Reduce cost and eliminate the potential for Operator repetitive motion injuries.
Design and build new tooling that combined several forming operations into once cycle and develop an automated feed system.
73% increase in product produced per hour and elimination of secondary operation.
At Vulcan Industries Corporation, we continually monitor and improve tooling processes to provide faster and better service to our customers. The following case study demonstrates how tooling redesign increased our output by 80% while significantly reducing our customers’ costs.
• Industry: Motorcycle
• Processes: 2 station manual transfer tube forming die
• Company Background: Vulcan internal process improvement
• Challenge: Increasing production demand required a new process to improve our tube forming capacity
• Assessment: Additional production hours satisfied the increase in demand, however, concerns about the potential for future increases prompted a more thorough review of our manufacturing process.
A significant increase in the demand for pushrod tubes required us to ramp up our production capacity. The existing process utilized a 2-station die to form both ends of a piece of tubing. This required a manual transfer between two forming stations by a full-time press operator. From our process review, it became obvious that a significant increase in the production rate could be realized by eliminating one forming station.
The forming tool was redesigned to consolidate the two forming motions into one by using a combination of double acting cam driven slides to form the tube in the required sequence. This design would only require loading one station, thereby, simplifying the process by reducing motions as well as increasing production rates.
We enhanced the new tool design with automatic loading and unloading of parts. Tubes were stacked into a magazine that provides a constant supply of parts to the loading mechanism allowing the forming press to continually operate.
The new process designed by Vulcan allowed for an 80% increase in the output of the forming press and allowed for a decrease in the cost of the product for our customers.
At Vulcan Industries, we engage in continuous innovation to improve our production quality and capacity. All our solutions aim to reduce manufacturing costs and provide superior customer service. Contact us today to find out how we can help with your motorcycle manufacturing solutions.
At Vulcan Industries Corporation, years of experience with troubleshooting manufacturing processes gives us the unique ability to improve quality and control costs. The following case study demonstrates how we helped a customer minimize recurring defects from our tubing supplier.
• Industry: Motorcycle
• Processes: Tubing manufacturing, cutoff, forming, polishing, and plating
• Company Background: Vulcan project
• Challenge: During the production of push rod covers, defect rates after chrome plating had increased significantly due to faults in the material that were not removed during the polishing process. These defects showed up on an annual basis for approximately 5 months, and would drop off for around 7 months.
• Assessment: Sample parts were sent to an independent laboratory for analysis of the defective material. A problem in the manufacturing process was the source for deep pitting in a straight line down the length of the tube. A further review of the process determined that the defects could be originating from the annealing operation.
Plymouth Tube, our tube supplier, contacted an annealing furnace consultant to determine if the defects could be attributed to the annealing operation. The consultant identified 2 annealing furnace areas that contributed to this specific defect.
1.- The openings at either end of the annealing furnace were greater than required, thus allowing the atmospheric gas to escape.
2.- A fan for the operator was placed near the inlet side of the furnace, allowing contaminated air to enter the atmospherically-controlled furnace. Contamination from the furnace rollers could be imbedded into the wall of the tubing creating a straight line of defects. Coincidentally, the furnace maintenance and cleaning occurred annually, coinciding with a dramatic decrease in defects.
The openings at the ends of the furnace were reduced to minimize the atmospheric gas from escaping the furnace. The fan was removed from the area to prevent contamination of the furnace atmosphere. Rollers were cleaned by running a large plate of steel through the furnace prior to annealing our tubing.
The improvements have had a positive impact on all of Plymouths’ annealed tubes. Defect rates were reduced from a high of 12% to the current rate of 0.5%.
At Vulcan Industries, we are experts at identifying and resolving manufacturing inefficiencies. Contact us today to find out how we can help with your motorcycle manufacturing solutions.
