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Brazilian
Agricultural Manufacturer
Saves Time & Money with
Shear Genius
| Kepler
Weber Industrial S.A. has earned the reputation
as the leading company in grain storage installations
in the Latin America, African, Middle East,
and Asian market. These installations are manufactured
for use in grain storage units, food industries,
industrial installations, and distribution. |
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The
Kepler Weber Group was founded in 1925 as a small blacksmith
shop in Panambi, a Brazilian city located 380 kilometers west
of Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do
Sul.
Over
the past 77 years, Kepler Weber Industrial S.A. has earned
the reputation as the leading company in grain storage
installations in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East,
and Asia. In Brazil, Kepler Weber has captured 70% of the
market. The company designs and constructs approximately
500 installations per year. These installations are manufactured
for use in grain storage units, food industries, industrial
installations, and distribution.
Kepler Weber’s Panambi facilities have
59,000 square meters of space and 1,250 employees in such departments as
product engineering, projects, and equipment manufacturing.
Through the utilization of modern manufacturing techniques
and a continuous search for improvements, Kepler Weber maintains
a high standard for product quality and customer service.
In 1997, the company was awarded ISO 9001 certification.
Sheet metal fabrication is a major part of the manufacturing
process for Kepler Weber products. The company fabricates
approximately 4,200 tons of sheet metal each month – 60%
carbon steel and 40% galvanized. To produce its products,
the company has utilized such machines as stamping presses,
press brakes, shears, cut-to-length lines, welding machines,
lasers, plasma cutting machine, and a stand alone turret
punch press. In 2001, the directors of Kepler Weber decided
to search for a way to increase production and productivity
to accommodate the increased demand.
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Sheet
metal
fabrication is a
major part of the
manufacturing
process for
Kepler Weber
products. The
company fabricates
approximately 4,200
tons of sheet metal
each month –
60% carbon steel and 40% galvanized. |
After
careful consideration, Kepler Weber chose the Finn-Power Shear
Genius Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC) to increase
their productivity. The heart of the Shear Genius is an
integrated
turret punch press/right angle shear. With the Shear Genius
concept, the objective is to provide one machine capable
of transforming full-sized sheets into finished parts. These
parts can be moved to final production stages for immediate
integration directly into final product assembly. The Shear
Genius accomplishes all of this in less floor space – approximately
9 meters of space to fabricate raw material into finished
parts on one machine.
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The
Finn-Power Shear Genius loads a full-sized
sheet
for processing. |
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The Shear Genius ease of operation does not compromise the
cell’s per minute part production, flexibility, or
ability to fabricate complex parts. On average, Shear Genius
reduces total manufacturing time by 60% and saves one blank
sheet out of every 10.
Shear
Genius fabricates with sophisticated simplicity – able
to perform the most demanding jobs with minimal set-up times
and “lights
out” operation. Shear Genius increases
material productivity through efficient and versatile nesting
programs. As loading, punching, and shearing of parts become
automated, the result is finished parts with a dramatic reduction
in scrap and manual labor while increasing profitability.
The level of automation can be customized through Finn-Power’s
flexible modular solutions for raw material storage, loading,
unloading, sorting, and stacking. These features can be added
later as budgets allow and production demands increase.
“Shear Genius has
saved Kepler Weber a great deal of material handling. Before
the
Shear Genius, we
would have to
shear the sheets into blanks before we could punch. Now we
can utilize full size sheets to load, punch, shear, and unload
the finished part automatically. It has dramatically reduced
the amount of material handling we must perform.”
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| Paulo
Renato Ludvig, Kepler Weber’s Methods
and Process and Tools Development Supervisor
(left) and ASAMAQ’s Antonio Carlos Valente
dos Santos discuss the substantial material
handling savings afforded by the Shear Genius
since its installation. |
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Kepler Weber purchased the Finn-Power Shear Genius with the
loader, turret punch/right angle shear combination, and unload
during the last quarter of 2001. According to Marcio Mauro
da Rosa, Production Manager, the Shear Genius was a timely
investment for Kepler Weber. “Our busy season traditionally
extends from August to February,” explains da Rosa. “This
year it extended to April. The Shear Genius helped us meet
this increased demand. We expect the same demand for next
year.”
