With a Midaco manual M3016FL pallet changer on its vertical machining center, Triumph Controls reduces setup time by 60% and ups efficiency by 40%.
Increasing production and reducing setup times were the reasons behind Triumph Controls' implementation of lean manufacturing. And the success of that initiative was due in part to a pallet-changer system that slashed the Philadelphia company's setup time by 60% and boosted efficiency by 40%.
Triumph manufactures push/pull cables for the avionics industry and uses a Midaco manual M3016FL pallet changer to compliment a recently purchased vertical machining system. "The Midaco has changed the way we set up jobs," says Charles Smith, manufacturing engineering manager at Triumph. "We've taken 4-hr setups down to 20 min and, in some cases, less than that."
The shop dedicates its tooling onto pallets, and pallet-location repeatability, according to Smith, is within 0.0002 in. With such repeatability, the shop does not have to reset the location of a part being tooled. "There's been zero degradation in the accuracy of the Midaco," comments Smith. "And no debris gets caught between the pallet and the receiver due to the changer's built-in air blow-off system."
System accuracy is paramount at Triumph because some of the country's major jet aircraft makers, such as Boeing, use the company's cables to control the operation of various components within their planes. One example is the flight control levers that attach to cables controlling flap modules and landing gear inside Boeing's 777s, 757s, 747s, and 727s.
Midaco Corp.
Elk Grove Village, Ill.
www.midaco-corp.com
