Product category:
Mould, Die and Tool Making Subcontracting Services
News Release from: Mason Pinder Toolmakers | Subject: Tool upgrade
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 11 December 2006
Tool upgrade gets rapid turnaround
When Hashimoto was asked to upgrade a sill tool for one of its customers, the company achieved a rapid turnaround of less than 100 hours using Mason Pinder Toolmaker's MRM service.
When Hashimoto of Boldon, Tyne and Wear, one of Britain's leading moulded plastic component suppliers in the automotive sector, was asked to upgrade a sill tool for one of its customers, the company achieved a rapid turnaround of less than 100 hours using Mason Pinder Toolmaker's MRM service Hashimoto makes door channels, roof mouldings, grilles, wheel covers, sills and other automotive parts at its Boldon plant using a variety of metal and plastic forming techniques, including injection moulding with a full range of injection moulding machines up to 1600 tonne clamping force
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 17 Sep 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Hashimoto's customer decided that modifications and upgrades were required to the tool to ease part fits tolerances to enable better quality and faster production line assembly.
After agreeing on the upgrade work required, Hashimoto worked with Mason Pinder's design team, to produce new digital designs from the original manufacturer's paper plans and actual tool measurements to give a digital image of the tool.
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This allowed all of its sub-components, associated cutting data and electrode creation data to be held on a central database for use with Mason Pinder's CAD/CAM facility and computer-integrated tool production system.
Not only did this work allow the current upgrade to be completed rapidly and economically, but it also enables Mason Pinder to provide a fast and responsive service for all replaceable parts on the tools so that Hashimoto's downtime could be minimised in the future by the supply of completely compatible tool parts in hours if necessary.
This work allowed Hashimoto to specify both modification and routine refurbishment at the same time as the upgrade was under way.
It also allowed Mason Pinder to manufacture all electrodes and new tool parts, ready for machining and fitting at Mason Pinder's Doncaster plant as soon as the Hashimoto sill tool could be released from production work.
This preparatory work enabled Mason Pinder to carry out all work at Thorne for Hashimoto in less than 100 hours.
Much of the machining was completed using the MECOF 5-axis high speed milling machine, which can handle individual tools up to 4 metres in length, while finish machining was completed using an ONA spark eroder.
In a project like this planning is everything, but a key factor for Mason Pinder was the ability to digitise every aspect of the tooling, even though it was originally manufactured from 'paper plans'.
Where only incomplete references were available Mason Pinder could 'reverse engineer' for smaller tool sub-components and pre-manufacture all sub-assemblies before the tool arrived ready for work.
In the event, the complete tool upgrade took less than four working days to complete, with total downtime of less than six days for Hashimoto.
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