Kepler
Weber purchases its sheet metal in both sheet and coil. The
company has two cut-to-length lines to process
the coils into sheets. The Finn-Power Shear Genius can accommodate
the full sized sheets of 3 meters x 1.5 meters. Paulo Renato
Ludvig, Methods and Process and Tools Development Supervisor
reports that the Shear Genius has saved Kepler Weber a great
deal of material handling. “Before the Shear Genius,
we would have to shear the sheets into blanks before we could
punch,” explains Ludvig. “Now we can utilize
full size sheets to load, punch, shear, and unload the finished
part automatically. It has dramatically reduced the amount
of material handling we must perform.”
To keep set up times to a minimum, up to 10 auto-index, forming,
and Multi-Tool® stations may be installed in a Finn-Power
turret. Finn-Power’s approach to auto-index is completely
different than that of other builders. The auto-index system
is built rigidly into the upper and lower frame of the press
and engages the auto-index tool holders for tool rotation.
This system allows you to add or change the index stations
or Multi-Tool® stations at anytime. The system precisely
rotates the punch and die in their tool holders using a single
A.C. servo-motor system. The system does not need to match
different servo motors as in other machines. Rotation in
.001 degree programmable increments gives the machine the
ability to rotate infinitely beyond 360 degrees. This allows
the system to automatically select the shortest path to rotate
to a programmed angle input into the NC programs with simplicity,
speed, and reliability.
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A
third sheet clamp together with Programmable Clamp
Settings enables a clamp to be moved during the program.
This feature eliminates dead zones and allows 100%
of the material to be utilized. |
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The
same clamps that are used for punching and forming
are also used for shearing. This assures the greatest
degree of accuracy. |
“ Process times
for four parts were recently compared and the times savings
of producing the parts on the Finn-Power Shear Genius ran as
high as 5:15 minutes. We are very happy with the performance
of the Shear Genius. While we are still learning the many benefits
and features of the machine, we produced over 1,000 parts with
an up time of over 84% with the Shear Genius on the first day
of production.”
Kepler Weber currently has four auto-index and two Multi-Tool® stations.
The Shear Genius concept combined with the shorter set up
times for tooling has dramatically reduced production times
for the 1,125 different parts currently produced on the Shear
Genius. According to da Rosa, process times for four parts
were recently compared and the times savings of producing
the parts on the Finn-Power Shear Genius ran as high as 5:15
minutes. “We are very happy with the performance of
the Shear Genius,” says da Rosa. “While we are
still learning the many benefits and features of the machine,
we produced over 1,000 parts with an up time of over 84%
with the Shear Genius on the first day of production.”
Other features of the F Series turret punch press include:
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Programmable
Clamp settings (PCS) is a Finn-Power patented feature
that controls the central locking system of the sheet
clamp system. PCS provides automatic positioning of
the work clamp according to the NC program. By setting
PCS at the beginning of an NC program, the CNC control
positions the clamps, automatically keeping them from
traversing to an unwanted position. |
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A
third sheet clamp together with PCS enables a clamp
to be moved during the program. This feature eliminates
dead zones and allows 100% of the material to be utilized. |
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Brush
tables are standard on all Finn-Power turret punch
presses and provide for better material support during
punching, noise reduction and reduces surface scratches. |
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Through
the utilization of modern manufacturing techniques
and a continuous search for improvements, Kepler
Weber maintains a high standard for product quality
and customer service. In 1997 the company was awarded
ISO 9001 certification. |
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 710
Remington Road
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA
Phone: (847) 885 3200
Fax: (847) 885 9692
www.finnpower.com
 Volume
13 Issue 1 -
July 2003
Finn-Power
reserves the right to change technical specifications without
prior notice.
Finn-Power is a registered trademark. All other product
names identified throughout this publication are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2003
by Finn-Power International, Inc.
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