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How
to Avoid Productivity Losses
by
Jim Sojka
Vice President of Sales
Wila USA
Losses
in productivity do mean losses in profit margin. Plain and
simply. There is no other reason for profit margin losses.
You are not in business to trade dollars - trading dollars
equals to under bidding a job just to keep the equipment and
shop personnel working. Sooner or later doing business like
that can and will shut your doors.
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In today's working environment it is very important to bid
jobs properly and to produce parts efficiently. How is that
accomplished? How does a metal fabricator produce parts proficiently
without purchases of major equipment?
In your shop you may have a laser
machine, and/or a turret punching machine, if you don't you
must consider a purchase soon if you want to stay competitive.
Let's say you have a laser and/or a turret-punching machine
- what are the cut pieces of metal funneled to? Perhaps a
mechanical press brake with long set up time in tooling and
shimming, or perhaps a hydraulic press brake with "good
old American plain tooling". Press brake tooling that
is manufactured with perhaps 25RC material and manufactured
on a planner with length tolerances of +/- 0.01" per
foot does not guarantee quality formed parts efficiently.
Far from it, what this type of tooling will guarantee is lost
productivity, which equals to reduced profit margins.
With today's shop rate of $60.00
an hour or more, producing quality parts faster with less
scrap on your press brake is very important to the bottom
line - YOUR BOTTOM LINE. Today's high feature press
brakes with ram and back gauge tolerances of +/- 0.0004"
require high quality and high tolerance press brake tooling.
And another requirement to look for in high quality and high
tolerance press brake tooling is quick change.
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On the market today there are three types of tooling - American
- European and the New Standard. We are all familiar with
American and European press brake tooling. We are all familiar
with segmented tooling, either American or European however;
the New Standard tooling has many advantages over tooling
that is available.
The New Standard press brake tooling
is manufactured from high alloy material, precision ground
to 0.004" and CNC deep hardened to 58/60 RC at all wear
points. And a great feature is the world patented "quick
change button". The New Standard quick change tooling
out performs other so-called quick change tooling systems
8 to 10 times faster. Changing press brake tooling with the
fastest tooling change system on the market means higher productivity,
which equals to an increased profit margin.
Change press brake tooling vertically
- not sliding tooling horizontally. Have your press brake
tooling system seat, center and align automatically - fast
and efficiently in less than 10 seconds. Have your press brake
tooling maintain its high machined precision tolerances 10
times + longer than any press brake tooling in today's market.
The New Standard tooling is manufactured
for today's demands of high quality parts with the least amount
of time to produce. Your laser and turret punching machines
continue to produce blanks at speeds that was unheard of five
years ago. However, forming those blanks continue on older
press brakes using press brake tooling that were first designed
in the 1920's is not the way for a greater profit margin.
American style tooling was designed in the 1920's although
the tooling you use today may have been manufactured yesterday.
A 1920 design is still a 1920 design.
Be efficient in your press brake
department, be more productive in your press brake department,
be ready for today's demand of quality formed parts in a lean
manufacturing environment.
For
more information, please contact:
Wila USA
9135 Guilford Road
Columbia, MD 21046
Tel: 301-490-9652
Fax: 301-490-3991
www.wilausa.com
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710
Remington Road