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New tooling choices for Europe's PM manufacturers
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New tooling choices for Europe’s PM manufacturers High prices and long lead times for delivery of machine tools have long been among the moans of the European manufacturing community. Now an agency agreement forged at Metal Powder Report’s PM Asia 2009 will bring good quality alternatives to the market, at competitive prices…
P
M parts makers in Europe have a new source of low-cost and high-quality precision machine tools with competitive lead times available from this month. The intervention means that European machine tool suppliers face new competition from China. It is the result of an agreement between a Chinese toolmaker and a UK powder metallurgy consultancy company forged at Metal Powder Report’s PM Asia 2009 conference and exhibition earlier this year. Contacts made during a series of Chinese supplier appraisals for a leading European PM parts manufacturer with facilities at Suzhou, just outside Shanghai, led to further discussions between Mechworx, based in Devon in
8
MPR July/August 2009
the UK and Huacheng Molding Ltd, based in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province. Huacheng Molding was set up in Changshu in 2004 by its parent company, Taiwan Huacheng Steel Mold, a 30-year veteran of PM manufacturing. Huacheng Molding is certified to ISO 9001: 2000 and also manufactures tools for the ceramic, plastics and magnetics industries. Tools are made from Crucible, Böhler or Uddeholm steels, although local equivalents are also available. All tooling comes with traceability documentation for steel, heat treatment and inspection. The relationship between the two companies grew from a series of supplier appraisals carried out in China by Mechworx for mG miniGears, a well known Italy-based PM parts manufac-
David Lemon, managing director of Mechworx, with Lo Yuan Fong, president of Huacheng Molding (Changshu) Co Ltd pictured at PM Asia 2009.
turer, with a Chinese operation primarily supplying Asian customers. On subsequent visits to Huacheng Molding, Mechworx implemented best practice in all aspects of the business. At PM Asia 2009, Mechworx’s managing director, David Lemon, provided technical support and representation to Huacheng. The European agency idea was also seriously discussed, and the agreement was recently signed. Lo Wen Pin, general manager, Huacheng Molding, said; “We are very honoured to establish a business partnership with Mechworx. With the efforts of Mechworx we hope to expand our high quality and low price moulds throughout Europe and the rest of the world. We are ready to meet the challenge of
0026-0657/09 ©2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
in business new markets and become a world-class manufacturer.” David Lemon, Mechworx’s MD, commented: “From our first meeting I was
impressed by the enthusiastic professionalism that exists at Huacheng. The company is committed to achieving customer satisfaction through continued
investment and self improvement. This agreement offers all European powder compaction companies the opportunity for cost saving on tooling activities.”
Towards zero material loss Toyota has succeeded in cutting material losses when producing synchromesh clutch hubs in gearboxes using Höganäs’ powder technology... TOYOTA IS synonymous with the lean production concept, and constantly endeavours to make all production processes as flexible as possible so that it always produces exactly what is needed, when it is needed. With fast and frequent realignments, minimising material losses is even more important. Toyota had already made a lot of progress in reducing these losses before it started collaborating with Höganäs. Specifically, it wanted to improve the pro-
duction of a synchromesh clutch hub in a gearbox. Toyota wanted the final product to have a better surface finish to reduce post-processing as much as possible, thus cutting waste. This required components being pressed with less variation in final dimensions and with minimal weight differences between units. Höganäs’ response to this challenge was an innovative approach to binding agents and processing powder during pressing. The concept was based on a
new mixing concept, Starmix Boost. The new powder mix has resulted in a new synchromesh clutch hub that is extremely stable in terms of density and weight. Waste is reduced, and the otherwise frequent adjustment of press settings has been eliminated, saving time. Material losses have been reduced to a twentieth of traditional methods and materials. Thus a sharp reduction in post-processing operations has been achieved.
STARMIX Boost is a zinc-free, press-ready bonded mix. Höganäs says it performs well when compacting more complex components and parts, such as synchroniser hubs, VVT parts and planetary carriers. Its filling behaviour enables faster pressing rates. With the precision and consistency achieved, it has been possible to reduce scatter (weight and height) by up to 50 per cent, which can reduce machining, inspection and scrap costs.
