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Shear Genius Technology Advantage Pays Dividends for East Coast Job Shop
Harry Monteith, Jr. (left) and his son John purchased the Finn-Power Shear Genius in 2002 after researching all the existing fabrication technology that was available at the time. |
When
Harry Monteith, Jr. created his job shop in Stratford, NJ,
with his brother Mike and another partner in a 3-car garage
in 1967, their hard work sometimes made quite an impact on
the neighborhood. "Our shop was located in a residential
area. When we would use the arc welder, all the images on
the television screens in the entire block would shrink," recalls
Monteith with a smile. "I think the neighbors were very glad
to see us move."
From this inauspicious beginning, the little
job shop evolved into P&M Industries, Inc., a respected ISO
9001:2000 certified contract manufacturer with 70 employees
and a 50,000-square-foot-facility in Thorofare, NJ, near
Philadelphia.
Two years ago, Monteith and his son John,
who is now the company's president, consolidated their operation
by adding 25,000 square feet to their building. In the challenging
economy of 2002, the Monteith's also decided to invest in
the latest sheet metal fabrication equipment. "Over the past
four years, more than 20 fabricating shops went out of business
in the New Jersey area," reflects the elder Monteith. "These
days you have to contend with both foreign and domestic competition.
With the labor cost advantages of China, for example, automated
equipment is the only way to compete." Adds John Monteith: "The
name of the game is 'be competitive'...or
you're not going to be in business. Our company's strength
has always been diversification and our investment in new
technology. We believe that in the long term, the surviving
players in our industry will be the ones that have the right
equipment."
Today
P&M Industries' serves such industries as electronics, medical,
bar scanning, gardening, and gaming. The sheet metal they
fabricate includes: carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.
Discovering
Shear Genius
P&M Industries utilized mechanical
turret punch presses since the early 1980s. The company discovered
automation in the form of a loader in 1988. In October, 2002,
after researching all the existing fabrication technology
available, P&M
Industries chose the Shear Genius Flexible Manufacturing Cell from Finn-Power. "Although
some competitors were offering incredible discounts on their machines during
this time, we felt that the Finn-Power Shear Genius technology had more to offer," explains
Harry Monteith.
"We've only scratched the surface on the capabilities of this machine."
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 30 feet of space to fabricate raw material into
finished parts - on one machine.
In order to make an educated decision, the
Monteith's visited Finn-Power customers
in Indiana and Ohio. They also participated in Finn-Power's annual Technology
Trip to Finland. "We toured Finn-Power customers' factories and I talked
to as many operators who spoke English as I could," says Harry Monteith. "You
can get a very good critique from the people operating the machines. We heard
nothing but great comments on the Shear Genius at all the shops."
The 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.
"We really like the modularity capability of the Shear Genius. For some machine manufacturers, reconfiguring an add-on is a major problem. But with Finn-Power, you can build on what you have - even adding a Night Train storage and retrieval system at some later date."
"We really like the modularity capability
of the Shear Genius," states Harry
Monteith. "For some machine manufacturers, reconfiguring an add-on is
a major problem. But with Finn-Power, you can build on what you have - even
adding a Night Train Material Management System at some later date."
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| With the Shear Genius concept, the objective is to provide one machine capable of transforming full-sized sheets into finished parts. The Shear Genius will automatically load, punch, form, shear, and unload, slashing labor costs, increasing material utilization, and eliminating such secondary operations such as deburring tabs marks. |
Reducing
Costs
The Shear Genius eliminates the potential
of mistakes when manually shearing a large sheet. In the
Shear Genius, the sheet is loaded and squared automatically,
and there is no human interference, ensuring very accurate
parts. In fact, the same clamps that hold the sheet for punching
also hold it for shearing. In essence, the Shear Genius allows
the automated process to begin with a full-sized sheet of
material and end with a finished part after automated loading,
punching, forming, shearing, and unloading - all
in one operation.
In addition, the Shear Genius eliminates wasteful
skeletons and costly secondary operations such as deburring.
Nibble edges on the part exteriors were eliminated through
the use of the integrated right angle shear.
"One of big
issues that we face with customers is when you fabricate
multiple shake & break parts resulting in tabs and nibble
marks that are present with a conventional turret punch
press," explains John Monteith. "We
don't
get them anymore with the Shear Genius. This fact helped us win a
job recently with a customer who specified no
nibble marks. We've
only scratched the surface on the capabilities of this machine."
Other
benefits of the Shear Genius include:
Tool Holders - Finn-Power
incorporates an individual tool holder concept that allows
customers to design their own turret layouts. Unlike other
designs, specific tool stations are not machined into the
turret. Finn-Power offers the only flexible selection of
tool holders in the industry. Any tooling style from Mate
Precision Tooling or Wilson Tool International can be installed
in a Finn-Power turret. To keep setup times to a minimum, up
to 10 auto-index, forming, or Multi-Tool® stations
may be installed in a Finn-Power turret.
Auto-Index -
Finn-Power's unique auto-index system precisely rotates the
punch and die in their tool holders using a single A.C. servo-motor
system. The system allows rotation in .001 degree programmable
increments giving the machine the ability to rotate beyond
360 degrees. This permits the system to automatically select
the shortest path to rotate to a programmed angle input into
the NC part program with simplicity, speed, and reliability.
Multi-Tool® - Finn-Power's
Multi-Tool stations increase the number of tools available
in a turret, thus reducing set-up and increasing productivity.
The Multi-Tool system allows multiple tools to be put in
one station. Finn-Power Multi-Tool offers 6, 8, 10, or
24 different punch/die combinations in only one station-a
turret within a turret. Using a 40 station alpha/numeric
Multi-Tool part identification programs are fast and easily
accomplished.
Upward Forming System - Finn-Power's
upward forming option provides more accurate forming and
greater forming heights up to 16 mm (.63") and 5" in diameter.
Another advantage is that all dies are at the same height
and there are more high-forming dies in the turret, thus,
reducing risk of material damage and increasing machine uptime.
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, the Finn-Power Shear Genius reduces
total manufacturing time by 60% and saves one blank sheet
out of every 10.
And how has the Shear Genius been accepted
by the employees at P&M Industries? "In
the beginning there was some resistance to the new technology," explains
Harry Monteith. "Often
people don't like change. They are sometimes afraid that
automation will replace them. However, every time we have
purchased automated equipment, we have hired more people.
Today, our employees know the features and benefits of the
Shear Genius machine and have become very comfortable with
it. Every day we hear comments like: 'Hey,
let's
put it on the Finn.'"
Tapping New Features
In the future, P&M Industries
plans to install a tapping unit in the Shear Genius, once
the production quantity increases. The company also utilizes
the "lights
out" feature of the Shear Genius. "Of all our machines, the
Shear Genius is the most dependable for overnight operations," says
Monteith. "We've
also been very pleased with the service provided from Finn-Power.
If we have a problem today, a Finn-Power tech is here tomorrow."
For a copy of this article, contact Tiina Alanko at (847) 781 3287 or tiina@finnpower.com
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710
Remington Road 
Volume
14 Issue 2 -
December 2004