Productive Times: Productivity times savings

END USER: Mennie Machine Co., (815) 339-2226, www.mennies.com.

SOLUTION PROVIDERS: Engman-Taylor Co. Inc., (262) 255-9300, www.engman-taylor.com; Walter USA LLC, (800) 945-5554, www.walter-tools.com/us.

CHALLENGE: Reduce cycle times, deburring, inconsistent tool life and varying costs.

SOLUTION: A program for productivity services.

Mennie Machine Co. Inc., Mark, Ill., is a Tier 1 automotive supplier that also serves customers in other industries from its 250,000-sq.-ft. production facility. Recently, Mennie was experiencing difficulties meeting its production and profitability goals on a fuel pump housing head, cast from 1722 steel, for an engine manufacturer and major customer.

The main issues included long cycle times, excessive burrs, inconsistent cutting tool life and varying costs, according to Jake Cimei, purchasing manager for Mennie. The company tried to solve these issues internally but had limited success.

Engman-Taylor Co. Inc., Menomonee Falls, Wis., manages the tooling inventory for Mennie. Engman-Taylor believed the Walter Multiply program from its channel partner Walter USA LLC, Waukesha, Wis., could help Mennie achieve the level of success it envisioned.

Jamie Boettcher, district sales manager for Walter, explained: “With Walter Multiply, instead of conventional tool optimization analysis, we put the entire process under the microscope. We combine their production expertise with our knowledge of Walter’s tools and our machining expertise to provide a continuous and sustainable boost in productivity.”

A Walter facemill machines a fuel pump housing head at Mennie Machine. Image courtesy of Walter USA.

The program was brought to bear on two lines that produced variants of the fuel pump housing head and produced 102,000 parts annually. For the first 3 days, Walter watched everything about how Mennie processed the part, including fixturing, machining parameters, toolpaths and chip formation.

Walter also studied available reports and analyzed Mennie’s CNC programs, chips, used tools and cycle times, added Brian Baker, senior applications engineer with Walter Multiply. “Then we came back to our shop in Waukesha and re-created the process,” he said. After the evaluation, the project team decided to pursue a full productivity-solutions package, including programming, and complete part reprocessing with an improved tooling package and new cutting parameters. Baker said the team also proposed providing on-site NC programming assistance and conducting on-site runoffs.