Page 22 - MetalForming February 2014

The Voice
of the Customer
...leads this Ontario Tier Two automotive metalformer to make the move to transfer stamping, to provide tight-tolerance transmission components.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
There is opportunity in the automotive market—that’s the tune sung to me over and over as I speak to North American suppliers, and I heard it once again when speaking to Robert Harant, program and engineering manager at Ultramet Industries. The firm operates 110- to 600-ton stamp- ing presses out of a 40,000-sq.-ft. plant in Breslau, Ontario, Canada. Most of the work produced by its 35 employees (26 in the pressroom) supports Tier One automotive customers by providing seating, powertrain and frame components.
Ultramet’s big move into transmission stampings followed the voice of the customer heard early in 2012. That voice, according to Harant, said “There’s a need for transfer stam- pers, and if you add capacity the work will come.”
Responding to the market’s call for transfer-stamping capacity, Ultramet immediately embarked on a project to overhaul a 600-ton Verson mechanical press (156- by 62-in. bed size) and mate it with a front-and-rear-mounted transfer system. After installing the transfer press late in 2012, Ultra- met had its capacity filled within a few months when it took on a set of 10 dies used to stamp transmission flexplate cans. As a result of the immediate success of its initial foray into transfer stamping, Harant says that Ultramet manage- ment is considering adding an 800-ton transfer press in the not-too-distant future.
Less Scrap, Better Trimming via Transfer
The newly rebuilt transfer press joins an array of pro- gressive-die presses in the Ultramet pressroom—one 600- ton press, two 500-ton presses, and 400-, 200- and 110-ton presses. Why the preference for transfer stamping for the flexplates? Harant explains.
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Linear Transfer Automation added a three-axis servo-transfer system to a refurbished 600-ton press to enable Ultramet to enter the transfer-stamping market. To enable die changes via forklift and permit stamping with progressive dies, Linear Trans- fer included an auxiliary 80-in. lift axis that enables the entire system to lift up and out of the way.
“Stamping the flexplates requires forming a skirt, and it’s better to trim all the way around in a transfer die rather than pinch-trim with a progressive die. Also, according to analysis from the customer, eliminating the carrier strip required in a progressive die reduces scrap by about 15 percent.”
Ultramet stamps 10 different sizes and styles of flexplates, from SAE J2340 steel 2.5 to 3.0 mm thick. Annual volumes range from 15,000 to 750,000, filled on weekly orders to 13-week forecasts.
“We maintain a week’s worth of inventory, as many as 4000 stampings, for each part number,” adds Harant.
A series of eight die stations cut blanks from coil stock,