Most Read
Most E-mailed
E-mail Article
Print Article
In September, Greenerd delivered a 330 ton eight-point, gib-guided press to a southeastern U.S.-based global automotive/aerospace supplier. The press is designed for ironing CV joints with a 0.001 in accuracy in bed-to-ram concentricity.
In April, a 1,000 ton, eight-point, gib-guided hydraulic press was shipped to a southwestern U.S. brake pad manufacturer. The high-speed, high-precision press is being used for coining heavy duty aftermarket brake pads.
A triple-action draw press was recently shipped to a northeastern U.S. aerospace manufacturer. The press was designed with a 600 ton capacity main ram/punch, 300 ton blankholder platen and 125 ton cushion for drawing sheet metal into aerospace and aeronautical components.
Founded in New England in 1883, Greenerd has built thousands of custom and standard hydraulic presses since 1934, including an extensive line of hydraulic presses and arbor presses in all sizes and configurations. www.greenerd.com
ESAB WELDING & CUTTING PRODUCTS (FLORENCE, SC) . . .
added two new wire drawing lines at its Ashtabula, OH, manufacturing facility that will produce wire for high production submerged arc welding (SAW) applications. This addition significantly increases ESAB’s SAW wire capacity.
The new lines descale, clean and draw the wire to the proper diameter, coat it with copper and package the product. The wire from the new lines will be used in coil and drum packages, including the new the 2200 lb EcoCoil package. The new lines will also produce wire with a cleaner and more consistent surface. Dan Gerbec, product manager for submerged arc consumables, said that the new manufacturing capabilities will increase ESAB’s productivity and allow the company to better serve its customers with faster delivery and more consistent product.
With more than 100 years of experience, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of welding and cutting equipment and welding filler metals. www.esabna.com
MITSUBISHI EDM (AUBURN HILLS, MI) . . .
announced a new partnership with the Advanced Technology Center of Oakland Community College, Auburn Hills campus. A new FA20S advanced wire EDM was installed under the direction of Philip Hale, the dean of technology of OCC, and Dan Meehan, the account manager for Mitsubishi in Michigan.
Oakland Community College will integrate wire and CNC EDM technology into their already successful Robotics/Automated System curriculum. The manufacturing curriculum of programming and CNC Milling at OCC Auburn Hills will be enhanced with the latest technology in Mitsubishi EDM. This new technology center will also serve as Mitsubishi’s local training and demonstration center. Michigan and Ontario customers will continually have local training and support. Mitsubishi will continue to provide EDM training classes and educational “Demo Days” in Auburn Hills effective immediately.
“This new relationship with Oakland Community College is a wonderful opportunity for Mitsubishi to take our relationships deeper into the manufacturing cycle. We will be training aspiring engineers, designers, toolmakers, or anyone interested on the latest technology in wire and CNC sinker EDM,” says Meehan. Coupled with the robotics facility under the direction of John Sefcovic, students will be learning on state-of-the-art robots used with Mitsubishi Wire and CNC Sinker EDM. This allows prospective employees to enter the workforce with an incredibly diverse manufacturing background.
“This partnership reinforces Mitsubishi's commitment to the Michigan and Canadian markets,” explains Meehan. “We have always offered support with our Rochester Hills facility, but this is a great win-win scenario for us, Oakland Community College, and the local shops because the talent pool rises exponentially with consistent high-level training in real world environments for young students. When these students enter the marketplace, they will have learned on the latest technology in robotics from Fanuc and CNC EDM technology from Mitsubishi, and the synergy of the two with this coordinated effort.”
Mitsubishi has 20 North American locations and more than 100 service employees. www.mitsubishi-world.com
ZPS AMERICA LLC (INDIANAPOLIS, IN) . . .
held a Technology Days Open House on October 7-9 to introduce some of the newest cam-driven multispindle CNC production technology in North America from the TAJMAC Group (Milan, Italy), an Italian manufacturer that also has operations in the Czech Republic and France.
The event was held in ZPS’ 25,000 sq ft showroom, where factory trained engineers conducted demonstrations of the new equipment and toured attendees through the automated parts storage area and training classrooms. A light lunch and refreshments were served.
ZPS is a leading producer of multispindle cam driven machines, with more than 350 in operation in the U.S. alone. Overall, the company offers ten different models of exciting high precision CAM multis. ZPS America was formed in 2008 and in May became the sole factory-authorized North American source for full customer support, including service, machine rebuilding, applications support, parts, training, and sales for the ZPS line of cam-driven multispindle automatic lathes. Prior to May 1, these machines had been branded and sold in the U.S. as ‘Euroturn’, a registered trademark of Gosiger Import (Dayton, OH).
TAJMAC-MTM (Cinisello, Italy), the headquarters of the group, develops all of the concepts for these turnkey CNC multispindle lathes and machining solutions. To accomplish nearly any operation, these machines can be provided with a wide range of optional equipment, including NC drive of the pick-up spindle, bar stock feeding and clamping, attachments for high-speed drilling, reaming, tapping and broaching, and multi-spindle drilling heads on the frontal slides.
