Name:  Aida - America

        Address: 7660 Center Point 70 Blvd.       

City: Dayton, OH  

CEO:  Kimikazu Aida

Product: Metalforming

Phone: 937-237-2382   Year Founded: 1917

      AIDA-America Corp, the AIDA Global Group’s North American manufacturing facility for mechanical stamping presses, recently celebrated the 90th anniversary of parent company AIDA-Engineering Ltd., the grand opening of AIDA-America’s manufacturing facility expansion and 10 years of manufacturing in Huber Heights, Ohio.

      “The facility expansion allows AIDA to bring large component welding in-house and increase large component machining capacity while maintaining a high level of quality, cost-effectiveness and control over delivery,” said Troy Roberts, president of AIDA-America.  “The automotive industry continues to require stampers to produce parts from high-performance materials. In order to produce these parts competitively, stampers require larger presses.  This large part fabrication expansion and the installation of a new 150-ton crane will place AIDA-America in the unique position as the only North American metalforming solution provider with the in-house flexibility to fabricate, machine and assemble the larger presses from 1,000 to 4,000 tons.”

      AIDA-America’s expansion totals 17,600 square feet and is expected to add 15 jobs.  “This is a positive development for our company and allows AIDA to be competitive as manufacturing continues to rapidly globalize,” Roberts said.   “We are grateful for the support we received from the economic development community.”

      The global AIDA network experienced a 43 percent growth in sales from 2002 to 2005 with year-end results for 2006 of over $500 million.  AIDA invests five percent of its annual revenue into research and development to equip customers with innovative, high performance, flexible metal forming production systems.  With a global network of manufacturing facilities, customer support centers, and service bases, spanning more than 50 countries, AIDA is one of the largest mechanical press builders in the world.

      “During the past 10 years, we’ve seen tremendous changes in the industry,” said Kimikazu Aida, president of AIDA-Engineering Ltd. “Being an effective part of the stamping and forming industries in the North & Central American markets means being able to design, manufacture and service AIDA presses in the vicinity where customers are operating.

      “Therefore, AIDA has made this commitment in North America and we are very thankful for all the support given by the city of Huber Heights, Montgomery County and the state of Ohio.”

      AIDA is the only press manufacturer to invest five percent of its annual revenue into research and development.  This allows AIDA to provide continuous improvement initiatives to produce new designs and technologies capable of solving customers’ changing production challenges.  Over the last decade, AIDA has launched nine new press designs as well as ServoPro, a revolutionary forming technology. 

      “By focusing on technology development, improved productivity, quality control and becoming a global manufacturing player, we have overcome recent difficult economic conditions,” says Aida. “AIDA now has factories established in the United States, Europe, China and Malaysia with a number of global service centers and we continue to improve our position over our competitors.”

      At AIDA’s North American headquarters, engineers combined 24 months of research and development with customer feedback to design and build the NST tie-rod straightside press and the unitized frame straightside NSU specifically for multi-purpose jobs.  Today, the features and field performance of these economically priced machines have led to their acceptance in a broad range of markets including the appliance, automotive, lighting, HVAC, furniture, hardware and farm and garden machinery industries. 

      Stampers facing increasing requirements to successfully form parts from high strength materials prompted AIDA to develop ServoPro servoforming which has changed the way stampers approach production of parts from materials like aluminum, magnesium, high strength steel and titanium.  ServoPro’s ability to program in and combine any number of stroke, velocity and dwell profiles gives stampers the ability to support a wide range of parts operations, die sizes and heights.  ServoPro also provides infinite control of slide position – within microns – something that can’t be done on hydraulic or conventional press equipment. 

      AIDA’s newest press design, the ULX, features a press that is more accurate than the die.  The ULX is also the first press design with a 9-point support construction.  Stampers are able to produce precision formed parts that cannot be made in conventional presses.  Built with a single-point, center-suspension and a no con-rod design, the press is able to support automotive, flow control forming, fine blanking and cold forming applications and has the ability to run high strength materials.  Eight zero-clearance spherical shoe type gibs on the slide allow high-precision forming while delivering low deflection and control of lateral slide movement due to off-center or unbalanced loads.  Increased off-center loading capacity extends die life.  A ribbed frame incorporates 2-axis rigidity that also helps to minimize deflection.  The added stiffness increases the life of the die and improves part accuracy.  Versatility means a broader range of forming operations.

      Other examples of technology advances include the latest development in precision slide guiding - a pre-loaded, zero clearance slide guide system with high-pressure oil lubrication. Designed to meet increasing demands for more press accuracy, the system consists of semi-spherical shoes operating against flat guide ways attached to a massive frame structure. The press slide is tall which enables the guide points to be spaced far apart providing extremely long slide guides.

      The surfaces of the mating components are made of materials that possess natural lubricity. Oil is then forced between these pre-loaded surfaces. This combination of pre-load and oil lubrication not only makes the slide guide very stiff but also provides long life with little or no wear.  This unique slide guide systems has helped make the straightside press an especially attractive option for the automotive, appliance, and HVAC markets.  

      AIDA’s goal to provide stampers with press flexibility and total system solutions includes its transfer, straightside, gap, progressive die, and high speed equipment.   By combining application engineering, integrated automation, on-time delivery, lower long-term equipment costs, certified safety and regulatory compliance, startup supervision and other details, AIDA delivers the elements customers need to optimize pressroom operations.