FandMmag.com |

Jerry Yates, general manager of Peterson Manufacturing, holds his skilled employees in high regard. He says to do the kind of work they do "they have to be confident they can make anything—and these guys can."

Their mission: take tiny strips of brass, steel, copper and aluminum, and stretch them into all manner of three dimensional shapes according to customer requirements, in sizes no larger than 3 1/8 inch long and 2 1/2 inch in diameter, usually within the tightest of tolerances, and about a half million times per day.

Located in Sarasota, Fla., Peterson (www.eyeletsandferrules.com) specializes in deep-drawn precision metal stampings, eyelets, ferrules, shells, caps, sleeves, studs, bezels and housings. They are dedicated to using transfer technology to accomplish their craft. Transfer-press technology enables them to add creativity and efficiency to their manufacturing process. By performing multiple operations in a single pass, Peterson's integrated transfer lines automate processes, eliminate secondary operations and add value, usually for a reduced cost.

From Pens to Probes

The company began making components for ball-point pens in 1957. When the cost of an entire pen approached the cost of Peterson's manufactured components, the company began to diversify to keep margins high. Since that time its formula for success has been the combination of deep drawing and transfer processes on sophisticated small parts, including "redesign" or "conversion work" (using transfer processes to make parts that were formerly turned parts or tube-formed parts, usually increasing productivity and reducing cost). The company adds value by offering plating, painting, heat treating, washing, deburring, and sub-assembly operations. The business has become solidly segmented, with steady flows of work in automotive, appliance and HVAC.

Yates came to Peterson five years ago with 30 years of trade expertise and business management behind him. When asked about what processes make transfer projects successful, Yates is quick to focus the attention on the 40 people who make up the company. Peterson has streamlined the process in the implementation of its transfer projects by putting the right people on a project early and giving them ownership.

Involving Team Members Early

A successful transfer project really comes down a marriage between part design, tooling design and transfer capability, with considerations in each category influencing decisions in the others. The part designer needs to know what technologies are possible, then communicate early and often with each specialists in each area. Each operation to be performed on the workpiece is evaluated. Can the part be worked on the disposed machines? Is it favorable to existing transfer capability, or should new equipment be built? Will the part orientation allow operations like punching or piercing to be performed from the most favorable angle to avoid any type of fatigue or stress to the material? Many of these press considerations have to be factored and resolved early in the design process.

The tooling design must also be conducted in relationship to the external factors. In larger transfer projects, details such as guide-pin placement or feed requirements can vary significantly with different tool designs, but will have a major influence on the transfer movement through each operation. The number of stations and what operations will be performed at each are determined in the tool-design process. Space, height at each station, number of axes in the transfer motion are all press requirements that are sometimes modified later in the process, but they must also be faced early as the tooling is designed. Failure to do so could be costly and time consuming.

The transfer capability also interfaces with the other disciplines. Press speed, clearances, press design all come to bear on what transfer capability can be used. For the small high-speed presses used at Peterson, the transfer capability—usually a cam-driven universal transfer mechanism—is built in to the press function. The timing is the same for each work station so that the punches are all in the part at the same time, withdraw, allow the finger tooling to pick up the work simultaneously and place it at the next station.

Even in this case the part design and tooling design still influence the transfer requirements. "Sometimes we perform one operation on the part, and then we turn it completely over to perform the next," Yates says. "It can get scary, when you are doing that at 150 strokes per minute. Our guys know what has to be done to make it happen."

Determining the Best Process

Peterson's project implementation begins during the sales process. On a plant walk through or customer visit, they are looking for at least three kinds of opportunities—parts which have multiple operations that can be consolidated into a single transfer pass; turned or cold-headed parts that can be redesigned into transfer parts; and tube-formed parts that will yield cost savings when produced with transfer technology.