A COST REDUCTION PROJECT - Fully automate production of lawn tractor head lamp assemblies.
The Problem:
We worked with a company making headlamp assemblies for tractors and other small machines. The process consisted of the following:
- Fabricate the two different connectors required using a conventional stamping press with lubricants (Soft material used to extend tool life)
- Wash parts
- Deburr parts (Tumble)
- Send parts out for hardening
- Load parts into 2 large vibratory bowls used to align for assembly into headlamp socket
- Connectors pressed into head lamp socket.
The Solution:
We used two high velocity presses mounted on a table about the size of a small card table and pre-hardened material with a very light coating of vanishing oil. The finished connectors, as they left the presses, were positioned to be inserted directly into the head lamp socket.
The high velocity presses, requiring less stamping and forming forces allowed the use of pre-hardened material. The tool life was more than doubled in this application. The floor space was only a fraction of the original process.
