Shop Solutions
New tools and ideas have prompted Sterling to adopt new more aggressive strategies. “We are getting more comfortable with running at speeds that push the limit,” Vacca said. “That might mean we have to change an insert every four or five parts as opposed to six parts. But at the same time we are running everything a lot faster, so it makes up for it. It’s a new mentality for us, but what it has done for our productivity has been phenomenal.”
“What impressed us about Seco was their ability to bring us knowledge that we might not have, instead of just bring- ing in an insert and saying this is the best insert and here are 300 of them. Seco would come in and say,‘This is an insert, we will show you the best way to run it, and we have other suggestions that might help you with your manufac- turing process,’” said Scott Vacca, vice president of sales.
Sterling and Seco recently formalized a partnership that benefits both parties. Assuming Seco carries the desired products, Seco is Sterling’s first choice for tooling. In return, Sterling gets support, training, and early access and testing for new products. “We already had a partnership; the only thing we were missing was a formalization of it,” Alkire said. “The agree- ment means we are committed to them as they are to us.” One of the key services Seco provided initially to Sterling was tool consolidation. The goal was to run 80% of the shop’s parts with 20% of the possible tooling choices. “They had 160 line items that were nothing but turning tool inserts,” Alkire said. “With the 80/20 rule, we streamlined that down to about 25 or 30.”
In the job-shop environment, Alkire said, use of special tools is rare. Fabricators will make special tools and Seco can modify its own blanks if necessary, but it takes time. “I try to steer away from specials. Usually if we had time to wait for a special, the job would be over.” Innovative uses of standard tools usually gets the job done. In one case, Seco was able to
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reduce an almost three-hour cycle time machining valve bod- ies down to 49 minutes. Alkire said, “The goal was to get 10 out a day. We were getting three. Getting creative with circular interpolation with our Turbo mills and 780 boring heads, we were able to cut the cycle time down significantly.” For a job shop, rapid response and flexibility are crucial qualities. “Our reputation is for quick turnaround and quality,” Vacca said. “Customers call us and our goal is to quote a new part for them within 24–48 hours. Then, for the most part, turnaround is six to eight weeks. That’s what sets us apart.” The shop also provides some customers with Kanban-level service. “Every Thursday we drive a truck to Benton, AR,” Vacca said. “Our customers will tell us the day before what they need.” The service minimizes the amount of inventory the customer needs to carry. Servicing the niche of higher-value, more-difficult part production can be a challenge. “Five or six years ago we were running a lot of higher volume parts. For the most part now we are running smaller batches, lower quantities, more compli- cated parts,” Vacca said. “A lot of that for us now is oil & gas industry work.” He pointed out that there have traditionally been tough traceability standards for oil & gas components, but the standards have become more stringent since the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sterling handles parts that its customers find they can’t do on their own. Bob Martin described such a situation: “We did a job for a large OEM company, a valve that goes to Saudi Arabia. The material was an Inconel inlay. It was very difficult to ma- chine. The Inconel was welded into the part and then they had to do a lot of machining. They tried it at their division for several months, and could not be productive with it. So they gave us the project, and it was a tough job. It took us forever to get it going. We mastered it and it was very noteworthy for us.” Bob Martin recalled the longtime manufacturing maxim, “If the spindles are not turning, you’re not making money. We have covered a lot of different areas at Sterling to be able to allow the spindles to continue to turn.” A major contribu- tor to consistency is a strong relationship between Sterling’s family management and its workforce. Vacca said, “We make sure we treat our employees like an extension of our family. A majority of our employees have been with us for 10 years or more and there are fathers and sons, brothers and uncles all working together.” ME
For more information from Seco Tools, go to
www.secotools. com/us, or phone 248-528-5200.
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