Page 27 - MetalForming-Sep-2018-issue
P. 27

  FABRICATION
Gasket Manufacturer Slashes Production Time with
 Waterjet Cutting
High-rail gantry systems enable AP Services
to reduce gasket-cut times from hours to minutes.
As a manufacturer of precision gaskets and packings, AP Serv- ices processes more than 50 rush orders each day to meet the rig- orous 24/7 demands of the power-gen- eration, chemical-processing and wastewater-treatment industries.
Since its founding in 1991 in Freeport, PA, owners Jeff and Kenny Hemphill have taken the business glob- al, expanded its production facility to two plants totaling 48,000 sq. ft., and overseen a plethora of changes.
For example, until 2002 AP Services used clicker presses, circle cutters and knives to hand-cut gaskets from hun-
dreds of paper templates kept on file for repeat customers, with a single cut gasket taking 3 to 4 hr. As global demand for its products skyrocketed, the company struggled to maintain its inventory.
“We needed to increase our produc- tivity exponentially,” says Mike Ehrlich, AP Services plant manager. “After researching our options, we decided that waterjet cutting was the way to go.”
Ehrlich investigated two major waterjet manufacturers before deciding on a 6 by 10-ft. high-rail gantry manu- factured by Jet Edge, Inc., St. Michael, MN. He had the gantry equipped with
two cutting heads—capable of cutting with straight water or abrasive jet— and powered with a 50-hp Jet Edge intensifier pump.
Ehrlich says that he selected the Jet Edge system for its high-rail design, which preserves drive components by keeping ballscrews and drives up and out of the way of airborne particulates, while providing easy access to the cut- ting surface from all four sides. More- over, the addition of cutting heads on the high-rail-gantry design extends the overall reach.
Also impressive to Ehrlich: Intensifier pumps, rather than direct-drive pumps,
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