Summer is a busy time of year for List Industries, Inc. That’s because the Florida-based manufacturer serves the education market, manufacturing lockers for high school and junior high gym students all over the country.
“When the schools are closed, that’s when everyone wants their new lockers and we’re at our busiest,” said Rich Machesney, manufacturing manager at List Industries.
One locker design that is particularly popular includes an 18-degree slope at the top. This feature ensures the students are not able to place their books on top, and then forget them in gym class.
Manufacturing the sloped part required the use of a shear, which increased production time. The part started at the turret press, then went to the shear, then was finished at the press brake.
“It was an inefficient process to send the part across the room to the shear,” Machesney said. “Not to mention it made for questionable accuracy.”
Because of the shear requirements, the shear operator had to feel the dimples of the part hitting the blade and then hit the pedal strip on the press brake without seeing if it was lined up correctly. With this setup, Machesney indicated there was definitely a chance for operator error.
To tighten up efficiencies, Machesney visited with Wilson Tool, White Bear Lake, Minnesota, about new turret presses and learned about the available rolling pinchers. Part of the Wilson Wheel family of products and available on the turret presses, the rolling pinchers allowed List Industries to completely eliminate shearing for manufacturing this particular part.
August 25, 2015