Fine blade manufacturer
Illinois
An Illinois manufacturer of slitting blades was struggling to control achieve a .0002” flatness control (results were .0005”) in a turning operation. The blades ranged from 3/8” up to 1”, with the thinnest part being the worst. Similar to the process described here, a series of questions were posed and subsequently answered by the end user.
What came out of the discussion was that there was in fact a linear relationship between the hydraulic pressure of the chuck actuator and the flatness results. Then we posed the question, “why have you not continued to lower the pressure?” It was then that we learned that the cylinder was already at its lowest possible setting and could not be lowered further.
Solution: A smaller cylinder was subsequently recommended in order to reduce the impact of the excessive grip force.
ROI: Delivering a measurable ROI is critical to any productivity improvement project. We conduct an ROI analysis with all of our customers to make sure the investment makes sense. In this case a 4.5% reduction in scrapped parts saved $540 each week. So the solution paid for itself in less than 8 weeks and delivered a 7 times return on investment for the first year.
