-cutting machine (from Trump Inc., Farmington, CT), the sheetmetal-fabrication department at Pedigo Products, Vancouver, WA, has improved its ability to develop and manufacture
custom medical products, and slashed
lead time by more than half. Pedigo
designs and manufactures powder coat-
ed, chrome and stainless-steel products
for doctors’ offices and hospitals—appa-
ratus such as stretchers, stools, surgical
case carts, instrument tables, IV stands
and bassinets. Its 139,000-sq.-ft. facility
hosts a 10,000-sq.-ft. sheetmetal-fabri-
cation department (shearing, laser cut-
ting, punch presses and press brakes);
9000 sq. ft. dedicated to welding; a
7000-sq.-ft. machine shop and finishing
department; an 8000-sq.-ft. tube-cutting
and forming department; and 32,000 sq.
ft. for an assembly department. Another 38,000 sq. ft. serves as an inventory warehouse, because, says plant manager Bob Voitik, “We still must carry a large inventory of standard product ready for immediate delivery.”
That said, Voitik and the plant’s sheetmetal supervisor Raul Zuniga agree that more and more of its customers desire the development and manufacture of custom products, in order sizes down to just a few.
“Hospitals and doctors each have their own unique specifica- tions for the sizes of the products they order from us,” says Zuniga. As an example, he cites the firm’s case carts, designed to hold a set of surgical instruments. The cleaning systems employed to sterilize the instruments can vary in size, and there- fore Pedigo customers prefer the carts be custom sized to fit the capabilities of the wash systems.
Lead Times Lowered
“Fabricating sheetmetal parts in custom sizes challenged our department to meet lead time requirements,” shares Zuniga, “particularly because we were outsourcing our laser-cutting work, which added as much as five weeks to our lead time. Now, with laser cutting inhouse, we can start cutting within a day of the engineering release.”
Annually, Pedigo processes 1.1 million pounds of stainless- steel sheetmetal from 20 to 12 gauge, and another million pounds per year of plate and tubing. Its defining quality charac- teristic to customers is surface quality.
“We cannot tolerate even the tiniest of scratches or other surface defects,” says Voitik. And although Pedigo employs press-brake tools lined with an 0.015-in. layer of protective ure- thane, its manufacturing department does not use a vinyl protec-
achieving that level of excellence. As we look down the road at our supply chain, those are the types of suppliers we will require.”
Nisco explains that, “within Covi- dien, we don’t manufacture very much of the metallic components for our product. More than 95 percent of our
20 METALFORMING / SPECIAL ONLINE-ONLY ISSUE 2009
www.metalformingmagazine.com
Sheetmetal blanks processed on Pedigo’s laser-cutting machine (a Trumpf TruLaser 2030 machine with a 2-kW laser and automated sheet loader and unloader, left) are formed in a new Trumpf TruBend 5085 CNC press brake (above). The press brake’s six-axis programma- ble backgauge and profiled fingers allow solid, repeatable gauging for odd-shaped parts and allows the operator to set up a series of bend stations along the bed of the brake.
tive layer on sheetmetal blanks processed in its laser-cutting machine (a Trumpf TruLaser 2030 machine with a 2-kW laser and automated sheet loader and unloader).
“While most laser shops would use a protective liner, we pre- fer to bring in our #4-finish polished blanks from our service cen- ter without a liner, so we can see first-hand, before we perform any operations on the sheet, the surface condition of the steel and inspect its quality,” says Juan Ceja, assistant sheetmetal supervisor. “This way we avoid wasting time and resources laser- cutting a piece of sheetmetal only to find out later, after remov- ing the liner, that the sheet surface did not meet our quality specifications. Also, adding a protective liner prior to cutting, and then removing it after cutting, just adds labor and cost to the equation.”
Along with its new laser-cutting machine, added in October 2008, Pedigo’s sheetmetal shop also added a Trumpf TruBend 5085 CNC press brake, and Trumpf’s TruTops programming system that integrates with Pedigo’s 3-D modeling software to automate press-brake as well as laser programming.
“The press brake’s six-axis programmable backgauge and profiled fingers allow solid, repeatable gauging for odd-shaped parts,” Voitik says, “and allows us to set up a series of bend sta- tions along the bed of the brake. Our operators can complete a bend sequence in one material handling, much more efficient than making one bend on a set of parts, changing tools and making the next bend, etc. This also has helped us streamline our process and dramatically improve lead times—from 90 to 120 days to just four to five weeks.”