Page 26 - MetalForming June 2016

Green-Light Time is Surging
...for a new state-of-the-art turret-punch press running at the showcase sheetmetal-fabrication shop of EVS Metal, in Riverdale, NJ. Equipped with a 300-station automatic tool changer, and tools laser-etched with QR codes, it’s “big data meets punching”—a true game changer.
“Changing tooling in a turret press “is just a killer,” says Scott Berkowitz, president of metal fabricator EVS Metal, from the company’s 71,000-sq.-ft. head- quarters facility in Riverdale, NJ. Berkowitz, who along with vice presi- dent Joseph Amico also operates plants in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas, recently has found a way to dodge the pain from press setups,
which he says can last as long as 4 hr. “The game changer for us,” he says, “has been a new AC servo-direct twin- drive press from Amada (an EM 3612 ZRT machine), equipped with a 300- station automatic tool changer. To squeeze every bit of productivity we can from the press, we filled it with new ID tooling, also from Amada. Those tools are etched with QR codes to
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
allow us to gather production data from the shop floor and ideally manage our tool-maintenance program.”
The technology combination de- scribed by Berkowitz provides numerous benefits to EVS, making it nothing short of a complete game changer, he says. For starters, it allows not just for overnight lights-out production, aided by a six- shelf material-storage tower, but also for weekend lights-out production.
“Without the large-capacity tool changer,” says Berkowitz, “we’d typi- cally only be able to run one job overnight, lights out, similar to how we run our other turret presses. But this machine, since it holds such a huge inventory of tools, lets us run as many as six different jobs unattended. Not only does that open up dozens of hours of extra machine time, but it’s changed
An Amada EM 3612 ZRT machine—an AC servo-direct twin-drive press—has been a game changer for EVS Metal. It replaced three older press- es, and boasts a green-light time greater than 90 percent.
how we can quote new work. Basically, run time like that comes at little relative cost, and tool changes become part of machine run time. That’s allowed us to, at times, reduce what we charge for run time, reduce our labor input and attract new customers.”
The Technology Behind EVS’s “Game Changer”
Sheetmetal fabricators strive for every opportunity to work more eco- nomically and effectively, and EVS is no different. One common end game to do so is optimizing green-light time on machines—as evidenced by Berkowitz’s plea to get out from under costly turret- setup times.
Here’s some overall industry per- spective from Amada product manag- er Tim Brady:
“The typical stand-alone turret press can have a green-light time of only 30 to 40 percent in some cases,” Brady tells MetalForming. “Add sheet-handling automation and that might climb to 60 to 80 percent. As fabricators have consistently begun to add material- handling automation to their presses, they’ve now begun to think harder about their tool loads and changeover times. Add to that the trend to run smaller lots and more frequently move tools in and out of the turret, and the opportunity to dodge lengthy setups that restrict green-light time becomes increasingly enticing.”
24 MetalForming/June 2016
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