Page 30 - MetalForming May 2016

Feed Line
A visit to the Fountain of Youth gives an entirely new look to a 15-yr.-old 2000-ton transfer-press line. Key ingredients in the refresh include an automated coil-feed line with a four-roll servo feeder and an inline shear and blank destacker. Production from the invigorated line is up more than 35 percent.
The sprawling 215,000-sq.-ft. Icon Metal Forming plant in Corydon, IN, has a long, rich history as a Tier One supplier to Ford and General Motors, among other OEMs. Once a family-owned operation, the plant’s timeline includes a 7-yr. stretch as Oxford Automotive. Acquired by Mar- tinrea in 2005 and coined Icon (to serve
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
as the “icon of manufacturing for the company,” says Icon general manager Kyle Kasey), plant management most recently has turned its attention to boosting output from its burgeoning pressroom.
“Work load and part volumes have climbed steadily over the last 12 to 18 months,” Kasey says. Much of that
growth emanates from three major GM programs (Icon earned a 2015 GM Sup- plier Excellence Award) that have more than doubled the facility’s steel con- sumption—from 1 million to 2.1 mil- lion lb./week.
“We’re among the top-performing Martinrea plants,” Kasey says. “We’ve made numerous improvements to
Icon’s new feed line, installed on a 2000-ton transfer press, features a four-roll servo feeder to ensure optimum coil-feed accuracy, particularly beneficial when feeding higher-strength steels. The four-roll feeder, which provides twice the surface contact with half the air pressure of a two-roll feed, helps prevent slippage that can cause marking on the material or lead to inaccurate feed lengths.
28 MetalForming/May 2016
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