Page 28 - MetalForming March 2017

Magnetic Clamping
Puts Die- Change Delays Out to Pasture
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MetalForming/March 2017
www.metalformingmagazine.com
The New Holland Agriculture plant of CNH Industrial has been helping farmers improve productivity since 1895. Now, magnetic die clamping is helping the plant improve its own productivity, by slashing die-change times as part of its World Class Manufacturing program.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
The cushion between the metal- forming and fabricating shop and assembly lines at the sprawl- ing New Holland (PA) Agriculture plant of CNH Industrial is a scant single day. In short, the shop stamps and fabri- cates parts when they’re needed on the lines, where the firm’s balers, mower- conditioners, harvesters and other farm equipment come to life.
Reduced inventories is just one tenet of the CNH World Class Manu- facturing ( WCM) system, with tentacles reaching into total quality control, total productive maintenance and just in time. As explained by manufacturing engineer Corey Messner, WCM initia- tives aim to prevent waste and loss by zeroing in on achieving zero defects and breakdowns, and—most notice- able in the plant’s pressroom—mini- mizing press-setup times to boost equipment OEE and ensure punctual part delivery to the assembly lines.
The CNH plant in New Holland, PA, man- ufactures, among other farm equipment, these round balers. The plant’s deeply rooted in a World Class Manufacturing system aimed at eliminating waste and loss by focusing efforts to achieve zero defects, breakdowns and waste.
Better Die Changes Help with Kitting
“Recently, our shop has been implementing a kitting process to supply a small internal warehouse from which the assembly lines pull parts and subassemblies as needed,” says Messner. Those activities have helped the company shrink lot sizes, which of course means more die changes in the shop.
“On our hand-fed presses,” Mess- ner says, “we’re running lots of only 50 to 100 parts. On our coil-fed press, lot size peaks at around 10,000 parts. We’re changing dies as often as 10