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“Close enough” is never the right answer in the workshop. This is especially true for mold makers whose product specifications require precise tolerances, absolute precision and sophisticated toolpaths. Manufacturers serving the medical industry need even more accuracy – an incorrect shape could have dire consequences. Because silicone has a viscosity similar to water once it hits a tool, silicone mold makers go a step further and demand tight tolerances and razor-sharp accuracy to carve intricate paths into small pieces.
“Barriers have to be extremely tight and ventilation is extremely important,” says David Gwaltney, Tool and Mold Manager at Applied Medical Technology Inc. (AMT). “We try absolutely not to adjust or polish the tools by hand because we simply cannot live with the tolerances of manual work compared to what comes from a machine.”
AMT manufactures medical devices at a facility in Brecksville, Ohio. Their products include hospitality and feeding tubes, as well as surgical devices such as retractor kits and smoke / liquid aspirators. In the past, AMT had its plastic injection and silicone molds made by third parties. However, this procedure resulted in imperfect products.
“When we looked at the tools and how they were designed, we saw a pattern of problems,” says Gwaltney. “It was close, we had a lot of secondary operations, which means extra work.”
Between rising costs of flawed tools and managing suppliers and logistics, it was time to switch.
At the end of 2016 / beginning of 2017, AMT decided to bring mold construction in-house. Gwaltney began researching AMT’s needs, which external mold makers were able to do, and researched other medical device and tool makers as well.
© Methods machine tools | https://www.methodsmachine.com/
In all the months that Gwaltney rummaged through asset lists and ratings, meetings with colleagues and producers, there was one constant. One name kept coming up.
YASDA.
Gwaltney came across a YASDA decades ago in the wild while working in a plastic injection molding workshop. “I remembered that, and then I started to look and found out that some of the really good stores are in YASDAs,” he says.
During his research into equipping AMT with high-precision machines, he visited the factory of a machine tool manufacturer in Korea. There he also saw YASDAs.
“They had YASDAs that had all of their spindles and five-axis trunnions working, so they built all of their really high-tolerance stuff on YASDA machines, which I found pretty interesting,” says Gwaltney. “When I did a little more research, I found out that pretty much every machine tool builder has YASDAs in their machine tool factory, that tells you something.”
The rediscovery of machines through research and a visit to another machine tool manufacturer aroused his interest. Soon Gwaltney turned to Bill Chapel, a sales engineer Detroit Technical Center of Methods Machine Tools. While YASDA was a top contender for AMT’s store at the time, Gwaltney needed more evidence.
“I’ve been in this business for over 30 years and seeing is believing,” he says.
Chapel took Gwaltney to see a fleet of YASDAs in a Pennsylvania repair shop. There he spoke to machinists, programmers, operators, employees who make the parts, and the shopkeeper.
“The best feedback is from the guys who do it every day,” he adds. “When we saw and heard that, we made a decision at that point.”
The YASDA YMC 430, a 5-axis machine tool, provided the accuracy and surface finishing required by AMT, Gwaltney said, and the compact design took up minimal floor space.
“The accuracy is just amazing, it’s as accurate as the day it hit the ground in 2017,” he says. The machine can easily maneuver complicated paths in hard-to-reach places.
“Some of our cavity work is so small that we rough and finish at the same time. You can hold most of our pads in your hand, ”he adds.
By moving mold making into the company, AMT was able to increase throughput, accuracy and achieve tighter tolerances while protecting its intellectual property.
“It definitely opened up a lot of possibilities,” says Gwaltney. “Our products are much better, our tolerances are better, and our tools last better just because they start in a better place than before.”
One reason for the success of the YMC 430 is the thoughtful preventive maintenance measures and the level of attention that AMT pays to its work.
“We’re extremely careful with the YASDA, we don’t beat it up in any way,” says Gwaltney. “We only use the best holders, fixtures and tools.”
It was obvious Methods’ Chapel when he was also visiting AMT. “David and his team are extremely proud and meticulous of their work,” says Chapel. AMT keeps its workshop and machines in such good condition that no components of the YMC 430 had to be serviced or replaced.
© Methods machine tools | https://www.methodsmachine.com/
There’s an ongoing joke about cleanliness at AMT, says Gwaltney. “We always tell people, ‘If you got dirty in here, you fell in the parking lot.'”
Even four years after its installation, the YMC 430 AMT is still impressive. There’s no need for accuracy compensation, and contrary to what he’s heard about 5-axis machines, the capabilities of the YMC 430 are not just comparable to adding a trunnion table to a three-axis machine.
“This machine is as accurate as any trunnion machine I’ve seen,” notes Gwaltney.
Accuracy and precision are important, but buying a machine tool is about more. Machine shop owners and managers are making a sizeable investment – they connect with their machine tool supplier and have to trust their suppliers to show up and get the job done.
While Gwaltney considered a similar machine tool during his research phase, the people behind the machine didn’t match Methods’ unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction.
“I think your machine was capable of that, but knowing Bill and Methods made me feel a little better going in that direction,” says Gwaltney. “When you’re this close and talking to YASDAs, it just didn’t make sense to go any other way.”
Methods drew resources from its Detroit and Boston engineering centers to ensure machine installation and training went smoothly.
“We had a really good group of guys who came through and did the setup and training,” said Gwaltney. “That definitely got us on the right foot.”
Since starting out on that right foot in 2017, AMT has exploded into a full-blown marathon. The company has a 124,000 square foot facility and is ready for 110,000 square foot expansion.
AMT plans to increase its production capacity through automation. The ultimate goal, Gwaltney said, is to introduce another YASDA machine and place a robot between the two. “I want the YMC 430’s big brother, the YMC 650,” he says. “That is already laid out in the floor space of the new shop.”
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/its-not-a-fair-fight-cybersecurity-helps/
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