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Global competition has made speed to market
a crucial factor in gaining market share. The worldwide
automotive industry is a prime example. As manufacturers race to
offer the newest car on the block, model turnover schedules have
shrunk. That puts more pressure on automotive parts suppliers;
even if a vehicle’s formal introduction is years away, prototype
and early-production parts are needed long beforehand to fill
the supply pipeline. To meet those deadlines, top suppliers seek
advanced manufacturing processes and technology.
Focused on the automotive industry, Grand
Rapids Spring & Stamping, Inc. (GRS&S), Grand Rapids, Mich., is
an industry leader in the manufacture of custom stampings, value
added assemblies, springs and slide-formed products. With six
facilities in the United States and Mexico, GRS&S makes
precision dies that form vehicle components such as attachment
brackets and mounting mechanisms. Stamping equipment that
employs the dies includes automatic presses of up to 1,000 lb.
capacity with bed sizes as large as 72" x 168", providing the
ability to handle workpiece material up to 0.250" thick and 48"
wide.
The company’s capabilities and reputation
for quality make it competitive. For example in 2006, GRS&S was
selected from several tooling sources to produce the first sets
of dies built in the United States for use in the North
American assembly plants of Nissan U.S.A.
To meet the quality, volume,
cost and lead-time challenges of
automotive part supply, GRS&S employs a variety
of innovative manufacturing processes. For example, the company
developed and patented its own smart tooling system, in which
die sets controlled by optical sensors adjust to prevent any
deviations in stamped parts that might result from changes in
stock thickness or tooling wear.
In
addition to the quality and cost pressures of automotive parts
supply, “timing is a big issue,” according to design manager
Chris Bloss. Typical lead times average eight weeks, and for a
new part, that schedule includes design, build and trial runs.
To maximize productivity and throughput, GRS&S continually
fine-tunes its design and communication technologies as well as
its manufacturing processes. A key element of those efforts was
the company’s switch from the use of separate CAD and CAM
software packages to the application of integrated CAD/CAM
software from VX Corp. The VX CAD/CAM package combines 3D
solid/surface hybrid modeling and parametric design and drafting
capabilities with an integrated CAM package that includes 2-
through 5-axis milling. The end-to-end nature of the software...
...Continued
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