Page 18 - MetalForming November 2014

Fab Shop Braces for Success with
New Stamping
Ever since former NBA star Mitch Kupchak (current Los Angeles Lakers general manager) first donned a knee brace manufactured by Townsend Design, sales for the company have skyrocketed. Sheetmetal fabrication suffices for relatively low-volume production, but stamping has now become required to support higher production volumes.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
When orthopedic-device man- ufacturer Townsend Design, Bakersfield, CA, started to hit it big and expand from primarily an outsourcer of manufacturing to pro- viding inhouse fabrication, making knee braces and related devices to annual volumes of 10,000 (per model) seemed like the pinnacle. To fabricate the metal parts for the braces (hinges and, in some cases, the upper and lower support pieces), the firm began to invest in inhouse metal-fabrication capabilities in 1994, 10 years after its founding my orthopedist Jeff Townsend.
Townsend initiated his company into metal fabrication by starting with laser cutting, and expanded in 2000 to
Added to the Townsend Design fabrication shop early in 2014 was this Sutherland 176-ton medium-duty single-point small-bed straightside press. Bolster area measures 960 by 800 mm; side widow opening is 600 by 450 mm; stroke length, 200 mm.
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add a bit of forming. The big invest- ment at the time: a combination punch-laser machine “to perform sim- ple embossing and forming,” says Craig Arnold, manager in charge of machin- ing, fabrication and production.
Fast Forward
Today, the firm’s 45,000-sq.-ft. facility includes, in addition to the punch-laser, a 3200-W stand-alone laser-cutting machine, a 50,000-PSI waterjet-cutting machine, a hydraulic press brake, four vertical milling machines and—added early in 2014—a Sutherland 176-ton mechanical stamping press (Model HCP-
176-2). A medium-duty single-point small-bed straightside model, it was selected to minimize angular deflection compared to gap-frame presses, and to promote optimum tool life. Bolster area measures 960 by 800 mm; side widow opening is 600 by 450 mm; stroke length, 200 mm.
Sutherland also provided a servo feed (NCDF-300-3T), rated for coils 300 mm wide with maximum stock thickness of 4.5 mm, and its new I-Press high-definition color-touchscreen press control. Control features include a stroke-position indicator and brake monitor, error log and fault diagnostics,
Press