Hours Becomes Minutes on Changeover of Stamping Dies

While achieving the lightning-fast die changeover times famously demonstrated at Toyota might not be necessary for every operation, the underlying principle of minimizing setup time remains crucial. Many manufacturing shops still grapple with inefficient setup processes, resulting in significant machine downtime measured in hours rather than minutes. This inefficiency leads to a cascade of problems, including oversized production runs, prolonged lead times for finished goods, excessive inventory, product obsolescence, and poor machine utilization rates.

Hilma, a division of ROEMHELD North America, recognizes the importance of addressing these challenges. They offer a comprehensive range of quick die change and handling solutions designed to streamline setup procedures and maximize operational efficiency. By implementing these solutions, manufacturers can reduce downtime, optimize production runs, and improve overall productivity, aligning with the principles championed by efficiency expert Shigeo Shingo.

“With smaller presses, say 100 tons and below, there’s less clamping hardware to deal with, fewer nuts and bolts, less weight to jockey into position,” said David Fischer, Hilma Engineering manager. “This means shops feel less pressure to go with quick change clamping systems.” That doesn’t mean, however, that they shouldn’t do it.

Fischer provides an illustrative example of a 100-ton press requiring one hour for setup. By implementing quick change solutions, it's feasible to reduce setup time by up to 50 percent. While this might seem like a modest saving of just half an hour, in environments where changeovers are frequent, every minute becomes precious. However, Fischer emphasizes that the true advantage lies in consistency.

Fischer continues, "For example, you don’t get caught out at the machine missing a bolt or a strap, and end up wasting time walking to the tool crib for a part that costs a couple of bucks. Set-up times become very predictable.”

Choosing the Ideal Die Clamp System for Your Application

ROEMHELD North America offers hydraulic and magnetic die clamp systems.

“It’s all about what’s best for the application. For example, magnetics are very fast. We recently worked with a company making furnace components, and the ability to quickly switch from one length to the next was important—in this case, magnetics were the best choice. They’re also flexible, and work great where a company still has some work to do on the standardization of their die sets—thickness is basically irrelevant. You must have a clean, flat surface for safe clamping, a way to locate the die, and you’re up and running.”