Retrofitting a CNC machine opened the door to significant cost savings for Visteon, an auto parts supplier; and Kentucky Rebuild Corp. (KRC), a machine tool rebuilder, provided the turnkey solution.
“Constant breakdowns of the controller and the ensuing parade of service calls were costing us around $6,000 a month,” explained Roger Redmon, Visteon's tool-room supervisor. “And the loss of production due to down time was costing us even more.”
Redmon decided to remedy the situation by retrofitting the controller and began searching for a vendor. KRC was the only company that offered Visteon a choice of control packages – Fanuc, Siemens or Mazatrol.
“I was impressed by the level of knowledge the people at KRC displayed in all these systems,” said Redmon. “They were well organized and answered every question I had to my complete satisfaction.”
KRC was also the only supplier capable of offering a turnkey solution. It involved completely tearing down the machine, rewiring it, installing new drives and servos, programming the software, runoff and training.
Another significant cost savings was realized in KRC’s ability to configure the software to Visteon’s needs. “They programmed the software to match the applications our people already knew and understood,” Redmon said. “This saved us considerable time and the extra expense of training people on how to use a new application.”
The new system is not only saving Visteon through reduced maintenance costs, but is providing additional savings through increased efficiency. The original controller slowed production because programs had to be entered directly into it, which meant the machine had to be down. In contrast, the new system allows programs to be entered off line while the machine is running another job.
“The ability to program off line provides a seamless workflow with very little downtime,” commented Redmon. “While one job is running, the next one is being programmed. The increase in efficiency is saving us approximately $1,000 a week in labor costs.”
During the project, KRC also provided a level of expertise that proactively impacted the final solution through value-added engineering.
“As their understanding grew on what we wanted to accomplish, KRC began providing insights and suggestions on ways to achieve further improvements. We took several different approaches based on their recommendations that made valuable contributions to the overall success of the project,” said Redmon.