competitive mold maker

8/17/2019 Competitive Mold Maker

1/6

VOL.17 / N

T H E P U B L I C A T I O N F R O M M A K I N O T H A T M O L D S M O R E C O M P E T I T I V E C O M P A N

C O M P E T I T I V

MOLD MAKER

Knowledge, experience and commitments

to high-performance machining technologies drive

Canadian mold makers to a full-speed recovery.

MOLD MAKERS OF CANADA

LOOKING ACROSS THE NORTHERN BORDER


2/6

M O L D M A K E R M A G . C O M V O L . 1 7 / N O . 1 C O M P E T I T I V E M O L D M A K E R M O L D M A K E R M A G . CV O L . 1 7 / N O . 1 C O M P E T I T I V E M O L D M A K E R

In each issue of Competitive Mold Maker, we like to share several compelling stories from mold manufacturers all

across North America. To recognize the achievements of our neighbors to the north, specifically the mold makers

of Windsor, Ontario, we decided to take a closer look across the border for this special Canadian issue. With

decades of experience working with many of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers, the mold makers of

Windsor have created one of the largest mold manufacturing centers in North America.

In this special issue of Competitive Mold Maker are five unique stories of Canadian mold manufacturers that took

the market decline as an opportunity to invest in new machines, processes, tooling, automation systems and

software to build for a brighter future.

Redoe Mold made profitable investing a science with a lean cost-justification model that ensures highly accurate

ROI calculations. Using a team of leaders from various positions across the shop floor, the company analyzes the

true value a potential investment can have by its impact on secondary machining operations, handwork, spotting

and other post-processing labor.

Omega Tool Corp. and Cavalier Tool and Manufacturing have transferred many of their vertical machining center

processes to high-performance horizontal machining centers, resulting in dynamic improvements to speed and

quality. In addition, both manufacturers are reporting incredible levels of machine utilization, oftentimes in the

90 percent range.

For Lens Tool and Mould, opportunity has come in the form of specialty EDM applications. The company’s years

of experience with Makino’s HQSF sinker EDM technology have given it a widespread reputation across North

America for high-quality surface finishes in complex speaker-grille molds. This specialty work now represents

over 50 percent of its business.

Little Lakes Machine and Tool attributes much of its success to staying on top of the latest trends in machining

technology. With approximately 80 percent of its powdered metal tooling falling between the 55 HRc and 65

HRc range, recent investments in automated high-speed hardmilling capabilities have enabled the company

to reliably produce accuracy and finish qualities that require little to no secondary operations before going in

the press.

With the economic recovery under way and rising production demands in the automotive industry, these mold

makers are reaping the benefits of their savvy business investments. Their commitment to improving capabilities

and performance is proof that manufacturing is sure to remain a cornerstone of the Ontario economy just as it

always has been.

Andre Ey

Vice President

Makino Die Mold & EDM Technologies

(248) 232-6203

[email protected]

SPECIAL EDITION: LOOKING ACROSSTHE NORTHERN BORDER

OUT FRONTSPECIAL EDITION:LOOKING ACROSS THENORTHERN BORDER

2 25 FEATUREDTECHNOLOGY MPmax

31 TECHNOLOGYSOLUTIONSMCC-VG AND a61n

OUT FRONT

CONTENTS VOL.17 / NO.1

ACCURATE, COMPREHENSIVECOST JUSTIFICATION 4

OMEGA TOOL CORP TAKESBACK WHAT’S THEIRS 12

TOUGH TIMES CALL FORADDED CAPABILITIES 16

LENS TOOL ANDMOULD FINDS NICHE 20

HARDENED VETERANS 26


3/6


REDOE MOLD BUILDS DETAILED ROI CALCULATIONSTO FIND THE TRUE VALUE OF ITS INVESTMENTS

ACCURATE, COMPREHENSIVECOST JUSTIFICATION

FEATURE STORY

Justifying large investments in machining equipment is a difficult

but necessary task that all manufacturers encounter in their mission

to remain competitive. While several factors should influence these

investment decisions, none is quite as significant as return on

investment (ROI). For Redoe Mold of Windsor, Ontario, smart

purchasing decisions are key to its long-standing success and

financial stability.


