Page 19 - MetalForming November 2014

die protection and variable speed control.
While once upon a time
most of the metal-alloy parts
in Townsend braces were of titanium, a change in the medical-insurance coding system necessitated a switch to stainless steel and aluminum. Sheetmetal thickness ranges from 0.030 to 1⁄8 in.
“While conventional fabricating equipment met our production needs for years,” says Arnold, “we had begun to look at moving to hard tooling and stamping a few years ago, as our vol- umes started to creep up on some models of knee braces. One big job finally convinced us to commit to stamping.”
No Longer Just High-Mix Low-Volume
Triggering Arnold and his produc- tion team to move into a higher-volume production mode, via stamping, was Townsend Design’s acquisition by the French medical-supply company Thuasne (elastic compression band- ages, medical belts, adhesive and cohe- sive bandages, etc.) in 2011. A short time after the acquisition, Thuasne asked Townsend to help develop a hinged neoprene brace, with annual order quantities expected to average 150,000 through 2019. Goodbye laser-
cutting and press-brake bending, hello metal stamping.
“We manufacture 3500 different part numbers here,” Arnold says, “and the typical brace has only six to 20 parts, so traditionally we’re a relatively low-vol- ume high-mix manufacturer. That changed somewhat with the Thuasne
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MetalForming/November 2014 17
Sutherland also provided Townsend Design with a servo feed 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.
acquisition, and we quickly realized that finally had to bring a stamping press inhouse.
“Being rookies in stamping,” Arnold adds, “we knew that technical support from the press manufacturer would be critical to our success, and Sutherland certainly has fit the bill.”
The new knee brace that hit Townsend’s production floor in mid- 2014, and is expected to take off in 2015, is called Genu-Pro. Available in two sizes (long-arm and short-arm), its hinges comprise three stamped parts—upper and lower bars and a hinge cap.
“Simultaneously engineering and building the press and the tooling proved challenging,” shares Arnold. “However, Sutherland has a solid rela- tionship with our die source, Comput- ed Tool & Engineering (Anaheim, CA), and facilitated several meetings in per- son and on the phone to make sure everyone stayed on the same page so that tooling up the job was seamless.”
A Quick ROI on the Press
The first two Genu-Pro dies hit the Townsend Design shop floor in June 2014, and two more in July; all 12 were expected to land by year-end. Most are seven-station progressive dies charged with forming and punching 0.10-in.- thick Type 5052 aluminum sheet.
A sampling of parts Townsend Design stamps on its new press, including hinge components for the Genu-Pro knee brace (four parts to the left). Above are Type 304 stainless-steel stampings pre- viously laser-cut—stamping the parts at 35 strokes/min., compared to 45-60 sec. to fabricate each part, reduced piece- part cost from $2.00 to $0.60.