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www.us- tech.com


PartnEring April, 2011


Domestic Parts Fabrication Slashes Costs & Delivery Times


By Ed Sullivan (press@powerpr.com) I


f you’re sourcing metal stamp- ings from overseas locations such as China, you’re most likely buy-


ing in large volumes, perhaps con- tainerloads. Chances are you’re also buying into some potential draw- backs,


including prolonged lead


times, sketchy communications, expensive tooling and the inability to stamp individual parts with complex shapes. One of the most troublesome


drawbacks of those large volume overseas purchases is an excessive inventory requirement, which not only affects your cash outlay for parts, but also means you may have those parts on hand far longer than necessary, perhaps exceeding the lifecycle of the product they support. In such cases, leftover parts are often scrapped and the economies-of-scale benefit of stamping parts overseas is totally lost. Increasingly, U.S. manufactur-


ers are becoming less prone to mak- ing large-volume parts commit- ments, particularly in segments where products go through more fre- quent upgrades, resulting in shorter life cycles. Many are finding that “fourslide” metal forming is a less expensive, more timely and flexible


solution that can reduce their inven- tory investments with JIT deliveries from a domestic supplier, instead of taking months to receive from an overseas stamping operation. Outsourcing parts from over-


seas often results in large volumes and expensive tooling. Conversely, fourslide production uses a series of relatively inexpensive tools that make component parts in volumes of even a few thousand at an affordable cost, which is much more in line with many of today’s manufacturers’ re - quirements. “Below the million (parts) mark,


where many of us manufacturers reside, fourslide holds the advantage because of the very low cost of the tooling,” points out Anthony Vig - giano, co-owner of Autotether, Inc. (Rocky Hill, CT), which makes a unique, multi-functional wireless alarm switch for boating safety appli- cations. “With the fourslide process, the cost of the tool isn’t that great, so your capital investment isn’t high.”


Many Metals Available Although the term “fourslide” is


1/22/09 3:48 PM Page 1


generic, Autotether has chosen Fourslide Spring and Stamping Inc. (Bristol, CT) as its supplier. Fourslide


offers customers the material of choice, such as metal wire and flat strips of stainless steel, beryllium cop- per, phosphor bronze, brass, high car- bon steel and other materials, as well as finishes of electroless nickel, gold, silver, zinc and other metals. As - sembly, and secondary operations such as drilling and tapping are also available from this supplier. The fourslide process uses a


sequence of stamping and forming operations on a single workstation, and can execute multiple bends, radii, angles greater than 90°, dim- ples and other features — before the part is ejected. This capability yields precision metal stampings,


flat


springs, wire forms, contacts and other complex forms for a wide range of medical, electrical, automotive, aerospace, military, consumer and industrial applications. The simplici- ty of producing fourslide tools, versus the time-consuming complexity of power press tools, translates into a significant reduction of lead times approaching 50 percent or more. Compared with overseas suppli-


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• High Density Packaging/Substrates • Laminated Power Components


• Laser Diode Reflow • Lead Frames • Microwave Hybrids, Fluxless Au/Sn Reflow • Extremely Low O2 ppm Capability w/low N2 Consumption SIKAMA INTERNATIONAL, Inc. 118 E. Gutierrez Street • Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2314 U.S.A. Tel: 1-805-962-1000 • Fax: 1-805-962-6100 • sales@sikama.com • www.sikama.com


ers, the lead-time savings can be even greater. Jim Richards, Director of Sales & Marketing at Fourslide Spring and Stamping, points out that a U.S.-based fourslide fabricator has the ability to support the manufac- turer-customer all the way through the process, from design through fin- ishing. “The communication that oc -


curs at various stages, in early de - sign, prototype, or production, re - quires a high level of involvement with the parts manufacturer. The possibility of miscommunications is usually far less with a domestic sup- plier, and that can be vital to achiev- ing the desired end result.”


Savings Plus The fourslide process benefits


companies that want to limit their purchasing volumes without paying a premium. Those who are launching new products, customizing products for a special market, or anticipating future product modifications can place smaller orders from a fourslide house and still get quick turnaround. ThermOweld® (Tulsa, OK), a


manufacturer of exothermic welding devices and materials used for weld- ing heavy-duty grounding cables, went to Fourslide to manufacture the contacts used in its patent-pending EZ Lite Remote™ electric ignition system. This battery-powered unit allows personnel who weld cables for grounding installations such as office buildings, utilities and telecom installations, to ignite pre-packaged weld metals remotely from up to six feet away from the exothermic reac- tion that briefly reaches 3,000°F. Although the EZ Lite Remote


system is becoming increasingly pop- ular, thermOweld (a division of Continental Industries Inc.) used the fourslide process because it could produce what was initially a limited


number of contacts in the material of choice very quickly and affordably for first production runs. “The tooling was affordable, and


appropriate for our volumes,” explains Troy Geren, thermOweld Product Development Manager. “The product was introduced to the mar- ket recently, so it be will some time before we reach higher volumes. But economies of scale are not a factor in this situation, because this is not the type of product that will be sold in high volumes where progressive stamping dies would be necessary.” “It is astounding that Fourslide


can hold tolerances the way they have,” Geren adds. “They tinplate the products before they ship to us. The fact that we can literally pull the products right out of the box and install them is important to us. We certainly don’t want to get a part that we have to perform some opera- tion on before we can use it. So, mak- ing this component was a pure turnkey deal.”


Convenient Communications Not only is communication more


convenient with domestic fourslide suppliers, but tooling changes are quicker and response time is normal- ly much faster for design alterations, prototypes and first article samples. In another electronic applica-


tion, Visionary Lighting (Annapolis, MD) used Fourslide Spring and Stamping to supply phosphor-bronze contacts for a custom, LED-illumi- nated display tray that mounts to vertical shelf brackets used in retail outlets such as drugstores. Visionary Lighting is a designer and contractor for providing LED and Edgewood edgelit acrylic illumination to cos- metics and point-of-purchase firms. “I chose Fourslide for a number


of reasons,” explains Bob Krohn, president. “They were very knowl- edgeable about the parts I needed, and how to fabricate them efficient- ly. We have worked with overseas vendors in the past, and it has not been easy. Having a local vendor proved to be very reassuring and our comfort level with Fourslide has been much higher. Typically, when you run into a problem working with an overseas vendor, not only does communication become a challenge, but the time and transit involved can be a huge barrier. Fourslide, on the other hand, provided us with quick turnaround. Samples took only about two weeks, and the first article about five weeks. Also, there was no secondary finishing or other operations required; the products I got were extraordinarily clean. The pricing of the tooling was better than those of (high-volume) shops that used power press stamping.” Contact: Fourslide Spring and


Stamping Inc., 87 Cross Street, Bristol, CT 06011 % 800-832-6405 fax: 860-584-5960 E-mail: info@fourslide.com Web: www.fourslide.com r


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