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continued from page 21“With the old method of production, our cost was$9/grille. With Finn-Power, our cost is $3/grille.We make 60,000 of these parts a year.”One challenging part for King Electric was a grille whichhas a louver at 54 degree for the intake air and a louver at90 degrees for discharge air. The punch height of the toolon the old mechanical turret could not be changed so thiswas a 2-step operation. On the Finn-Power C5,King Electric is able to make these louvers in a singleoperation on a nested sheet, which allows the company toproduce 24 parts on a 4’ x 8’ sheet, reducing the cost from$9/grille to $3/grille.labor and no load/unload labor. “With the oldmethod of production, our cost was $9/grille,”continues Wilson. “With Finn-Power, our costis $3/grille. We make 60,000 of these parts ayear. In addition, the C5 Compact Expresshas allowed us to bring all of the $250,000outsourcing to job shops back in-house. Thatwas a plus to the bottom line from the first daythe C5 Express was installed. The firstprograms that I wrote were for the outsourcedparts.”According to King Electric, the Finn-PowerC5 Compact Express has created a differentway of thinking and a different philosophy inrunning the shop. “There has been a culturechange in our company,” says Wilson. “We aremoving forward, and the benefits are becomingmore obvious every day. Our materialutilization has increased dramatically toapproximately 85%. The full-sized sheets werun negate the premium for pre-sheared blanks.Common line cutting helps with that materialutilization and cuts down on the amount ofscrap and skeletons. We no longer have WIPinventory all over the shop floor. When we run500 heaters, all the matching parts are comingoff the machine together. This creates anefficient work flow throughout our factory.”Other features of the C5 Compact Expressinclude:■ Super fast servo hydraulic punching –Nibbling speeds up to 1100 hpm. Theservo-controlled ram, stroke speed, andposition are fully and individually adjustablein both directions. Another benefit isdifferent punching modes (punch, QuietPunch, downforming, and marking).■ Easy loading – Four optimally-positionedgauge pins allow easy loading of blanks orfull-sized sheets. Sheet loading is performedwith a simple push and always close to thetable edge. Sheet supports rise from thetable to allow easy positioning of heavymaterial.■ Efficient unloading – The C5 delivers theprocessed components to a freelyprogrammable position on the table,increasing the operator’s efficiency. Theentire material flow on the C5 can beconducted from just one side. This allowsfor simple and efficient logistics and enablesthe machine to be positioned anywhere onthe shop floor – even in a corner.■ Automatic Clamp Setting & Movement –Finn-Power’s patented automatic clampsetting PCS is a standard C5 feature. Itautomatically positions sheet clampsaccording to the numerical program, virtuallyeliminating dead zones. When changingproduction from full size to small sheets,clamp settings can be made automaticallywithout wasting operator time.■ Work Chute -- Finn-Power’s work chute isnot just a drop door or a work chute in theordinary sense. Its mechanism allows thereception of several components to 19.7” x19.7” in size onto a level from which theysubsequently exit from the machine as astack.Lights Out ManufacturingThe C5 Compact Express runs 40/weekand often is performing lights out productionfor jobs running as long as 16 – 20 hours.Wilson has the C5 Compact Express hookedup with a web cam so that he can monitor themachine at night. “The C5 has become themechanism that allows us maintain control overour factory operations,” says Wilson. “Nowwhen we quote a lead time to a customer, wemeet it. Lead times that were 10 – 12 weeks arenow 2 – 3 weeks. Today, we are almost buildingto order…we are producing in real time. Thereis a lot of predictability. It certainly takes out alot of stress for our managers.”Wilson believes that the C5 CompactExpress has revolutionized his company’smanufacturing operations. “The Finn-Powermachine has accelerated our technology by 30years.” Wilson identifies other key benefits as:■ Eliminating secondary operations and gettingmore work off the turret. “We can use theWilson rolling shear, rib, and offset – whichwere normally press brake operations – andthe rolling wheel allows us to cut out largecircles…without having to nibble that out,which takes a long time.■ Welding time has been slashed by 40-50%because the precision of the C5 allows formore accurate parts.■ 25% savings in assembly.■ 30% savings in raw material – with theelimination of pre-sheared blanks and alsoless scrap and fewer parts being thrownaway.■ $250,000 savings from elimination ofoutsourcing.■ Payback on the machine will be one to1-1/2 years.“I’ve seen a lot of added benefits thatweren’t on my mind when we first bought theC5 Compact Express,” concludes Wilson.“This machine has helped implement a culturechange within King Electric. Without thismachine, we couldn’t have done it. It hasremoved a lot of barriers and allowed us toimplement modern manufacturing strategies.”Portions of this article appeared in the September2008 issue of MetalFormingCopies of this articles can be obtained bycontacting Tiina Ayaydin at (847) 952-6551or tiina@finnpower.com.22