Page 18 - MetalForming February 2011

Transfer-Press
Quartet
Sweet Song of Success
Having installed four new big-bed transfer presses in 6 yr., Canadian automotive supplier Fleetwood Metal Industries has experienced a four- fold increase in revenue since the early 1990s.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Canadian Tier One-Two automo- tive stamper Fleetwood Metal Industries, headquartered in Windsor, Ontario, has commissioned four large-bed transfer presses in the last 6 yr., and the quartet’s harmonies have brought the company fame and fortune. Sparked primarily by a bur- geoning relationship with Honda, and programs from other transplant OEMs including CAMI and Mazda, the com- pany’s revenues have quadrupled dur- ing the last 20 years. During that time, Fleetwood’s three North American stamping plants have evolved from supplying primarily smaller automotive parts and assemblies to being capable of supplying larger parts, such as roof assemblies, trunk pans and pillars.
Ontario is home to two of the three Fleetwood plants: a 220,000-sq.-ft. plant in Tillsonburg, with nine stand- alone presses (600-ton capacity) and three transfer presses; and a 96,500- sq.-ft. plant in Otterville, acquired by the company in 1985, with 24 presses (1000-ton capacity) including a five-
Fleetwood’s Tillsonburg plant installed this Eagle Press 1500-ton straightside—96-by- 256-in. bed size—in 2004, outfitted with a Linear Transfer three-axis servo transfer sys- tem. The staged bolster, prepared with a die for entry into one of the two presses, also carries a set of transfer rails. The press is part of a two-press arrangement that shares three bolsters, to enable quick changeover.
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press five-robot tandem line. The third plant, and the newest (opened in March 2005), is a 110,000-sq.-ft. facility in Sylacauga, AL, with eight stand-alone presses (800-ton capacity) and a 1500- ton transfer press added in mid-2008.
As a barometer of the company’s growth and evolution into bigger parts and bigger presses, consider that the Tillsonburg plant opened with 30,000 sq. ft. in March 2001. Just three years later the facility expanded by 30,000 sq. ft. to welcome its first two transfer presses, and another 60,000 sq. ft. to make room for an e-coat line.
Three-Axis Servo
For the Tillsonburg plant’s first foray into transfer stamping, Fleetwood acquired a pair of transfer presses, the first (commissioned in 2004) a 1500-ton four-point straightside—96-by-256-in. bed size—from Ontario neighbor Eagle Press & Equipment Co., outfitted with a Linear Transfer three-axis servo trans- fer system. Says vice president and general manager John Clarke, from the company’s corporate sales and engi- neering office in Windsor: “When we specified that press, we aggressively set out to achieve 20 strokes/min.,
Sings a