Page 40 - MetalForming-Nov-2018-issue

Conferences Connect Technology with Users
Since its first conference—the Manufacturing ERP Experience—held August 23-24, 2011, MetalForming magazine has served as a premier provider of events designed to advance the metalforming and fabricating industries by providing executives, engineers and associates with a range of important learning opportunities on technological advancements in software, processes, equipment, materials and more, and how to effectively apply them. In other words, MetalForming celebrates its role in aiding indus- try professionals to discover solutions to metalforming and fabricating challenges, while encouraging innovations along the way.
“MetalForming launched the ERP Software Experience, our first live event, to provide a platform where metalforming company executives and their IT leaders could evaluate ERP solutions from several suppliers, efficiently and in one setting,” says Brad Kuvin, publisher/editorial director, reflecting on our foray into conferences. “Several ERP-soft- ware companies were given space to conduct demonstrations, and we also invited industry consultants and experts to provide conference presentations on related topics, including tips on ERP software selection and implementation.
“Conferences such as these,” he continues, “provide perfect opportunities for MetalForming magazine to connect suppliers of technology and products with users in the metalforming industry, enabling metalforming companies to continue to have access to the latest-greatest innovative technologies needed to optimize their productivity and quality.”
There’s no letting up in 2019, as MetalForming-associated events include the following: • Lubrication Technology Conference, February 12-13, Schaumburg, IL
• PMA Auto Parts Supplier Conference, April 29-30, Detroit, MI
• Industry 4.0 Experience for Metalformers and Fabricators, June 24-25, Cleveland, OH • 3D Metal Printing Experience and Tech Tour, August, Detroit, MI
• Mexico Metalforming Technology Experience, August, Queretaro, Mexico
• Hot Stamping Experience, September, Detroit, MI
• Servo Technology Experience, October, Nashville, TN
Information on these and other events are found at www.metalformingmagazine.com.
MetalForming
Hot stamping has undergone genera- tional 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 appli- cations for impact beams and pillars. Key is the ability to create ever more specific soft zones in the parts.
R&D North America.
“Migration of high-strength steels
into the crash zones is probably due to control of soft zones,” Belanger said, “and the ability to design for them and know the kinematics of the parts during the crash event. This knowledge allows for significant weight savings.”
Via this process, ultra-hard steel is formed into complex shapes, resulting
in lightweight yet strong parts that, otherwise, typically would require thicker, heavier cold-stamped parts welded together. By using improved validation measures such as advanced forming and crash simulation data and software, Honda and Gestamp were able to better localize soft zones in the die during hot stamping, resulting in production of rear rails in the 2015 Honda Civic with soft-zone features that enable improved impact-energy absorption in the event of a crash. The development earned Honda and Gestamp the Steel Market Develop- ment Institute’s Automotive Excellence Award in 2016.
Fiber Fuels Laser-Cutting Advances
The past five years also have seen fiber-laser cutting go mainstream, with more metalformers and fabricators rec- ognizing the potential for huge throughput gains. MetalForming trum- peted the technology in a June 2014 article, Energy Savings Convince Man- agement of the Benefits of Fiber Lasers.
Justifying the investment of a 2.5-kW fiber laser machine by Reflex Industries, Elkhart, IN, came down to increased speed and decreased energy costs, according to the company’s engineer- ing manager, Chris Heffner. The sup- plier to the recreational-vehicle, trav- el-trailer and utility-truck industries had added the machine to its stable of CO2 laser cutters and other fabrication equipment primarily to cut aluminum from 0.10 to 1⁄8 in. thick.
“The 2.5-kW fiber laser can cut alu- minum faster than the 4-kW CO2 laser can,” Heffner said, “and consume a mere fraction of the energy.”
On top of that, he spoke at length on the improved edge quality from using the fiber laser to cut aluminum sheet, in particular, compared to CO2.
“Any burrs from the fiber laser are much smaller and easier to remove than the burrs created by CO2-laser cutting,” Heffner said. “That alone has saved significant time and money by eliminating a lot of secondary part han- dling and deburring.”
With fiber laser machines now avail- able that feature three times the wattage of Reflex’s first, many other manufacturers are realizing significant advantages.
Industry 4.0 Has Arrived
Interfacing with the dizzying array of advanced machinery now at our dis- posal, and getting it to perform at its highest level, is a task managed by con- trol systems, which have kept pace with equipment-technology improvements.
“In the 1970s and into the ’80s, met- alformers wanted a control that would make the press go down and up,” explained Dean Phillips, sales engineer for Link Systems, Nashville, TN, in a March 2015 article, Stamping Controls Evolve to Meet Current, Coming Chal- lenges. “They then sought more—slide adjust, counterbalance and other func- tions to reduce the amount of time that operators required to perform such tasks.”
Today, one-button operation is the ideal.
“The operator selects a job and the press controls take over,” he said,
38 MetalForming/November 2018
www.metalformingmagazine.com