T-SIM Software helps transfer press run in Full Auto...

They said it couldn’t be done!

The Project: 7 station transfer die (Existing Tooling)

The Problem: Transfer system could not run in automatic mode

• Press required 8 operators, manually transferring material between strokes (4 inside of the press envelop)
• Nobody could design end of arm tooling that could fit and run in such a tight space
• Many unsuccessful attempts with a variety of arms (large die caused space restrictions)
• Several outside vendors told said it couldn’t be solved

The Solution:

• Being the first project with this specific transfer press, a T-SIM provider went on location to the North Carolina stamping plant to gather the basic press and transfer information. While on location, the T-SIM provider also took an inventory of the “unusable” arms that were tried in the transfer.
• At that point, the T-SIM operator ran a full simulation and designed new arms/fingers using many of the “unusable” arm parts the customer had already purchased.
• Once the end of arm tooling was designed, the T-SIM software operator then optimized the entire transfer system with the press, transfer, transfer bars/arms and the of course, the die to provide a new transfer timing recipe along with new setup sheets.
• T-SIM Software provided proof of concept for the new arm design along with the settings to run it.
• It all came together, re-entered production quickly and reached the maximum press speed.
• We were even told there was a crowd for setup and the spectators resembled those of a space shuttle launch. Everyone sitting in suspense, waiting and watching for the take off. That’s just another day a T-SIM Solutions!

The Result:

• 70% Increase in production speed.
• 50% reduction in labor cost.
• Safer working environment.

Re-entering production with the new T-SIM settings and arms was somewhat of a spectator event. Everyone told us it couldn’t be done, but T-SIM software told us that it should work. We were all curious to plug in their settings and see if it would actually cycle. Sure enough, it worked. -Don Mekkes, Tooling Engineer