Ask the Stamping Expert: Upfront spending reaps long-term savings

Q: The cost of building new progressive dies has gone up substantially in the past few years. I am struggling, and in many cases lose money, on my tool builds. How is the industry expected to cope?

A: This is a common problem throughout the metal stamping arena. It’s not easy to remain competitive in a global marketplace. Labor rates vary to such a degree worldwide that you really need to run a very lean tool-build program to stay in the game.

This means you need a flawless solid model design process; a paperless, computerized, technology-driven, well-laid-out manufacturing cell; state-of-the-art CNC machining/grinding and standardized components; use of global sourcing for optimized pricing of components; and minimized queue time, product movement, inspection, double handling, scrap, rework, and debugging time.

I don’t know your specific situation. But whether you are a tool builder making money by selling tools or a contract manufacturer selling parts, you have to build tools either way. The details of the tool build and design can be substantially different, however, depending on your objective.

Tool builders typically try to minimize upfront build costs with a design that just meets requirements. This results in higher maintenance costs for the people who run production with the tools. Contract manufacturers typically will pay more upfront for a more robust, maintenance-friendly design if they understand that the tool will pay for itself many times over its lifetime.

Let’s look at the effect build cost has on the cost of tool maintenance. When choosing the tool guidance system, you can choose a standard, fairly cheap set of ball cages at $3,400 for four, or a more expensive set of roller cages at $5,200. If you are a tool builder, the first choice is fine. You will never run enough parts to reap the benefits of the roller cages. If you are the stamper, you can get two to three times the hits per service from the roller cages, in addition to improved dimensional stability. That means instead of servicing the die 12 times/year, you will service it only four times/year. At 8 hours/service and $125/hour, that’s $8,000 labor savings in one year with the more expensive roller cages.

If tool flexing causes you to adjust the dimensions on stampings by coming down with the press ram, such that even moving a tool to different presses yields a dimensionally different part, why not take that variation out of the process? Add $1,000 to $2,000 for a thicker die shoe and add extremely robust die stops and a superior guidance system. You will thus eliminate the need to move the press ram up and down and stabilize dimensions when moving from machine to machine.

Other upfront costs will pay for themselves down the road as well. Pulling a tool out of the press, servicing it, and resetting it can take hours. To remove an insert in the press and replace it can take 15 minutes. So try inserting the die and adding jack screw holes, modular tooling units, and adjusters to facilitate quick service and part dimension adjustment without removing the tool from the press. In this case, upfront cost is minimal because you are machining all the tool components anyway. If adding a few holes for $1,000 eliminates one tool pull/fix/reset each month, that’s 4 hours at $125/hour, or $6,000/year savings.

Let’s say you have one form or trim in a large tool that by design works extremely hard. You have to pull the tool for service twice as often as all the other trims and forms. Why not build two of these stations in the tool and make them cam-activated? When one is worn, deactivate it and engage the second. For a minimal upfront cost, you can eliminate one four-hour tool pull/fix/reset per month. At $125/hour, that’s $6,000/year savings.

How many and what type of sensors should you add upfront? Most tool builders add a misfeed sensor. Adding a die protection sensor to monitor misfeed, buckle, part-out, and pitch can prevent disaster. Upfront cost is about $2,000, but preventing one major tool breakage is priceless!

The bottom line is that whether you are selling or buying the tools, you get what you pay for. As long as you know what you offer (or what you want), it is not about price; it is about selling (or paying for) value in the product. Spending $8,000 upfront can easily save $25,000 a year in components and labor. Good luck and happy stamping!