Page 16 - MetalForming July 2011

An Extreme
Press Makeover
A press-line rebuild, including a new control, a beefy servo-feed line and a magnetic die clamping system, adds robustness to an OEM pressroom.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
No one yelled, “Move that bus,” like Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition regu- larly does. But pressroom personnel at an outdoor power-equipment OEM metalforming and fabrication plant surely celebrated when its newly made- over stamping press debuted in the summer of 2010. While Pennington and his crew work their home-make- over during a frantic week of work, this press makeover took 6 weeks to com- plete. The job: completely rebuild an aging 150-ton Bliss straightside mechanical press, with 36- by 60-in. bed; integrate a new servo-feed line to the press, capable of delivering 1⁄4-in.- thick high-strength (to 70 KSI yield strength) steel coil; and add a magnet- ic die-clamping system to the press.
Last but not least, the press line received a new nerve center: an OmniLink 5000 press and automation controller from Link Systems, Nashville, TN, selected to support numerous press- line inputs and outputs to optimize quick-setup and mistake-proofing efforts.
Editor’s note: At press time, managers at the OEM described in this article asked to have the company name removed from the text. We apologize for the inconvenience.
This completely rebuilt 150-ton Bliss straightside now boasts a new nerve center: an OmniLink 5000 press and automation controller, selected to support numerous press- line inputs and outputs to optimize quick-setup and mistake-proofing efforts.
Lower Volumes
Bring New Challenges
The factory supports the firm’s assembly plants, providing metal- formed and fabricated parts and assemblies. Eight coil-fed presses and five manually fed presses occupy the plant’s pressroom, including two brand- new 600-ton presses brought in to sup- port the company’s efforts to produce larger and more complex parts.
Lately, says the plant’s value-stream manager, the plant also has been
focused on supporting rapid growth of a new line of lower-volume prod- ucts. A critical success factor has been becoming more lean and robust in the pressroom.
For starters, lower-volume produc- tion has meant a shift in focus to setup- time reduction and quick-die change initiatives. This is what led to the Bliss press rebuild project. The parts being stamped aren’t big, but they are heavy gauge and of high strength steel. The
14 MetalForming/July 2011
www.metalformingmagazine.com