Page 38 - MetalForming-Nov-2018-issue

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the company in an August 2013 article, Smooth-Running Servos Usher in a Stamping Renaissance Period.
“We needed to reinvent the com- pany,” Jim Wolfenberg, Acro president, told us, explaining that from 2005 to 2008 the stamper had lost 20 to 25 per- cent of its business to China, a devas- tating development compounded by recessionary pressure. To combat these challenges, from 2010 to 2013, the com- pany added six servomechanical press- es. “Some 50 percent of our production now runs through those servo presses,” said Wolfenberg, noting that the pro- ductivity gains realized allowed him to decommission several of his conven- tional mechanical presses. “The capa- bilities of the servo presses have allowed us to expand our footprint into our traditional key markets, such as electronics and electric motors, while bringing an entirely new set of cus- tomers to our door.”
The effectiveness of leading-edge press technology only improves when teamed with appropriate line automa- tion.Weexploredthetopic,andwhen such automation makes sense, in Top Five Ways to Automate Your Press Line, appearing in the May 2018 issue of MetalForming. The article offers that whereas press-line automation and robotics had long been considered big- dollar, high-support options for high- volume repetitive operations (think automotive OEMs and Tier Ones), lower price points and scaled solutions
such as collaborative robots now have made such technologies more desirable in job-shop environments, and deserve another look.
“Most people associate automation with increased speed and throughput, which mostly is true, but automation provides benefits beyond that,” Josh Dixon, director of sales and marketing for Beckwood Press Co., told us. He noted that safety factors such as repet- itive motion, ergonomics and the need to transport heavier weights are, and always will be, prime drivers for automation.
While automation traditionally has been applied to processes with well- defined work rules and little variation in parts and procedures, new technol- ogy advancements allow automation to better accept variability.
“Some process variability can be overcome through the use of vision systems, sensors and other quality- control devices incorporated into the automation,” Dixon said, while offering that at some point excessive variability willnegativelyimpactROI.“Also,presses can better interact with automation add- ons, allowing for more seamless and effective integration than ever before.”
Another factor that demands a new look at automation options is cost.
“Manufacturers still tend to think that automation often is too expensive,” said Dixon. “What might have been too expensive five years ago is worth check- ing out again. Increased competition
within the industry has result- ed in decreased costs, and technology gains have allowed for more ROI-friendly automation than in the past.”
Combining advanced press technology with automation, as Acro Metal Stamping found, has made North America once again an attractive manufacturing location. Proof is offered in Reshoring Trend Gains Momentum, a MetalForming article from December 2017.
“For the third consecutive year, the number of manu-
The past five years have seen fiber-laser cutting go mainstream, with more metal- formers and fabricators recognizing the potential for huge throughput gains.
facturing jobs returning to the United States equaled or exceeded the number of jobs lost to offshoring,” it reads, highlighting the Reshoring Initiative, founded in 2010 by industry veteran Harry Moser. His organization assists companies with assessing their total cost of offshoring, and with efforts to shift collective thinking from offshoring is cheaper, to reshoring reduces the total cost of ownership. In 2017, in con- junction with PMA, Reshoring Initiative named Mitchell Metal Products, Mer- rill,WI,thewinnerofitsFirstNational Reshoring Award. One of Mitchell’s recent successes—a reshored cultiva- tor-handle subassembly that in 2016 went from 4500/yr. made overseas to 30,000/yr. made in Wisconsin—was detailed in the article. The company took advantage of servo-press tech- nology, automation and other fabrica- tion advances to bring work back and earn the honor.
Hot Stamping a Hot Topic
Hot stamping has caught the eye of automotive OEMS and suppliers, and MetalForming has taken notice. Thanks to decades of R&D, hot stamping has undergone generational technology changes that now enable it to serve as a viable process for production of front and rear crash-zone parts, well past its early automotive applications for impact beams and pillars. That’s the gist of an April 2017 article, Hot Stamp- ing: Local Soft Zones Via Laser. Key is the ability to create ever more specific soft zones in the parts, according to Paul Belanger, director of Gestamp
As the industry evolves from stamping as an assembly- line process to cellular manufacturing, controls, with their ability to communicate with robots, transfers and other cell components, will enable the evolution.
36 MetalForming/November 2018
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