When Atlas Pressed Metals Inc. of DuBois, Pa., acquired a pair of decades-old Cincinnati Rigid Reflex 825-ton compacting presses from a recently shuttered manufacturer of powder metal (PM) parts, they knew they had some miles on them. What they didn’t realize was just how outdated the controls were and how any unexpected failures might impact production.
“They still ran on 5 1/4-in. floppy disks,” says Rob Pistner, process engineer and new product technician at Atlas.
That technological revelation alone might have sent some companies searching for newer alternatives. But Atlas, with nearly a century of combined PM manufacturing experience among its leadership group, was both willing and able to overlook the aging electronics if it meant the possibility of taking on work that was far too large for its existing equipment lineup. However, that viewpoint soon changed.
Unsustainable situation
As its name suggests, PM manufacturing forms parts by compacting metal particles roughly the consistency of fine sand in precision dies, then sintering them in high-temperature furnaces. Product quality and delivery schedules alike demand that the PM presses are accurate, repeatable and reliable, which are all attributes that become harder to maintain as control systems age.
For Atlas, the problem with the Cincinnati Inc. (CI) PM presses wasn’t mechanical wear or lack of tonnage but rather technological obsolescence.
“It was getting to the point where if we lost power for whatever reason, we weren’t sure we could bring them back up,” Pistner explains. “We’d get the blue screen of death and have to reboot the whole system, after which someone would have to reload everything from scratch.”
The situation was unsustainable. With a customer base spanning from lawn and garden equipment to marine components and medical devices, Atlas couldn’t afford unplanned downtime, let alone potential quality problems. And given that the not-yet-dynamic duo was now the largest by far of the company’s 40-plus PM presses, Atlas couldn’t press the supersized parts coming off those two machines elsewhere in the facility.
Nor was there any redundancy. “Unlike a lot of companies in this space, we’re fairly diversified, which is why our shop is busy pretty much all the time,” Pistner says. “But that also means we run thousands of different part numbers. We do a lot of parts for the lawn and garden industry as well as parts for hand tools and marine applications, washing machines, medical components, automotive and so on.”
This variety makes it a good idea to have at least two of every press, he points out, especially large ones. But given the age of the presses and increasing control problems, management was keenly aware that both might be out of service at the same time. Because there was no way to move the work to a different machine, a customer delivery could be jeopardized while the press was under repair. Something had to change.
Making the upgrade
Decision made – the only question that remained was which company would perform the upgrade on the presses. While several companies had bid on the project, CI emerged as the logical choice; all bids were close in price, Pistner notes, so it only made sense to partner with someone who knew the presses best: the machine builder.
“Not only does Cincinnati have direct access to the software, control system and replacement parts,” he says, “but they enjoy many decades of experience in the PM industry, as well.”
That first upgrade took place nearly two years ago, and the press has performed flawlessly ever since, making the more recent upgrade decision much easier. Yet, modernizing decades-old machinery involves far more than swapping out a computer or installing a new user interface; the CI team performed both of these tasks, and then some.
“The motors were obviously quite old and no longer compatible with the control software, so we had to replace the motors and drives as well as the feeder shoes and some other mechanical components,” Pistner explains. “Also, the frame had to be notched out to accommodate the new style ram adjustment. It was a big job.”
The first upgrade took approximately six weeks to complete. Learning from that experience, CI finished the second upgrade in half that time. Both presses now operate on modern PLC-based controls with touchscreen interfaces and comprehensive data recording capabilities, each one a welcome addition.
Useful benefits
Perhaps the most useful technology – at least initially – was the newfound backup capability. Instead of relying on floppy disks that were considered whiz-bang during the Reagan era, the control enables the saving of part programs and system settings to a thumb drive, a company server or, best of all, the cloud. As Pistner notes, “It’s all online now.”
The new controls deliver benefits well beyond easier backups, however. Because machine operators can no longer “pull the controller right into the press” to adjust ram height or die clearance as they did before the upgrade, there’s less chance of smashing a finger (or worse). Process visibility is similarly improved.
According to Pistner, Atlas can now accurately monitor each platen (the press component that holds the die) in real time for speed, force and distance and save the resulting data for process analysis and troubleshooting.
“With powder metal, you want to make the part as close to finished as you can to reduce or even eliminate any secondary machining,” he says. “Having visibility into the forming process helps in this respect, as does precise platen control. The upgrades helped in each of these areas.”
Despite the technological leap forward, Atlas found the transition relatively smooth for its workforce. Even those without extensive computer experience adapted quickly to the new interface.
“I’m 57 years old and don’t consider myself to be extremely computer savvy,” Pistner admits. “Still, I find the touchscreen control both intuitive and easy to use, but powerful nonetheless. Cincinnati spent a few days training us on that first control and that has been all we needed. It was a great investment.”