4/6

V O L . 1 7 / N O . 1 C O M P E T I T I V E M O L D M A K E R M O L D M A K E R M A G . CV O L . 1 7 / N O . 1 C O M P E T I T I V E M O L D M A K E RM O L D M A K E R M A G . C O M

“Determining an accurate return on

investment extends farther than just the

machine’s performance specifications,”

says Eric Leene, Redoe Mold shop

foreman. “You have to also consider

the financial impact a machine has on

other aspects of your shop floor and

ultimately the service you provide to

your customer.”

To ensure the most accurate ROI

calculations, Redoe Mold has refined

its investment process by assembling a

lean manufacturing team comprised of

leadership from various positions across

the shop floor. Together, they discuss

how the performance of a potential

machine investment could influencesecondary machining operations,

handwork, spotting and other post-

processing labor.

“If you’re investing in capabilities that

just simply get the job done, you may

have dollars slipping through the cracks

in other areas of your shop floor,”

says Leene. “Our investments in high-

performance machining centers from

Makino have taught us that the speed,

accuracy and flexibility of a machine

can offer dramatic savings even outside

of the work zone. So when you’re

cutting out anywhere from 30 to 50

percent in manual labor on some jobs

like we are, there’s a dramatic change

in the profitability and return on

investment the machine can offer.”

MAKING A DOLLAR GO FARTHERRedoe Mold was established in 1969

under the namesake of founders and

friends, Ed Regan and Pat Endo. In the

early days, the two men commonly

found themselves serving severaldifferent roles for 20 hours a day, seven

days a week, to keep the business

running smoothly. They frequently

faced difficult financial challenges due

to limited savings, but quickly learned

the value of smart investments.

“Financial considerations have always

been critical to this company’s success,” investments would have on our overall

shop efficiency. In several jobs, we

were able to eliminate secondary

machining operations and handwork

altogether.

“These machines provided a huge

benefit with our optic lens molds,

where we were previously receiving

results that varied between 0.004 and

0.010 inches, and required extended

hours of manual labor in order to meet

required accuracies and finishes. Even

after nearly 10 years of service, these

machines are still providing bench-freesurfaces and tolerances under 0.002

inches.”

DEVELOPING A LEAN COSTJUSTIFICATION After witnessing the results produced by

its V77, MCC2013 and SP64 investments,

says Leene. “We do all that we can to

make sound investments that add or

improve capability to the shop floor

while ensuring profitability. By being

wise and responsible with our finances,

we’ve always been able to keep

reinvesting in the business.”

With over 40 years of experience,

Redoe Mold has now become a well-

known and respected name across

North America for its dedication to best-

in-class on-time delivery, quality and

service. The company’s knowledge and

skills have provided it with the expertise

for design and production of high-end

injection molds and prototype molds.

Redoe Mold specializes in surface-critical, multi-material and multi-color

molds for plastic components, including

automotive headlamps, taillamps and

reflectors.

HIGH-SPEED RETURN ONINVESTMENT“When you’re working with optic

lens molds, accuracy and finish are

imperative,” says Leene. “Even the

slightest inconsistency can be detected

by light-refraction tests. For this reason,

we needed to invest in new capabilities

that could provide the best finishes

possible, straight out of the machine.”

Starting in 2002, Redoe Mold began

investing in new high-speed machining

capabilities to enhance the quality of its

molds. The first purchases included a

Makino V77 vertical machining center,

MCC2013 horizontal machining centerand SP64 wire EDM.

“Because these machines were adding

new capabilities and eliminating several

outsourcing procedures, it was easy

to justify the investment,” says Leene.

“What we didn’t anticipate was the

long-standing, dynamic impact these

Redoe Mold began to take a closer

look at how it calculates its return

on investment.

“For each investment moving

forward, we decided to assemble a

manufacturing team who could discuss

current bottlenecks, share specifications

and determine projected performance

across the entire part process,”

says Leene. “Upon gathering this

information, we can accurately quantify

how much the process is costing us

with current equipment and the cost

savings that could be realized with

proposed equipment.”

The first investment opportunity to use

the new, lean cost-justification process

came in 2007 with the replacement

of three vertical machining centers

used in the production of small mold

components.

