Case Studies

Hand Tool Manufacturer

Plastic Coating on Various Types of Pliers

The customer needed to replace an existing machine that was very inefficient, took up a lot of floor space, was unreliable, and created re-work. This machine was used to put the rubberized cushion grip on various styles of pliers.

CNC Solutions designed and built a new machine that addressed all the issues they were having problems with as well as increased the quality of the product, substantially increased output, and decreased the amount of labor down to 1 person. The customer had planned to buy two (2) of these machines but with the productivity and quality they were getting from the first machine, they no longer needed a second.

 

Sheet Metal Forming Company

Automated Punching of Sheet Metal Parts

This customer was having material handling issues due to the size and weight of their sheet metal blanks. Every operation would require 2-people to handle the product. This was creating safety hazards as well as being very labor intensive.

Our goal for this system was to reduce the amount of material handling required and allow 1 person to operate the system in a safe manner. We accomplished this by reducing the amount of times the product was physically touched from 2 times to zero. The product was now introduced from a previous operation directly into the cell in a stacked form. A robotic system with various stations processed the parts as needed and stacked them for use in the next operation. The operator was responsible for entering a part number in the HMI and moving the stacked parts in and out of the cell on wheeled carts. This system not only saved labor and material handling, but produced a more consistent product at a higher rate than the previous manual system.

 

Automotive Supplier

Machining of Castings

This customer was having problems with holding parts in their fixtures throughout the machining cycle. The fixtures used hydraulic clamping but were only pressurized between cycles using a manual system. Leaks in the system would cause the clamps to lose pressure therefore causing inconsistency in machining.

CNC Solutions helped redesign the fixture to aid in part loading, part seated verification, and integration of a hydraulic rotary union for live hydraulics. The machine was a dual pallet system with one operation being done on each pallet. We integrated a main 16-port rotary union on the machine which fed 8 circuits to each pallet. This allowed full rotation of the fixture pallets and main pallet table. A PLC based control on the hydraulic pump system communicated with the machine tool to automate the clamping and unclamping of the fixtures, rotation of the pallet table, monitoring pressure at each circuit, part seated detection, and fault detection. This system increased the volume of parts made, virtually eliminated scrap, and reduced operator fatigue.

 

Aluminum Extrusion Manufacturer

Extrusion Line Material Handling

A foreign made system for transporting long lengths of aluminum extrusion was prematurely failing due to poor design and workmanship. The system needed daily maintenance and was slowing production down significantly. The heart of the system included several dozen transfer conveyors that were not working correctly and were the main issue in the line.

We were brought in to look at ways to fix the current system without affecting their production, at minimal cost, and keeping in line with their six sigma program. We developed a “drop in” transfer conveyor that would replace their existing conveyors and require very little maintenance. Our field service department was able to install these in sets without interrupting production. Once all the transfer conveyors were installed, we made several changes to the control system and added some safety features. The system today is fully functional, requires only routine maintenance, is much safer, more robust, and has increased production. This is no longer a maintenance department nightmare.