Page 25 - MetalForming June 2016
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Millions of split rings destined for auto- motive or fishing-lure customers exit Worth’s 50-ton presses each year.
in the tool accurately.”
In addition, “new PLS technology
has enabled Worth, with precision, to time all of the processes when stamp- ing,” Wenzel says. “In addition to angle-on, angle-off capability, the PLS has timed-off and input-driven capa- bility. The outputs also have speed- compensation ability, which allows critical timing functions such as pilot timing to maintain accuracy even as press speed varies.”
Tonnage monitoring on these new controls ensure that the new presses operate within their capacity, and sig- nature-analysis capabilities of the ton- nage monitors track the force of each hit, stopping the press if forming loads venture out of preset warning ranges. Worth now can store reference graphs from an ideal setup and overlay these graphs onto images of the current tools. Doing this allows the company to ver- ify correct setups and spot variation from the ideal setup right on the view screen in real-time at the press.
“We chose this particular control package due to its user-friendliness, which eases the learning process for operators,” says Ostricki. “We now
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MetalForming/June 2016 23
store multiple jobs in these controls and then when it’s time to run that job we just call up the job number and it automatically loads all of the line settings. That is big for us because we were old school and never had these capabilities.”
Though Worth has yet to run actual time studies and formally track changes, Ostricki reports that tools now run much faster in the new 88-ton- press lines, and machine uptime has improved dramatically along with part output.
Crash Course
in Crash Prevention
“Die protection and our sensor pro- gram is a huge contributor to our pro- ductivity increase,” Ostricki says, not- ing that the 50-ton (130 strokes/min.) and the 88-ton (85 strokes/min.) press- es all run at speed capacity during pro- duction at Worth. “Before, we would have a die crash and be down for as long as several weeks. That doesn’t happen anymore.”
With the controls addition to the 88-ton machines and the die-sensing program initiated simultaneously, it didn’t take long for Worth to bring itself up to speed on the technology.
“Todd from TCR came in for a day of training on the press controls,” Ostric- ki says, “which was enough to allow our operators to run our jobs. TCR is following up with advanced training in the near future.”
For sensoring, a toolroom employee took on the task as project champion and today all of Worth’s production dies are sensor-protected.
As stamping operations perform smoothly after the technology influx, Worth continues looking for ways to expand beyond its sporting-goods roots. To do so and to handle increased business, the company is adding on to its building space and recently added high-capacity wire benders and indus- trial printers for printing on fishing- lure blades. The aggressive posture shows that, despite its angling history, Worth has not ‘gone fishin’’ when it comes to growth opportunities. MF
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