“OUR INVESTMENTS IN HIGH-PERFORMAMACHINING CENTERS FROM MAKINO HATAUGHT US THAT THE SPEED, ACCURACYAND FLEXIBILITY OF A MACHINE CAN OFFDRAMATIC SAVINGS EVEN OUTSIDE OF T WORK ZONE.”

By investing in the MCC2013VG, Redoe is expecting to reduce semi-finishing and finishing times of cores and cavities by 50 percenand eliminate almost 100 percent of its previous secondary machining operations and associated setups.

Redoe uses the high-speed rib-head technology of the EDNC157 and EDNC85S to produce extremel y fine detail s such as thin ri bs and deep caviti es.


5/6


“The manufacturing team determined

two significant issues with our current

process that needed to be resolved,”

says Leene. “It was no longer feasible

to have an operator stationed at each

machine throughout the day, and

inconsistent part quality was resulting

in long hours of hand-finishing and

spotting. As a result, we knew weneeded a machine that could provide

high productivity and exceptional

accuracy and finish with little operator

attention required.”

After conducting thorough market

research and gathering data from friends

in the industry, Redoe Mold decided

to invest in a Makino a61 horizontal

machining center.

“Operating nearly 24 hours per day,

seven days a week, the a61 has

delivered more than what our threeprevious machines ever offered,” says

Leene. “Its automatic pallet changer

combined with tombstone fixturing

allows us to produce several jobs in

“OVERALL, THE A61 HAS SAVED USNEARLY $300,000 PER YEAR.”

a single setup with fewer operations.

The accuracy and surface finishes it

produces have reduced EDM and hand-

finishing by up to 50 percent and fitting

and spotting times by over 70 percent.

Overall, the a61 has saved us nearly

$300,000 per year.”

GO BIG OR GO HOMEThe success of Redoe Mold’s lean cost

justification continued in 2008 with an

investment in a robot cell featuring a

Makino E33 graphite machining center

and EDNC85S sinker EDM.

“The E33 was intended to be a stand-

alone investment to replace our

outdated graphite mill,” says Leene.

“However, the machine’s accuracy and

repeatability provided us with the ability

to completely eliminate benching and

CMM verification from our electrode

production. We took the opportunity

to go bigger and better by adding

subsequent investments to build a

robotic cell that could directly feed fresh

electrodes to an EDM.

“The EDNC85S investment was a

simple decision. A test piece made

from P20 featuring a 0.027-inch rib

with 0.5-degree draft and a depth of

1.6 inches was sent out to six different

EDM suppliers. The size of the rib did

not permit manually finishing, so weneeded a machine that could achieve

a 12 RMS finish throughout. Makino’s

EDNC85S with HQSF [high-quality

surface finish] and rib-head technologies

was the only machine surveyed capable

of meeting our requirements fully

unattended.”

In 2010, Redoe Mold was on the market

again to replace its large work-zone

sinker EDM. With 70 percent to 80

percent of its large mold applications

featuring deep ribs, the investment team

quickly reflected on its experience with

the EDNC85S and Makino’s high-speed

rib-head technology.

Designed to eliminate the traditional

compromise of speed versus accuracy

in sinker EDM machining, Makino’s

high-speed rib-head technology uses a

linear motor-powered W-axis located

within the Z-axis to achieve jump cyclesup to 1,600 ipm, which is eight times

faster than a stand-alone Z-axis. This

high-speed motion, in turn, reduces

the length of roughing processes, cuts

down on out-of-cut time and flushes the

workpiece more effectively, especially

in smaller details, thin ribs and deep

cavities.

“After our previous EDM broke

down, we were forced to outsource

several large EDM applications, so

it was imperative that we made an

investment decision quickly,” says

Leene. “And while we typically

conduct thorough evaluations for eachmachining investment, we knew from

our experience with the EDNC85S

that Makino’s rib-head technology

could reduce our rib roughing times

by 80 percent or more. This led us to

invest in an EDNC157, one of Makino’s

largest sinker EDM machines. With

performance like that, no other machine

could compare.”

INVESTMENT DEMONSTRATESCOMMITMENT Automotive part designs are

continuously growing in complexity

with longer, deeper three-dimensional

shapes and fewer draft angles, making

it increasingly difficult to meet time-sensitive orders with 3-axis machines.

