3 Fundamentals of press design

Shearing lines
Fig. 4.6.24 Passenger car reinforcement formed from a tailored blank
reinforcing components (Fig. 4.6.24). In the production of complete
assemblies, this reduces lead times and the susceptibility to corrosion
due to the smaller number of welding joints.
By using scrap parts from previous blanking operations, for manufacturing
tailored blanks it is possible to reduce scrap in the stamping
plant. Costs for input materials can also be reduced by using lower-cost
sheet metal grades for low-stress applications. In addition, tailored
blanks can be configured to special shapes for specific cases of application.
Such shapes are generally not offered by steel manufacturers.
These benefits have led to the widespread processing of tailored blanks.
Tailored blanks are manufactured on blank welding lines (Fig. 4.6.25).
The blanks produced on a blanking press are loaded in stack form,
aligned, centered and fed to the automatic welding machine. The blanks
are then welded by means of resistance, laser or induction welding
methods (Fig. 4.6.26).
Where resistance welding is used, a control system checks the process,
assuming high output and quality. The welding unit comprises two
loading and centering tables for blank feed, a traversing unit to hold the
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