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continued from page 17By mid-2004, Wesgar was ready to replaceits two remaining mechanical turret punchpresses and once again turned to Finn-Power forequipment. “It was time to add capacity, tightenup tolerances, and consolidate programmingsoftware and tooling,” says Thwaites. “Runningtwo types of OEM punching technology wasnot an efficient way to run the plant.”Wesgar management once again puttogether another technical team, this time notto select the equipment builder, but to reviewproduction requirements, the current customerbase, and what current and future fabricationprocesses would be. “We had selected Finn-Power as the equipment OEM of the future,”explains Thwaites. “But we had to decide onwhat type of punching product we neededwithin the Finn-Power family.” By utilizing asingle manufacturer, Wesgar was able to simplifyits operator training and ensure that all itsoperators could run all of the turret punchpresses.According to Keith Day, Wesgar’s chiefoperating officer, after months of selfexamination,which included leanmanufacturing training from an outsideconsultant, the company found that its currentneeds were not in the area of high-volumeFinn-Power’s right angle sheareliminates processes such asshakeout of parts, deburring,etc., allowing Wesgar tominimize or eliminate nonvalue-addedprocesses.punching. “At that time, we discovered thatnearly 2/3 of all the jobs we ran required justone or two blanks,” says Day. “We found thatwe needed a smaller machine that was moreflexible for both short runs and the occasionallarge volume jobs, as well as for formingcapabilities. While we were pleased with the F6Express, we were running 80% of our volumeon one machine. We wanted to spread this workover three machines with shared tooling andprogramming.” Having the three machineswould allow Wesgar to insert customer “rushjobs” without disrupting the productionschedule and also provide quick turnaround oncustomer prototypes.In mid-2004, Wesgar purchased two Finn-Power C5 hydraulic turret punch presses. Thisversatile and flexible machine provided aconsensus on the various needs of the company.The 20-station, 33-ton C5 hydraulic turretpunch press has a maximum sheet capacity of50" x 100" (1270 mm x 2500 mm) and isavailable with either Siemens or Fanuc controls.According to Thwaites, the two Finn-PowerC5 turret punch presses provided Wesgar withincremental capacity and higher quality.However, by 2006 the company’s growth andnew contracts soon created a need for additionfabrication equipment. “We were growing 15%a year for 8 years,” explains Thwaites. “At thistime, a number of large contracts were comingin and we began discussions about furtherautomating our fabrication process.” Afteranother technical team was formed and researchcompleted, Wesgar chose the Finn-Power ShearGenius Flexible Manufacturing Cell, which wasinstalled in October 2006.Punch/Shear CombinationWith the Shear Genius concept, theobjective is to provide one machine capable oftransforming a full-sized sheet into finishedparts. These parts can be moved to finalproduction stages for immediate integrationdirectly into final product assembly. The ShearGenius accomplishes all of this in less floorspace-approximately 30 feet (9 meters) of spaceto fabricate raw material into finished parts onone machine. As loading, punching, andshearing of parts become automated, the resultis finished parts with a dramatic reduction inscrap and manual labor while increasingprofitability.Shear Genius functions with sophisticatedsimplicity, able to perform the most demandingjobs with minimal set-up times and “lights out”operation. The Shear Genius increases materialproductivity through efficient and versatile18