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Wesgar Continues To
Innovate
With FINN-POWER Punch Presses
 At Wesgar Industries Ltd., Port
Coquitlam, BC, art meets science, and several pieces of
FINN-POWER equipment are helping the precision sheet metal
manufacturer to bridge that gap.
“Our people add the
art of manufacturing to the science of metal work,” explains
Wesgar President John Thwaites. “The value we can provide our
customers is a result of our continuous innovation in
manufacturing.”
Perhaps the most
telling aspect of Wesgar’s operational philosophy is its
unusual corporate slogan-Artistry in Metal. Wesgar backs up
this lofty goal with its well-deserved reputation for quality
products and excellent customer service earned during its 40
years of operation.
  Its customers include many major
players in the electronics, power supply, telecommunications,
medical, environmental control, and radio frequency industries
in markets throughout Canada, Europe, the United States, and
Mexico.
In its early days,
Wesgar was involved in manufacturing more traditional
industrial products. Through the years the company has evolved
into a premiere precision sheet metal fabricator with 135
employees housed in a 55,000 sq. ft. facility.
By 2000, the
company’s sheet metal fabrication’s capacity was concentrated
in three stand alone mechanical turret punch presses.
Wesgar management
decided it was time for a change in both manufacturing
philosophy and equipment. A technical team was organized and a
thorough search for fabrication equipment that would best meet
Wesgar’s current and future needs was launched. “We wanted to
increase our capacity, efficiency, and quality,” explains
Thwaites.Wesgar chose the F6 Express Flexible Manufacturing
Unit (FMU) from FINN-POWER International Inc., Schaumburg, IL
as the system that best fit its needs.
 The F6 Express FMU automatically
loads full-sized sheets onto the table of the turret punch
press, punches and forms the sheet metal, and then unloads the
fabricated sheet.
The F6 Express
dramatically increased Wesgar’s productivity by putting
through up to 50% more total volume with less than half the
people.
Being able to run
full-sized sheets also eliminated a great deal of shearing and
material handling.
“The automation
provided by  the FINN-POWER F6 Express has
allowed us to reallocate those key employees to work centers
where they can multi-level their skills and
disciplines.”
In mid-2004, Wesgar
was ready to replace its two remaining mechanical turret punch
presses and once again turned to FINN-POWER for equipment. “It
was time to add capacity, tighten up tolerances, and to
consolidate programming software and tooling,” says Thwaites.
“Running two types of OEM punching technology was not an
efficient way to run the plant.”
 Wesgar management formed a
second technical team to review production requirements, the
current customer base, and what current and future fabrication
processes would be.
“We had selected
FINN-POWER as the equipment OEM of the future,” explains
Thwaites. “But we had to decide on what type of punching
product we needed within the FINN-POWER family.” By utilizing
a single manufacturer, Wesgar was able to simplify its
operator training and ensure that all its operators could run
all of the turret punch presses.
According to Moe
Sadain, production manager with Wesgar, after months of
self-examination, which included lean manufacturing training
from an outside consultant, the company found that its needs
were not in the area of high-volume punching.
“We discovered that
we needed a smaller machine that was more flexible for both
small and occasional large volume jobs, as well as forming
capabilities.”
Adds Al Purdey,
manager, quality and continuous improvement, “An analysis of
the jobs going through our plant showed that 60-70% of them
required one or two blanks. While we were pleased with the F6
Express, we were running 80% of our volume on one machine. We
wanted to spread this work over three machines with shared
tooling and programming.” Having the three machines gives
Wesgar the ability to insert customer rush jobs without
disrupting the production schedule and also provides for quick
turnaround on customer prototypes.
In mid-2004, Wesgar
decided to purchase two C5 hydraulic turret punch presses from
FINN-POWER. The 20-station, 33-ton C5 hydraulic turret punch
press has a maximum sheet capacity of 50 in x 100 in. (1270 mm
x 2500 mm) and is available with either Siemens or Fanuc
controls.
Tooling flexibility
is also important to Wesgar. Up to 10 auto-index and
Multi-Tool holders may be installed in a FINN-POWER turret.
Wesgar has four
Multi-Tool cassettes in both C5 turret punch presses-two 24
stations, one 10 station, and an 8 station. Wesgar also has
four full tonnage auto-index stations and two indexable
upforming stations in each turret, for a total of 82 tools in
each machine. Unique to the C5 turret punch press, full
tonnage indexable upforming allows complex forming operations
to be made quickly by using a single forming tool. An index
mechanism is used to turn the forming tool into an NC
programmed angle.
FINN-POWER’s
upforming feature provides a precise process for knock-outs,
louvers, and other forming. FINN-POWER resolved the
conventional problem of the die height impeding free sheet
movement. FINN-POWER’s design allows forming heights up to
0.62 in. (16 mm) with the forms made by the die moving upwards
and then retracting, allowing completely free sheet movement,
eliminating scratched or jammed sheets.
 Special tooling is also
important to Wesgar. The company has 120 different types of
specials to emboss, lance, form, countersink, counterbore,
knockouts, etc. The C5’s new HNC100 digital servo ram controls
allow Wesgar to punch 0.25 in. HRS right down to 0.020 in.
polycarbonate materials with fully M2 guided punches as small
as 0.031 in. in diameter.
The C5’s large trap
door was another important feature for Wesgar. FINN-POWER’s
Catch and Carry work chute allows the
reception of several components to 19.7 in. x 19.7 in. (500 mm
x 500 mm) and subsequent stacking. “A large percentage of our
parts can pass through the trap door, thereby eliminating the
entire shaker part process,” explains Thwaites.
 With the stringent cosmetic
requirements of its customers, Wesgar purchased the vacuum
slug remover option along with the fully guided Multi-Tools
and their solid one-piece stripper plates, and the brush
tables in order to reduce part marking to an absolute
minimum.
And how have the two
C5’s performed since their installation? “Before the addition
of the C5s, we were running 24/7,” explains Thwaites.
 “Today, we are running 24/5 and sales
are up
10%…basically running fewer shifts and producing
more. In essence, we’ve gained 28% capacity and increased
throughput 35-40%.”
This article
appeared in the October 2004 issue of Industrial Laser
Solutions for a copy, contact Tiina Alanko at (847) 781 3287
or tiina@finnpower.com
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710
Remington Road 
Volume 15 Issue 1 - July
2005