CLEVELAND, OH—November 11, 2019—Anchor Manufacturing Group, Inc., Cleveland, OH, has received the 2019 Zierick Manufacturing Corporation Productivity Award as part of the Precision Metalforming Association’s (PMA) Awards of Excellence in Metalforming. The manufacturer specializes in high-strength aluminum assemblies, stainless-steel exhaust products, safety-critical parts, steering-column components and assemblies, and appearance parts. Anchor won the award for productivity gains realized on its crash tube line, which manufactures three steering-column crash tubes. 

Improving the crash tube line was challenging due to tight part tolerances and high throughput expectations. Also challenging was the complexity of the line, which includes a forming machine with five stations, a pierce machine with nine stations, two CNCs, a deburring operation, a parts washer, a stencil unit, and a restrike press.

The first major improvements occurred on the form and pierce equipment to correct mechanical issues with the equipment as well as quality issues with the parts. Investigation of a galling issue in the forming machine revealed oil sprayers getting bumped out of position and not spraying on the location of the tube required for effective lubrication. This was corrected by hard-lining the lube system. Anchor also worked with the lube supplier to perform analyses on the lube at different frequencies after a tank recharge. This helped determine when the system needed to be recharged and led to the addition of an appropriate preventive maintenance schedule.

In addition, parts falling and jamming at the conveyers between the form and pierce machines caused downtime and scrap. To fix this, Anchor engineered, built, and implemented a pick-and-place system to move parts from one machine to the other. As for part quality, tubes exhibited slots out of location along the length of the tube as well as missing holes. Anchor corrected these issues through the implementation of LVDT sensors and in-line cameras.

Lastly, the two CNCs and the deburring operation required three total associates—one operator for each. In reviewing this, Anchor determined that too much time was spent on non-value-added activities, and the CNC machine cycle time needed to be decreased. Anchor then worked with a company to fully automate the CNC operations using a gantry pick-and-place system and two robots.

Anchor achieved numerous benefits as a result of the productivity improvements, including increased customer satisfaction due to improved on-time delivery and quality, and an annual savings of more than $567,000 from scrap reduction and increased efficiency. Anchor’s average scrap rate between the three parts was reduced from 3.9 to 1.35 percent. Additionally, the company went from running 181 parts per hour with five associates to running 240 parts per hour with two associates.

 

The Productivity Award is one of seven Awards of Excellence in Metalforming, presented annually by PMA. Sponsored by Zierick Manufacturing Corp., Mount Kisco, NY, the award recognizes outstanding achievement by a manufacturing company in the development and implementation of programs, processes and use of assets that lead to significant improvements in productivity.  

PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $137-billion metalforming industry of North America—the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming and roll forming technologies, and other value-added processes. Its nearly 800 member companies also include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. PMA leads innovative member companies toward superior competitiveness and profitability through advocacy, networking, statistics, the PMA Educational Foundation, FABTECH and METALFORM Mexico tradeshows, and MetalForming and 3D Metal Printing magazines.

Editor’s Note:  For more information on PMA’s Awards of Excellence in Metalforming, visit www.pma.org/awards.