Feintool : Forming for the future

07.11.2014

Feintool hosted a two-day symposium to showcases its latest systems parts technology on September 30 and October 1, 2014. The focus of the event - more capabilities, faster speeds, lower costs and less risk - highlighted not only Feintool's current abilities but served to plant the seed of future possibilities fineblanking and forming technology might have for clients.

Seeing many of the presses in Feintool´s Nashville plant in full production was one of the highlights of the two-day event. 33 visitors, engineers and purchasing agents representing America's largest automakers saw the original Kasier making guide discs; the new 880 Plus was at full bore on clutch plates and the new 1600-ton Fineblanking & Forming System™ (FFS) was busy making disc carriers (hubs). Other typical parts produced at each of the machines were on display and illustrated the range of in tool and post-production capabilities such as assembly welding and turning.

More capabilities

Christoph Trachsler, CEO of Feintool North America, reviewed Feintool's milestones by noting the company has completed a gradual sale of companies outside of the forming industry. Feintool refocused its core competence by reinvesting in forming and Feinblanking in the Nashville and Cincinnati locations.

Trachsler's colleague, Lars Reich, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Feintool North America, presented his vision of "Forming for the Future." The Feintool Tennessee plant and Center of Excellence were expanded recently to accommodate the $14-million USD customized 1,600-ton direct servo press that started operating in March. With the new FFS 18-ft-long working bed press, Feintool succeeded in marrying conventional forming with fineblanking, giving them new capabilities in the market, plus the best of both worlds. The flexibility of the FFS process allows Feintool to form and finish disc carriers, pistons, gear spiders, and driveplates, among other parts, in a single transfer-press run. That's what makes this machine so
powerful and a North American first.

Faster speeds

In addition Engineer Willi Grimm, the owner of numerous patents and with Feintool since 1974, brought everyone up to speed with the technology. One of his most important patents is the intool coining deburring technology deploying worldwide. It's an evolution in process integration, boosting the output rate. Other examples were of dramatic increases in die cavities. Silent chain links from 1.7 to 2.7 thicknesses evolved from two cavities to twelve cavities. The cycle time to regrind the dies is no different with this many cavities, between 1 to 4mm material thickness. For door lock parts, Feintool's new HFAspeed has achieved 100 strokes per minute at a four wide arrangement. CVT chain links have achieved ten times more output by increasing
die cavities.

Lower costs required

David Petrovski, principal analyst at IHS Automotive, a leading provider of global market and economic information, presented a forecast of the North American auto industry. The auto production industry, he noted, is about to reach a new milestone
not seen since the record year of 2006. He predicts by 2015, 17.4 million vehicles - a doubling of 2009 - will be sold. By 2021, that number will rise to 19 million cars. To meet that need automakers will be onshoring production to North America. Petrovski said the greatest potential for business will come from the global platform consolidation.

These forecasts are critical when aligning capital investments with the right business partners. With part life cycles getting shorter, drivetrains that used tobe manufactured for 15 years now are looking at only a five- to eight-year lifecycle, Petrovski added. Will consumers accept the new technologies required for efficiency that have a different driving experience? Also, many manufacturers have plans to deploy new technology but over time these keep getting pushed back because the existing technology is so much cheaper. Nevertheless Petrovski foresees a huge jump in automatics with torque converter transmissions with 8 speeds or greater, from 2013 to 2021, he noted. CVTs are also showing some growth.

Less risk

The high level of quality and accountability required in the vehicle manufacturing industry today was brought into focus by Daniel N. Sharkey, an attorney specializing in automotive recalls and warranties. About 80 percent of the big magnitude problems are warrantee issues. OEMs have set aside 2 percent of revenues for warrantee liability and have become more aggressive moving down the supply chain to implicate responsibility and obtain dollars from suppliers. Many OEMs rolled out new warranty agreements in the last three years. They acknowledge that both parties can be at fault, but in the gray areas the OEMs want a 50/50 split of the liability. "It's not really a great deal when you step back and think about it," Sharkey said. He thinks the companies that will survive are smart, have the technology and are doing all the things Feintool is doing but they also have a little bit of backbone to stand up to the OEMs. At a very basic level, he said, what an OEM must decide is, "Is this a safety related
issue? Recently, there have been seating cases where one would think it wasn't safety-related but the OEM decided to recall anyway.

Feintool is up for the challenge
Feintool constantly evaluates how it can protect its customers by understanding the world-class manufacturing process of OEMs. Intelligent diagnostics technology, in tools, presses and parts manufacturing will be a way of life. For that reason, Feintool
maintains its own apprentice program. By training its people and developing core skills, Feintool remains future focused. That future led Larry White, Feintool process consultant, to discuss the new plant design, which has been optimized for maximum
versatility, speed, quality and innovation. The Nashville plant just doubled its capacity, which required new raw material, production, staging and shipping areas. Ever focused on the future, the plant is also designed with the capability to again increase capacity. One look at the huge empty machine base for another FFS-press communicates that.

Feintool's Center of Excellence is always looking for the next advanced process capability invention. The Nashville plant has 12 core processes set up to limit material moves in the plant. In fact, Feintool's vision includes what its manufacturing plant should look like five years from now. They'll accomplish that through maintenance elements, material elements and quality elements. Advanced Product Quality Planning, Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis and Control Plans if done correctly, maintained and with the correct feedback gives Feintool a firm standing. The European OEMs are getting really critical on having regional capability to evaluate parts and Feintool's regional in-house labs meet that need. And since quality was also top of mind, during the plant presentation, attendees were able to see several stations where 100-percent inspection was being performed for the entire run. In the tool room visitors could see the press schedule on the wall, nearly all marked "Ready," indicating the tooling was staged for the next production. Materials up to 12 mm thick, stroke rates of up to 200 strokes/minute and a die clearance of as little as 0.01 mm put a lot of demand on the tooling. But in total every detail shows: Feintool's new shop in Nashville is up to the challenge.