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Tower Automotive Case Study
Tower Automotive had a cross member assembly that they were supplying to an OEM. They had an opportunity to upgrade the manufacturing process for this unit when they had to move a projection welding cell to another facility. Tower wanted to streamline the nut welding process and turned to Milco Manufacturing to make it happen.
Milco designed a new cell that met Tower's goals. The previous process used a robotic material handler and stationary nut welder. Milco designed a new machine that could weld the four nuts simultaneously to complete the same task but with several advantages.
The new machine required much less floor space and produced higher quality parts. Included in the cell were active nut sensing and error proofing equipment that eliminated the need for a secondary inspection operation. "We were able to reduce overall cycle time by 50%" said Douglas Marsh, Welding and Robotics Manager at Tower.
Tier One suppliers always need to become more efficient. Milco helped Tower to more efficient and more profitable.
We recently purchased a resistance welder from Milco. Our previous process used a robotic material handler and stationary nut welder to produce an cross member. We were able to design a much smaller automated cell.
The replacement machine was significantly faster. In fact, our overall cycle time reduced by 50%, allowing use to do away with a 2nd shift. The active nut sensing and error proofing eliminated the need for a secondary inspection operation. In the end, the new machine was smaller, faster, and produced higher quality parts.
Douglas Marsh
Tower Automotive
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