“Because ZPS America is the factory, we can help you upgrade your cam machines with CNC slides and Siemens controls, and even help evaluate whether to exchange your ZPS cam machine for one of our CNC multis,” said Olaf Tessarzyk, managing partner and president of ZPS America. “To help customers maintain trouble-free performance, we also offer full preventative maintenance plans for each of our machines. Prompt factory service from local resident service and applications engineers and spare parts are very important to multispindle users.” www.zpsamerica.com
(MOUNT PLEASANT, SC) . . .
This German machine tool builder of cycle type lathes held an Oktoberfest Open House on October 20-21 to showcase their most recent enhancements to their Flagship E-series cycle-controlled lathes. The event was held at Koch Machine Tools in Houston, TX. Koch Machine Tool is the Weiler distributor for Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
The Weiler Corporation is a subsidiary of Weiler Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, a family-owned business headquartered in Emskirchen, Germany. Friedrich Eisler is the CEO and chairman of the company. His two sons, Michael and Alexander Eisler, are both members of the management team. All of these gentlemen were in attendance at the Oktoberfest Open House, along with Walter Nirschl, the head of international sales; Andreas Schulz, general manager of Weiler NA, and Michael Koch, president of Koch Machine Tool. Following a true Oktoberfest, a German lunch and refreshments were served.
Weiler used this opportunity to formally introduce to the U.S. market an E-50 with the Big Bore option, an E-90 with a Cogsdill ZX bottle boring unit installed directly on the lathe, and various enhanced safety features. An E-70 unit was also on-site demonstrating various tooling systems. "We see the value of expanding function and capabilities to our already existing E-series lathes to better support this market in a time when saving money is paramount. With these additions, companies are able to increase their capabilities on a smaller E-series platform, thus saving money white still maintaining the high-quality of German standards,” said Schulz.
The E-50 Big Bore option nearly doubles the spindle bore size to 6˝ in, with a shorter headstock than is available on the larger E-series lathes, making the E-50 more economical for industries to utilize a smaller, more cost-efficient machine. The E-90 Cogsdill ZX boring unit, which had not been shown in the U.S. until this event, is a feed-out style boring bar that enables certain tubular parts, such as carrier bodies used in the oil field, to be machined on a lathe. Until now, manufacturing these parts required an additional machining operation to be done on a horizontal boring mill or machining center.
Also featured were Weiler machines showing a Sauter turret option, a Sandvik quick change tooling system, optional live tooling for simple secondary milling/drilling operations, machines with 4 in and 6 in diameter boring capacities, and new guarding systems which are now being offered as options on E-Series lathes. "The timing could not be better,” noted Koch. “In these slow economic times, the need to quickly and efficiently turn around small lot sizes of parts is more important than ever.” www.weilerusa.com
TOTAL DOOR (WATERFORD, MI) . . .
Privately held commercial manufacturing business Total Door held its grand opening ribbon cutting at 6145 Delfield Drive in Waterford Township, MI, on October 12.
U.S. Rep. Gary Peters and U.S. Sen. Carl Levin joined a large group of officials who attended the opening ceremonies, including Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson; Leon Yulkowski, founder of Total Door; Christine Yulkowski, co-founder; Patricia Yulkowski, CEO of Total Door; Waterford Township supervisor Carl Solden; state Rep. Gail Haines; and Waterford treasurer Margaret Birch. After the ribbon cutting, attendees were treated to plant tours and served a light lunch and refreshments.
Total Door is the only door systems manufacturer in the world. During the past summer, the company moved its operations and 45 employees in phases from Pontiac, MI into the newly refurbished 63,000 sq ft Waterford facility, which is all on one floor. At the previous 75,000 sq ft facility that had been an old automobile plant, employees worked on multiple floors.
During a tour of the new facility, operations manager Stan Hubbell explained that “Eighty percent of our material is recycled and we have reduced volatile organic compounds we use. Our door systems are also made in the U.S., whereas 80 percent of other doors are manufactured overseas.”
The new facility includes a full training center where customers can come and learn how to install the door systems, which are used in hospital, schools, government buildings, “any place there is a swinging door that gets a lot of use,” noted Jacquie Fette, the strategic marketing manager of Total Door. The company also manufactures electrified door systems.
“We are succeeding in this challenging environment,” added Fette, “because we do the work up front. That means users of our products don’t have to.”
The company’s history stretches back to the 1950s, when founders Leon and Christine Yulkowski created the first American mortise lock designed specifically for levers. Considered a revolutionary design, the lock is still widely used today. The Yulkowskis’ first company, General Lock, grew until it was purchased by Schlage in 1972. After that, the Yulkowskis worked to create a new kind of door.
After the sale of General Lock, the Yulkowskis used their unique approach to create an entirely new kind of door. Instead of using a collection of separate parts from dozens of different manufacturers, the Yulkowskis looked at each door opening as a unified system. They designed custom components, all engineered to work together and factory installed. This strategy led to the creation of Total Door and the creation of an entirely new category of opening systems. Standard doors have three hinges, but Total Door systems feature a continuous connection.
In the beginning, Leon invented products and Christine ran the business. “My father is still inventing,” smiled Patricia, who resides in Pontiac. Today, Total Door markets its complete door opening system through a select, nationwide network of independent distributors. Only factory-trained installers are authorized to install and service these systems. The distributors are supported by an excellent service department, as well as a team of regional managers.” www.totaldoor.com
