Page 54 - MetalForming March 2013

Tooling Technology
One-Stop Die Shop Focused on
Self-Improvement
While much of the crew at die and mold shop Trueline, Inc. focuses on meeting customer requirements for quality and delivery, the firm—also a contract stamper and injection molder—has assigned one key employee to continuously seek process-improvement opportunities, and results are impressive.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Lead times for the complex progressive dies designed, fabricated and assembled at True- line, Inc., La Crosse, WI, have dwindled by 50 to 70 percent in just the last few years. And when considering that the time required for design, specification and purchasing of die blocks and other components can carve out 2 to 3 weeks of that lead time, Trueline often has as little as 2 weeks to machine, assemble and try out new dies.
What’s enabled the 60-yr.-old company—also a supplier of molds, as well as a contract metal stamper and injection molder—to so dramatical- ly streamline die and mold production? The firm’s director of tool manufacturing Dale Christopher- son lays out its grand plan.
“We used to ask our staff of toolmakers (any-
where from five to 10, depending on market con-
ditions) to manage build projects from start to
finish,” says Christopherson. “We drew everything
in 2D cad and a toolmaker would take the prints
and run with them. He’d literally design on the fly,
calculate bend allowances, determine clearances,
etc. He’d also square his own blocks, order material, heattreat and so on.”
The plot thickened, as we all recall, when the market got tighter and drove down prices. Says Christopherson: “We had to change.”
Change came to Trueline in form of a switch from 2D cad to 3D programming in SolidWorks. “We had to be capable of simulation,” Christopherson says, “and improve our design- review process. Now we draw, simulate (with FTI’s FastIn- cremental simulation software) and review on the comput- er using solid models. Once we turn the project over, responsibility for die fabrication and assembly shifts to a swarm of as many as 10 to 12 people working in the shop on
52 MetalForming/March 2013
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Change came to Trueline in form of a switch from 2D cad to 3D programming in SolidWorks. “We had to be capable of simulation,” Christopherson says, “and improve our design-review process. Now we draw, simulate (with FTI’s FastIncremental simulation software) and review on the computer using solid models. Once we turn the project over, responsibility for die fabrication and assembly shifts to a swarm of as many as 10 to 12 people working in the shop on a project simultaneously, rather than just one toolmaker.”
a project simultaneously, rather than just one toolmaker.”
Diversify is the Battle Cry
Also enabling Trueline to survive what’s been a challeng- ing several years for most tool and die shops has been its abil- ity to diversify. In 1981 the firm began providing contract stamping services; in 2009 it introduced injection molding, in part to bring insert-molding inhouse; and in 2010 it expanded its machining and assembly expertise to include mold design and build. Today its business is split 50-50 between die/mold production and contract stamping and injection molding. In 2012, Trueline produced 2.2 billion stamped and molded parts, Christopherson says, as well as