Situation
Senior Flexonics – GA Precision, Wisconsin, uses leading-edge technology to manufacture turned and complex metal components for the Aerospace, Medical, Construction, Agricultural, and Automotive markets. No dependable method existed for determining the tool life for each of the thousands of tools the company uses.
Photo courtesy of Senior Flexonics – GA Precision
Critical issue
Plant Superintendent Phil Kapalczynski doubted that tooling vendors were meeting their own claims for tool life, but he had no accurate data to test that belief.
Reason
No formal method existed for ensuring that operators accurately documented tool failure and replacement. Paper data records used to track tool life were cumbersome, difficult to interpret, and often incomplete or absent.
Vision
Kapalczynski wanted a cost-effective, automated method to track tool life, spotlight problem tools, increase uptime, and “eliminate all the second guessing,” he says. Accurate data records were needed to show to vendors when tools did not perform as promised.
Phil Kapalczynski, plant superintendent for Senior Flexonics – GA Precision, Wisconsin, demonstrates GainSeeker’s SPC real-time data collection software that’s used at this workstation to track tool life. GainSeeker sends real-time alert emails when a tool fails, meets, or exceeds expectations.
Hertzler Systems provided
Hertzler Systems provided real-time data collection software. Operators follow an easy procedure for accurately entering tool data into GainSeeker’s data entry. Real-time email alerts are sent out when a tool fails, meets, or exceeds life expectancy.
“If a tool fails and makes 50 parts instead of the 500 it was supposed to, I get an email alert,” Kapalczynski says. GainSeeker data determines when a tool has reached its wear point and machines automatically shut down at that point to prevent scrap.
Results
Tooling capability is up 30%, machine uptime improved 20%, and scrap reduction is down 10%. “I can’t even put an accurate price on all the savings,” says Kapalczynski. “We noticed a huge improvement in tool testing capability within the first 10 days the software was implemented. GainSeeker helps us set accurate tooling standards based on accurate data. It has been amazing.”
Hertzler Systems support
“I did my homework before settling on GainSeeker as my SPC software. I found Hertzler Systems more willing than others to work through any potential problem from the start and throughout the entire deployment,” Kapalczynski says.
