Page 14 - MetalForming February 2020

Press Builders Becoming Purveyors of
Turnkey Systems
Four companies share their perspectives on their shifting roles and what metal formers need to know and do.
BY JOE JANCSURAK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
The I-Press multipoint edit screen (lower right) allows for quick customization of the stroke profile. Pictured is a CAD drawing of a high-volume tandem servo-hydraulic press production line.
Gone are the days when metal for- mers put together their own man- ufacturing lines. Now, instead of their supply chains including separate vendors for presses, feed lines and trans- fer systems, increasingly they are relying on press builders to provide completely integrated automated systems.
That is the consensus of four hydraulic press companies interviewed for this article. The companies—Beck- wood, Greenerd, Neff and Sutherland— agree that their evolving roles as turnkey suppliers will continue as cus-
tomers downsize their engineering pool while automation needs ramp up.
Getting on the Same Page
It is true that more customers than ever want such systems, says Mike Jose- fiak, design engineer at Greenerd Press and Machine Co. (www.greenerd.com). “It’s also true that with that comes one of our biggest challenges today: nailing down what the customer wants and needs.”
“So we begin the process,” says Rob Bisbee, Greenerd’s automation
team leader, “by talking with the cus- tomer about what they want to make. Then we discuss rightsizing the automation. This begins with an ROI analysis that takes into account budg- et, production goals and projected payback. Then we can design a layout that makes sense.”
Greenerd recently designed a work cell for a producer of compressed-gas- cylinder tanks that includes a 750-ton press, two Fanuc robots for loading and unloading with end-of-arm tooling by Greenerd, custom parts skid with
12 MetalForming/February 2020
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