Over $200,000 of Additional Green Light Time Annually and More
Mate Ultra TEC® Fully-Guided Tooling Reduces Setup Time
The world’s leading manufacturer of commercial ice and beverage systems was evaluating its parting tool performance. It heard about Mate’s fully-guided parting tool design, which was supposed to be very durable and outperform competitive products. Mate Ultra TEC® fully guided tools have a tighter clearance between punch and stripper compared to other tooling, which makes a big difference in rigidity. The complete punch, guide and stripper assembly all align with tight tolerances to remain rigid and stable under difficult punching conditions. Mate’s fully-guided design prevents side-loading and twisting forces from occurring.
SIDE-BY-SIDE TEST PRODUCES A CLEAR WINNER
The company contacted Mate Sales Engineer Jeff Kraus who helped them set up a simple side-by-side test to see what Mate’s fully guided tool could do. The test was performed 10 hours per day by the same machine operator over a five-day period on its four Amada Vipros machines. The Mate Ultra TEC® E Station fully-guided guide assembly used a rectangle punch with a Mate fully-guided double relief clamp clearing stripper and Mate Slug Free® double relief clamp clearing die. The competitor’s product was its E Station guide assembly, with a flat faced slitting insert punch, double relief clamp clearing stripper and double relief clamp clearing die.
By the start of the fourth day, the press operators were complaining about the Brand “X” tool, the press downtime it caused and the time needed at the tool grinder. By 1:00 PM, it was necessary to take the Brand “X” tool out of service. The Mate Ultra TEC fully-guided tool was re-inserted without any sharpening at any time during the test and produced quality parts from the very first sheet.
Mate’s Ultra TEC tools set up in 16 minutes versus 20 minutes for the Brand “X” tools, but the company found that the big difference is in tool life. They were still using the Mate parting tool for 7 months with no sharpening or maintenance of any kind, which saves a considerable amount of time. Their parts are highly cosmetic and have to look exceptional the first time. They don’t have time for secondary operations for burr removal, and scrapping parts is expensive.
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OVER $200,000 GREEN LIGHT TIME AND MORE!
The company’s biggest benefit from Mate Ultra TEC Fully Guided tooling was the extra capacity provided by the increased green light time. For OEM manufacturers, Mate has observed that the value to the organization when a given function is producing is between $400 to $600+ per hour.
Increased Green Light Time from Faster Setups:
- Before:
20 minutes x 8 setups/day = 160 minutes/day X 4 machines = 640 minutes/60 = 10.6 hours/day - After:
16 minutes x 8 setups/day = 128 minutes/day X 4 machines = 512 minutes/60 = 8.5 hours/day - Difference:
10.6 hours/day – 8.5 hours/day = 2.1 hours/day x 252 days = 529 annual hours of increased green light time
Estimated Annual Increased Green Light Time: $400 per hour x 529 hours = $212,000
Additional Savings:
Mate Ultra TEC Fully Guided tooling also provided the company with over $40,000 in additional savings through eliminating daily tool maintenance and secondary operations.
- Eliminating Daily Tool Maintenance:
4 tools x $75 loaded labor rate x 10 hours x 252 days x 5% improvement = $37,800 - Eliminating Secondary Operations:
4 tools x $75 loaded labor rate x 5 hours x 252 days x 5% improvement = $18,900
