Over $160,000 in Added Value
Slug Free® Dies Eliminate Slug Pulling
Increased green light time and improved part quality are always at the top of an opportunities for improvement list. Mate’s sales engineers have years of experience on the shop floor so they can readily spot issues that impact performance.
Mate Regional Sales Manager Peter Visser was on a routine sales visit to his customer, a manufacturer of commercial food service equipment. During the visit he went to the shop floor inquiring about any needs and checking their existing tooling. Peter was looking at their dies when he noticed they had a negative taper. Upon seeing these, he asked them if they pulled slugs. They answered yes and that it was a daily event.
SLUG FREE® DIES ELIMINATE A COSTLY PROBLEM
Slug pulling is a condition where the slug returns to the top of the sheet during the stripping portion of the punching cycle. The slug comes between the punch and the top of the sheet on the next cycle, causing damage to the part and tooling. The daily slug pulling the company was experiencing caused all too frequent machine downtime and excessive scrap. Since the company had two punch presses, it was an even bigger issue.
Peter immediately knew he could help with Mate’s Slug Free® dies. Mate Slug Free dies are designed with an opening that has a constriction point below the surface so the slug cannot return once it passes this point. Once the slug is separated from the punch, it is free to fall away from the punching area. Slug pulling is eliminated.
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ADDED VALUE: OVER $160,000
Increased Green Light Time:
The company benefited from the extra capacity generated by the increased green light time. An average shop pulls at least one slug a day, creating a loss of at least one sheet, plus the downtime to resolve the problem. On average, it can easily take 15 minutes to scrap the sheet, reload and prepare to restart. For OEM manufactures, Mate has observed that the value to the organization when a given function is producing is between $400 to $600+ per hour.
- 15 minutes/day x 252 working days = 3,780 minutes/year x 2 machines = 7,560 minutes/year /60 = 126 annual hours of increased green light time
Estimated Annual Increased Green Light Time: $400 per hour x 126 hours = $50,400
Additional Savings:
Mate Slug Free dies also provided the company with over $100,000 in additional savings through reduced scrap and related labor.
Reduced Scrap:
• 2 machines x 1 sheet = 2 sheets/day x 252 working days x $200/sheet = $100,800
Reduced Labor:
- 15 minutes/day x 252 working days = 3,780 minutes/year x 2 machines = 7,560 minutes/year 7,560 minutes/60 = 126 hours/year x $90/hour shop loaded labor rate = $11,340
Net Annual Additional Savings from Reduce Scrap and Related Labor = $112,140
Total Value Added: $162,150
