A recent company survey indicates that forgers are more concerned with the availability of qualified labor than its cost. Given that, the forging community should consider automation to minimize its labor requirements. Automated billet feeding is one area that can improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce labor costs.
As I walked through one of our customer’s forging facilities, I was reminded why I decided to purchase Feedall Automation, a 73-year-old parts-feeder manufacturer.
Material-handling automation plays a key role in today’s forging equipment solutions. Even older equipment can be updated and upgraded to take advantage of automation technologies that improve safety and increase production efficiency in your plant.
Without the ability to forge steel and other metals over the past century and a half, industry would have lacked the parts needed to manufacture cars, build aircraft, drill for oil, mine for minerals or lay down rail tracks.
Inductotherm Group of Rancocas, N.J., a global supplier of thermal-processing equipment and technologies, acquired Clinton Machine of Ovid, Mich., a supplier of material-handling systems for bar, tube, heat-treating and other production machinery.
Some basic methods of coating dies with solutions that both cool and lubricate the dies are examined. Advantages and disadvantages of each technique are considered.