A sheet of metal bent and stretched between the shoes of a die will never be the same. We see the output of this simple process every day in our beloved conveyances. The body of a modern car contains around 150 pieces of stamped metal held together with spot welds. They range from sweeping hoods to unseen brackets. This article is a look at how project management applies at an automotive stamping plant, with some lessons learned and suggested strategies for successful implementation.To get more news about Stamping parts, you can visit tenral.com official website.
Let’s start with a stamping primer.
What brings the aforementioned dies and sheet metal together is a machine the size of a decent house: the press. Dies are specific to a part, but presses run many different dies, and thus make many different parts. Since sheet metal can only bend and stretch so much in a single “hit” of the dies, complex parts require several hits (as many as six). This is done in a line of presses with the parts moving between them by means of automated transfer mechanisms. Consider the size of these monsters. A football field can barely hold six presses lined up for operation. They stand 40 feet high from floor level, and go down another two floors. Another 40-foot dimension spans the width. The word “press” hardly seems adequate to describe the generation of 15,000 tons of force 12–16 times a minute. Interestingly, all this size, motion and force is remarkably quiet. You can hold a conversation while standing next to it. If an industry can be said to have muscles, these are good candidates.
Some of the stamped parts must be welded into sub-assemblies, like a door or fender, prior to shipment. This is done by automated spot-welding systems that grab the pieces and clamp them in position for the weld guns. Examine a metal joint on your car and you will see a string of neat round circles marking the spot welds. These welding systems are called “tools,” a terminology that belies the cost, complexity, and the many months required to design, build, install and try them out.
If time is money, press time is big money. These multi-million-dollar assets must produce to justify their existence. This is the core business of the stamping plant, its reason to be. This puts short-term and long-term decision making into a state of constant conflict. Dollars hang in the balance. On one side of the fulcrum is the need for immediate production, on the other is all that makes it possible: die changes, maintenance, and equipment upgrades. Immediate profit requires short-term and long-term decisions focused on operating presses today. Continued profits require looking a year or more ahead.
As time horizons and decisions exist in the minds of humans, let’s consider the human factors that influence the practice of project management in this environment. Tradition is a strong influence. Project management as defined by a PMI professional is not long-term tradition in these facilities. Only relatively recently, and even then in fits and starts, has the recognition of project management’s potential contribution to the viability of stamping plants become a topic of conversation. A far stronger influence is the gaping maw of the ever-hungry production machine that must constantly be fed.