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WILSON TOOL INTERNATIONAL

(WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN) . . .

expanded its European headquarters in Swindon, England. The world’s largest independent manufacturer of tooling systems for punch presses, press brakes and punch and die components for the stamping industry added 22,000 sq ft that includes new space for manufacturing as well as a dedicated customer and employee training center. The additional manufacturing space enabled the addition of new machines to be used to manufacture press brake tooling, the company’s fastest growing product line.

The expansion will also allow Wilson Tool to make continuous improvements to toward its lean manufacturing goals by creating new flow lines for the production of punch press and press brake tooling. "Changing our layout to flow will improve efficiencies and eliminate waste in our manufacturing processes," said Ray John, manufacturing manager. "Reducing our lead times, particularly for special tools, is a key objective in 2009. Our commitment to lean manufacturing has already enabled us to manufacture cluster tools and lance and form tools in three days. The new facility will give us the capacity to reduce the lead times of our other special tools."

The new customer training center is designed to be an educational destination for sheet metal fabricators throughout Europe. The facility opened on May 13 with a Productivity Seminar attended by 69 customers who were interested in learning more about lean manufacturing for sheet metal fabrication. Customers attended workshops on lean manufacturing as well as practical punch press and press brake demonstrations in Wilson Tool’s Technology Centre. Additional seminar dates and training for specific product lines will be added in the future.

Wilson Tool is committed to serving the European market through expanded manufacturing capabilities and enhanced customer training opportunities. The recent expansion brings the total footprint of the company’s European headquarters to 82,000 sq ft and demonstrates their commitment to this valuable market. www.wilsontool.com

SMARTTCP (FARMINGTON HILLS, MI) . . .

has been selected by Waiward Steel Fabricators Ltd., of Edmonton Alberta, Canada to automate its structural steel welding process. The robotic welding solution, which is designed for steel fabrication, combines hardware and software into a flexible and efficient welding cell that will automate both the robot programming and the weld production of Waiward’s high volume of ‘one off’ and small batch parts.

"We’ve been looking into robotic solutions for the better part of the last 10 years and haven’t found anyone that could address our low repeatability welding needs until now," said Jim Kanerva, vice president of operations for Waiward Steel. "We researched robotic systems from most major players in the North American market, always finding that there were important components missing to achieve a welding automation solution well suited to our structural steel needs. We selected them because they were the most advanced in addressing our needs."

Waiward Steel, one of Canada’s 50-Best Managed Companies, is an Edmonton-based steel fabricator and erector with extensive experience in the petrochemical, mining, power generation, pulp and paper, and commercial markets. The company’s services include the fabrication and installation of structural and miscellaneous steel, equipment components, hoppers, plate work, material handling equipment and bridge girders. Waiward sustains shop fabrication production levels few competitors duplicate, with Manufacturers’ Health & Safety Association (MHSA) certified award winning safety, and ISO-9001 registered world class quality. This is achieved in one of Canada’s largest structural steel plants (216,000 sq ft), home to one of Canada’s largest and best trained structural steel fabrication crews.

"Waiward Steel, like most structural steel fabricators, has to deal with custom fabrications where every single piece, beam or column can be completely different," said Efi Lebel, founder and CEO of SmartTCP. "Our turnkey solution is ideal for just this challenge as it provides the most comprehensive, efficient and cutting edge welding automation solution possible to address positioning, fit up and programming issues, giving small batch fabricators a system that can accurately and reliably weld any weldable part in any number of welding scenarios quickly."

While researching automated welding options, Waiward Steel was very specific in its requirements when talking with robotic solution suppliers. They needed a complete solution to deal with high piece count projects with "batches of one". The solution needed to deal with the specialized welding demands of structural steel including large multi pass welds on thick beveled material, full penetration, heat distribution and the ability to handle inaccuracy/variances in part fitting and joint gaps.

"When we saw their solution, we knew that this was the solution," added Kanerva. "It was as if it was designed specifically for our situation and for our industry."

The solution to be implemented in the Waiward facility will include a bridge gantry system 125 ft long with two head and tail positioners (30,000 lb capacity each) specifically designed for structural steel, one ceiling mounted 6-axis articulated robot, welding equipment and welding automation software. The welding system will allow the company to produce more parts more quickly without additional employees and in the same amount of production space. These benefits, coupled with the increased quality and reliability of robotic welding over manual welding, will give the company an additional competitive advantage within their industry.

The off-the-shelf system is being installed in September and SmartTCP anticipates Waiward will be up and running production parts within six weeks, an extremely quick installation considering the machine size and complexity of the technology to be installed. From benchmarking efforts and experience, the company anticipates that Waiward will be able to weld with two operators what would normally take approximately eight welders to complete. Overall, this will result in greater and more efficient throughput.

SmartTCP is a leading supplier of automatic welding solutions for steel fabrications in small batch production. Their robotic welding solution reduces the need for expert welders, improves time to market, and increases production volume and quality. The gantry welding system is a turnkey solution that automates both the robot programming and the weld production and includes the hardware, software, installation, training and support during and after implementation. www.smarttcp.com

SIEMENS ENERGY & AUTOMATION, INC. (ALPHARETTA, GA) . . .

recently announced that Fryer Machine Systems, Inc. (Patterson, NY) has selected the Sinumerik 840D numerical control, together with the ShopMill and ShopTurn software packages, for its job shop milling and turning machines.

By using these CNC solutions, machine tool end-users benefit from decreased machine setup time, a unified control for both milling and turning machines combined with superior performance. Flexibility and ease-of-use were key factors in the decision to select Siemens. The solution allows end-users to achieve higher productivity through easy and intuitive features and step-by-step, on-screen programming that enable job shops to quickly respond to customer demands by drastically reducing programming, tooling and production times.

Fryer Machine Systems, Inc was established in 1982 and manufactures a diverse line of over 50 models of high quality machine tools in their Patterson facility. Over the years, Fryer has become well-respected for their quality and innovation. In addition their standard line, Fryer produces customized machines for a number of major companies in the aerospace and automotive markets.