Page 26 - MetalForming December 2012

Sub-Zero
Warms Up to Flexible Fabrication
A combination laser-punch work center and servo-electric panel bender automate sheetmetal fabricating at this appliance manufacturer, conserving labor, reducing scrap and boosting the bottom line.
The 480,000-sq.-ft. Sub-Zero, Inc. appliance-manufacturing facili- ty in Goodyear, AZ, opened in mid-2011 to accommodate the com- pany’s growing production demands that had outstripped its two manufac- turing plants in Fitchburg, WI. The new plant, with 300 employees working two shifts, houses an array of sheetmetal- fabrication equipment including stand- alone turret punch presses, laser-cutting machines, a servo-electric automated panel bender and a punch/shear com- bination machine.
Among the products churned out by the plant are its groundbreaking built-in refrigerators, developed some 60 years ago, as well as a full array of domestic cooking appliances including kitchen stoves, cooktops, wall ovens, warming drawers and ventilation equipment.
Punch-Shear Flexibility
Sheetmetal fabrication took a pro- ductivity turn for the best when, according to manufacturing engineer- ing technician John Dolinski, Sub-Zero purchased its automated punch-shear combination machine in 2008 (a Shear Genius from Finn Power, now Prima Power North America).
“We were having issues with our exist- ing stand-alone fab- ricating equipment, and began searching for new technology,” explains Dolinski.
With the Shear
Genius integrated punch/right-angle
shear combination
concept, the objective is to provide one machine capable of transforming a full-sized sheet into punched parts. Sorting and stacking automation then moves the parts to secondary bending operations without being touched by human hands. As loading, punching and shearing of parts became auto- mated at Sub-Zero, the result was fin- ished parts with a dramatic reduction in scrap and manual labor, while increasing profitability.
Sub-Zero also finds that the machine eliminates wasteful skeletons and costly secondary operations such as deburring. And the integrated right- angle shear avoids the nibbled edges on the part exteriors. In fact, the same clamps that hold the sheets for punch- ing also hold them for shearing. The end result is true single-piece flow syn-
24 MetalForming/December 2012
www.metalformingmagazine.com
Sub-Zero manufactures modern kitchen appliances using state-of-the-art sheetmetal-fabrication equipment.
chronized with Sub-Zero’s cycle times. “The punch-shear combination machine operates much more quickly and accurately than what we were using before,” says Dolinski. “Automa- tion is what really takes fabrication to a new level. The machine also process- es longer parts much more efficiently than our old stand-alone turret punch
presses.”
“We try to run lights-out on a daily
basis,” adds supervisor Howard Mas- ters. “With the Shear Genius, we no longer need to shear blanks to size. We can nest multiple parts on one sheet, and have eliminated a great deal of material handling.”
Servo-Electric Bender
Following the 2008 addition of its punch-shear combo, in 2009 Sub-Zero