July/August 2009 MPR
9
New tooling choices for Europe’s PM manufacturers High prices and long lead times for delivery of machine tools have long been among the moans of the European manufacturing community. Now an agency agreement forged at Metal Powder Report’s PM Asia 2009 will bring good quality alternatives to the market, at competitive prices…
P
M parts makers in Europe have a new source of low-cost and high-quality precision machine tools with competitive lead times available from this month. The intervention means that European machine tool suppliers face new competition from China. It is the result of an agreement between a Chinese toolmaker and a UK powder metallurgy consultancy company forged at Metal Powder Report’s PM Asia 2009 conference and exhibition earlier this year. Contacts made during a series of Chinese supplier appraisals for a leading European PM parts manufacturer with facilities at Suzhou, just outside Shanghai, led to further discussions between Mechworx, based in Devon in
8
MPR July/August 2009
the UK and Huacheng Molding Ltd, based in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province. Huacheng Molding was set up in Changshu in 2004 by its parent company, Taiwan Huacheng Steel Mold, a 30-year veteran of PM manufacturing. Huacheng Molding is certified to ISO 9001: 2000 and also manufactures tools for the ceramic, plastics and magnetics industries. Tools are made from Crucible, Böhler or Uddeholm steels, although local equivalents are also available. All tooling comes with traceability documentation for steel, heat treatment and inspection. The relationship between the two companies grew from a series of supplier appraisals carried out in China by Mechworx for mG miniGears, a well known Italy-based PM parts manufac-
David Lemon, managing director of Mechworx, with Lo Yuan Fong, president of Huacheng Molding (Changshu) Co Ltd pictured at PM Asia 2009.
turer, with a Chinese operation primarily supplying Asian customers. On subsequent visits to Huacheng Molding, Mechworx implemented best practice in all aspects of the business. At PM Asia 2009, Mechworx’s managing director, David Lemon, provided technical support and representation to Huacheng. The European agency idea was also seriously discussed, and the agreement was recently signed. Lo Wen Pin, general manager, Huacheng Molding, said; “We are very honoured to establish a business partnership with Mechworx. With the efforts of Mechworx we hope to expand our high quality and low price moulds throughout Europe and the rest of the world. We are ready to meet the challenge of
0026-0657/09 ©2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
in business new markets and become a world-class manufacturer.” David Lemon, Mechworx’s MD, commented: “From our first meeting I was
impressed by the enthusiastic professionalism that exists at Huacheng. The company is committed to achieving customer satisfaction through continued
investment and self improvement. This agreement offers all European powder compaction companies the opportunity for cost saving on tooling activities.”
Towards zero material loss Toyota has succeeded in cutting material losses when producing synchromesh clutch hubs in gearboxes using Höganäs’ powder technology... TOYOTA IS synonymous with the lean production concept, and constantly endeavours to make all production processes as flexible as possible so that it always produces exactly what is needed, when it is needed. With fast and frequent realignments, minimising material losses is even more important. Toyota had already made a lot of progress in reducing these losses before it started collaborating with Höganäs. Specifically, it wanted to improve the pro-
duction of a synchromesh clutch hub in a gearbox. Toyota wanted the final product to have a better surface finish to reduce post-processing as much as possible, thus cutting waste. This required components being pressed with less variation in final dimensions and with minimal weight differences between units. Höganäs’ response to this challenge was an innovative approach to binding agents and processing powder during pressing. The concept was based on a
new mixing concept, Starmix Boost. The new powder mix has resulted in a new synchromesh clutch hub that is extremely stable in terms of density and weight. Waste is reduced, and the otherwise frequent adjustment of press settings has been eliminated, saving time. Material losses have been reduced to a twentieth of traditional methods and materials. Thus a sharp reduction in post-processing operations has been achieved.
STARMIX Boost is a zinc-free, press-ready bonded mix. Höganäs says it performs well when compacting more complex components and parts, such as synchroniser hubs, VVT parts and planetary carriers. Its filling behaviour enables faster pressing rates. With the precision and consistency achieved, it has been possible to reduce scatter (weight and height) by up to 50 per cent, which can reduce machining, inspection and scrap costs.
July/August 2009 MPR
9