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S&C Electric Keeps The Lights On
S&C Electric Company, based in Chicago, Illinois, has taken on the responsibility of providing switching and protection products for electric power transmission and distribution since 1911. Solutions are provided for electric utilities and commercial, industrial and institutional power users worldwide. In addition to Chicago, S&C facilities are found in Franklin, Wisconsin; Alameda, California; and Orlando, Florida. Subsidiaries operate in Toronto, Canada; Curitiba, Brazil; Naucalpan, Mexico; and Suzhou, China. S&C’s broad range of products helps deliver electric power efficiently and reliably. Some are used to switch circuits. Others minimize damage to equipment in the event of a fault or reduce the area of an outage by automatically rerouting power flow. And S&C’s sophisticated power-quality products can deliver uninterrupted power for an entire facility, for crucial process industries. The main manufacturing and engineering campus in Chicago covers 46 acres. More than 20 buildings house a million square feet. 1,700 employees keep manufacturing going 24 hours a day, every day. Fabrication and assembly operations are spread throughout the site. Approximately 400 pieces of fabrication equipment produce parts that feed twenty different assembly lines. As a vertically integrated company, S&C produces nearly all components that go into its products, working with all types of materials from polymers to metals to electronics. Coordination of processing the thousands of parts that go into S&C assemblies is one of the Chicago plant’s biggest challenges. S&C business is very reactionary. If there is an electrical storm, ice storm or hurricane, they see a direct impact in sales, particularly of some smaller products. They need to be able to provide immediate response to their customers. Improving Flow S&C’s Advanced Manufacturing Project (AMP), a two-year-old work flow initiative, is tasked with reducing inventory of fabricated parts and work-in-process, while improving production flow. AMP has rearranged production by creating manufacturing paths, like mini-factories, within S&C. Each fabricated part is assigned to a path based on the processes required to fabricate the part. Design engineers have been challenged to only introduce parts that can be produced within one of the AMP paths. The paths need to incorporate equipment that is flexible enough to work with the wide variety of materials, allowing for quick change-over. Parts cover a wide range of thicknesses, up to 1/2". Part dimensions vary. Lengths measure anywhere from 1-1/2" up to 12'. Stock includes mild steel and bus bar—both aluminum and copper. Shapes include flats, angles, channels and special aluminum extrusions. One typically common feature among the variety is the need for at least one hole. As AMP was put into place, one of the initial actions was to “reprocess” each part, looking for opportunities to improve production processes. Improvement was particularly sought for parts with lower volume job order quantities. Although there are many large production runs in S&C's fabrication operations, the machines in the particular path where the 1530 was added will commonly see lower volume job orders, some only requiring one or two parts. Parts fall into two classifications—standards and specials which are customer specific. In one of the paths being examined by the AMP Team, standard parts were run on a regular punch press, sometimes requiring two operators. Set-up times could take up to 2-1/2 hours even on the lower volume job orders. The specials, customer specific parts, were basically done in the old job shop prior to the introduction of the path system. George Meyer, Associate Senior Engineer, explains that operators had to hand mark the part, center punch every hole then go to an ironworker and literally push the part through punching one hole at a time using a hoist for material handling. The larger holes had to be drilled with a trepan tool. “It was a lot of handling and noisy equipment.” Why the 1530 “We looked at every single part that ran through that building and asked, ‘Are we running it the best possible way?,’” says Bob Dempsey, Project Supervisor, AMP Team. “Some of the parts we didn’t have a great answer for.” The AMP Team investigated a variety of solutions and found that the flexibility of the 1530 CNC Fabricator met the challenge of reducing cycle time, the time from when the order is released to the time it is finished, for their broad family of parts running through the Metal Fabrication Division. Dempsey points out that the 1530 added a capability to the shop and contributed to achieving their cycle time reduction goals. “The flexibility and the short set-up times are key thing to making the whole idea of the fabricator work. We can run short jobs and the set-up time is not as burdensome as in the past—that is a huge benefit,” adds Dempsey. “Plus, we are going to realize more capacity out of that machine because the set-ups are so quick and easy.” The Whitney replaced an older standard punch press. It compliments the other machines on the floor which includes lasers, CNC turret, torch cutters, ironworkers and radial presses, and punches structurals in one process which cannot be done on the other machines. The machine was justified on a cycle time improvement of 42 percent on parts taken from the old press. To date it has improved cycle time by 50 percent. Tooling Modifications Hole placement on some of the aluminum extrusions didn’t work with the standard 28XX tooling. So S&C and Whitney engineers worked together to develop special punches to satisfy the applications. Meyer explains, “We actually brought Whitney engineers in. They laid out some of the parts for us, gave us a print, showing us what we could do with special tooling in the 1530. We had to extend the length of the punches to be sure they would clear the legs of the extrusions.” Ten extended length punches were designed to accommodate different hole configurations. A group of special punches was also developed for use with 4" angle iron. Another specialty area—punching a very large hole, was jointly addressed. “Since we were punching 1/4" aluminum, the tonnage (30 tons of power) allowed the 5" diameter holes, but the stripper was a problem. We worked with Whitney and they came up with a special stripper,” says Meyer. Safety and Codes As you look around the S&C shop it is very apparent that employee safety is a key, constant concern. The shop is clean. Every tool, bin, material source has a designated area. Work pieces are placed at ergonomically appropriate heights. Machines display safety labels. Operators are protected by safety glasses, shoe guards, and sleeves. Safety teams conduct monthly reviews and make recommendations which are immediately evaluated and, in most cases, implemented. Managers are involved in monthly safety meetings to review any potential problem areas and to look for ways to continually safeguard their operators. Before the 1530 was purchased, the safety manager visited the Whitney facility to review the machine from the standpoint of operator safety. “We reviewed the safety of the machine before we ever bought it,” Phil Olson, Senior Associate Engineer, Operations Support, says. “One of the positive issues was the clear plastic protectors (guards) in front of the punches. They helped us sell the machine internally from the safety standpoint.” Although the 1530 replaced an older machine, it did not inherit its location. Mike Nonos, AMP Project Engineer, worked with the employees involved with the 1530’s manufacturing path to identify the best location. “The actual location was an idea from one of the supervisors in the area. With the AMP reducing our inventories, we have fewer work tubs out there which helped create space for the 1530’s new location.” When the Fabricator was delivered and installation complete, a committee including representatives from maintenance, safety and environmental departments, gathered at the machine to go through a variety of checks. Before it was officially turned over to begin production, it had to pass with all department approvals. Lockout/tagout requirements were satisfied, its position and work tables were ergonomically correct and “everything” was agreed upon for safe operation. Olson explains that every step to adding a machine to the S&C floor is planned out well in advance to allow the smoothest, most efficient install. Planning for the Whitney—identifying location, arranging for utilities, coordinating minor machine changes to meet Chicago codes—while the machine itself was being built. Results of the planning, according to Olson, “The install went very well this time. We had one pass of the committee review and made it to production.” Employee Approval The 1530 has received the stamp of approval from the operators, too. It is one of the first machines that is programmed on the floor by the operator. It has proven to be easy to run. The supervisors appreciate the fact that operators were able to get up and running quickly with very little training. A core group of S&C operators were trained on site at the time of installation. That group, in turn, trains others. “Basically, the shop is happy,” Meyer says, “and that is what makes the whole thing work.” (Used with permission from Whitney Metal Fabrication News, March 2003) Home | All Applications | Precision CNC Fabricators | Precision CNC Fabricator Applications |