In order to meet these demands, Redoe

Mold also needed to invest in multi-axi

machining capabilities.

“When it came to our more complex

multi-axis jobs, we were sacrificing

time and money by outsourcing

3- and 5-axis work and using less

“… IT’S NO COINCIDENCE THAT MAKINOHAS FREQUENTLY COME OUT ON TOP.THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THEYPROVIDE REFLECT THE SAME QUALITYAND SERVICE WE AIM TO PROVIDE FOROUR OWN CUSTOMERS.”

Redoe’s part designs are continuously growing in complexity with longer, deeper three-dimensional shapes and fewer draft angles.

Redoe benefits from bench-free surfaces and tolerances under 0.002 inches,even from Makino investments made nearly 10 years ago.


6/6

M O L D M A K E R M A G . C O M10 V O L . 1 7 / N O . 1 C O M P E T I T I V E M O L D M A K E R

efficient methods, such as picker head

machining, that required us to perform

several setups on multiple machines,”

says Leene. “Neither of these solutions

delivered on the quality, lead-times

or competitive pricing our customershave come to expect from us. To

maintain our reputation as industry

leaders and reinforce our commitment

to quality and service, we assembled

our manufacturing team to research a

machine that could truly set us apart.”

Redoe Mold’s manufacturing team

spoke with several machine tool

manufacturers and visited several

other shops to determine the features

and technologies they wanted fromtheir investment. In order to produce

the highest quality possible, they knew

they needed a single, large multi-axis

machine that could complete even

their largest jobs as a one-piece

fixture assembly.

During the search, Redoe Mold heard

that Makino was working with a large

car manufacturer to develop a new

technology for machining complex,

limited-draft deep-section tooling,

similar to their lighting molds and

fascias. In reaching out to its local Single

Source Technologies representative,

Redoe Mold found out about the

Makino MCC2013-VG 6-axis horizontal

machining center.

“The MCC2013-VG was very

similar to our current MCC2013 but

included several unique features and

technologies that we hadn’t seen

anywhere else,” says Leene. “While

many of our competitors have invested

in 5-axis machines, no one in North

America had the 6-axis capabilities

of the Makino VG technology, with

respect to accuracy and rigidity. We

knew that a machine like this would

not only meet current market standards,

but create a new market advantage that

would exceed our competitors’ currentcapabilities.

“To determine the impact the MCC2013-

VG would have on our shop floor, our

manufacturing team worked closely

with Makino to test several of our most

complex 3-D applications. The results

were nothing short of astounding.

By investing in this machine, we’re

expecting to reduce semi-finishing and

finishing times of cores and cavities by

50 percent, while eliminating almost

100 percent of our previous secondary

machining operations and associated

setups. These new capabilities will

also allow us to substantially reduce

outsourcing and cut out all related

handwork and spotting. As with all

our high-speed CNC machines, we

anticipate it will run close to 24 hours a

day, seven days a week, for a total cost

reduction of 35 percent with full return

on investment in approximately three

and a half years.”

A GUARANTEE FOR SUCCESSFor Redoe Mold, investing in capital

equipment is more than just meeting

expectations. It’s a sure-fire way to

secure the future of the business. Its

ability to calculate the true value of a

machining center enables the companyto continuously improve its efficiency,

profitability and competitive stance in

the global marketplace.

“Even if you go to a bank, you have

to show some type of justification and

return for your investment; a machine

shop shouldn’t operate any differently,”

says Leene. “And while we always

conduct thorough evaluations for each

machine purchase, it’s no coincidence

that Makino has frequently come out

on top. The products and services they

provide reflect the same quality and

service we aim to provide for our own

customers.”

Redoe Mold

Windsor, Ontario

(519) 919-7855

www.redoegroup.com

Go to makino.com/library

Large Mold Manufacturing Part 3... Variable Geometry Technology

Buyer Beware: Are SpecificationsReally What They Seem?

>

>

VIEW THESE WEBINARS

See Redoe Mold’s

MCC2013 significantly

reduce secondary

operations in its

optic lens molds at

moldmakermag.com/

Redoe or by scanning the QR code.

competitive mold maker

Documents