Page 16 - MetalForming-Dec-2018-issue

Awards of Excellence in Metalforming
The Winners
These companies were recognized for excellence in their categories, with each receiving a plaque, commemorative flag and cash prize.
Zierick Manufacturing Corporation Productivity Award
Anchor Manufacturing Group, Inc., Cleveland, OH
Plex Systems Innovation and Technology Award
Anchor Manufacturing Group, Inc., Cleveland, OH
Link Systems Process Control Award
Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI
A.R. Hedberg Training & Education Award
Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI
Clips & Clamps Industries Educational Institution Award
Rocklin High School, Rocklin, CA
No winners were selected for the following: Higgins-Caditz Design Award
Pridgeon & Clay Excellence in Quality Award
Ulbrich Award for Excellence in Product Development
productivity program. It begins at work centers containing hourly tracking and level-one boards, and ends at the level- two board meeting area. The walkabout engages members from each discipline throughout the plant and involves reviewing the most recent information from all whiteboards. Besides presenting information, it helps establish future action plans, ensures full transparency, and shows that issues are being owned and resolved.
As a result of Anchor’s whiteboard tracking and walkabout program, the company has realized a projected annual sav- ings of $668,000 from plant-wide scrap reduction and pro- ductivity increases. Additional program benefits include increased departmental cohesiveness and improved employ- ee awareness and morale.
Sponsored by Zierick Manufacturing Corp., Mount Kisco, NY, the Productivity Award recognizes outstanding achieve- ment by a manufacturing company in the development and implementation of programs, processes and use of assets that lead to significant improvements in productivity.
Process Control Award Pridgeon & Clay
Pridgeon & Clay, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, received the 2018 Link Systems Award for Excellence in Process Control for developing a Poka-Yoke process to detect missing or incorrectly installed reinforcement tabs on an automotive heat shield. The company, a Tier-Two supplier to the global automotive market, is a family-owned manufacturer of com- plex stamped, fineblanked parts and welded assemblies.
Pridgeon & Clay’s recently formed Error Proofing Lab
The Poka-Yoke in use at Pridgeon & Clay to detect missing or incorrectly installed reinforcement tabs on an automotive heat shield incorporates the use of automation, pneumatics and dif- ferent types of sensors, including proximity, through-beam and vision sensors.
employs two engineers dedicated to providing innovative process improvements, cost reductions and quality enhance- ments. The lab performed a complete process review for the heat shield and considered alternatives for controlling the process. Visually sorting the parts could lead to human- error issues with a probability of noncompliant parts arriving to the customer, while implementing an inspection system inside of the tool would require updates requiring a higher cost than building a Poka-Yoke.
As developed, the Poka-Yoke incorporates the use of automation, pneumatics and different types of sensors, including proximity, through-beam and vision sensors. In practice, once a part exits the tab-installation die it is placed into the Poka-Yoke by the press operator, with pilots providing accurate part orientation within the gauging system. An optical touch button activates the machine and a safety- light-curtain that assures the Poka-Yoke is clear of personnel before starting.
As the inspection begins, a pneumatic hold-down places pressure to maintain part position while a proximity sensor confirms part presence. Then, a vision sensor collects an image and compares it to a stored image. If an acceptable match of the images is reached, the part passes the inspec- tion. Next, the pilots are pneumatically removed from the part, the hold-down cylinder retracts, and the part pneu- matically shuttles down a chute, passing a through-beam sensor to assure its proper exit. A PLC batch-counts each part, then the machine resets the pilots to load the next part. Inspection takes only a few seconds and, once initiated, the operator is free to load the next assembly into the die.
Should an inspection fail, the bad part shuttles to the left and down a chute, passing by a through-beam sensor into a locked box. When the PLC counts five bad parts it notifies the operator of the fault. The press will not operate until a department leader is notified to identify the problem and resets the machine. To explain the complete Poka-Yoke process, Pridgeon & Clay’s Error Proofing Lab created a training program for programming and troubleshooting the machine. Backup programs stored on the company’s com- puter network can be downloaded as sensors are replaced,
14 MetalForming/December 2018
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