This is what I do every day at a stamping plant , same dies same TR presses same automation , sheet metal into body panels , draw , pierce , flange and hem , what a process , forty some years in the trade
Automation and robots taking over humans jobs was supposed to make cost efficiency better, yet car and truck prices have continued to skyrocket year after year. Its not about supplying the market with cheaper vehicles, its about fattening the pockets of the suits in all these manufacturers.
older presses were double action, these presses are using a cushion to form from below as apposed to blank holder and a punch i ran single action, double action, tri -axis, (combination transfer press) at ford's geelong, australia
Cool line. David....a little insecure and jealous I see. If I understand correctly union people also maintain and keep the machinery running. Looks like they're doing a good job.
we made hundreds of these in south korea. we ship it to mostly europe. some in north america but i have never seen the actual use on a stamping factory
It depends on the vehicle. I worked at Magna stamping facility long time ago. Most parts were steel. The freight liner cab truck parts were aluminium. That causes complication in handling scrap. Mixing those two in the scrap bin causes price at recycler to drop. You don't want to mix that. Some parts required special steel with special metallurgical characteristic. BMW Z3 had its outer hood metal made, blanked and delivered to the facility in SC on pallets made in Japan. Rest of the car was American made steel.
So two robots do the work of five then five guys to look for blemishes and stack. Something suggest the latter five aren't needed. So the union tells management you have to have the five stackers? Cars should cost half what they do but union says not so fast.
*@Jimmy Tiler* I believe you're right. I'm no expert on how the UAW does business. I just know what little I do from news reports over the years. Seems the only times I heard anything in the news about UAW was when it was time to negotiate a new contract w/ GM- - always accompanied by threats to strike & sometimes resulting in one. Or a news report would come out when GM managers would approach UAW about another round of job eliminations I do know for a fact that the UAW/GM contract guarantees a minimum number of labor positions in the plant, until the contact ends, which is 5 years. That means that before GM managers can eliminate 5 jobs from the production line, UAW directors have to raise this proposition at their next regular meeting & vote on it. If the GM plant has already laid off the maximum number of employees allowed, for the time being, then GM management knows not to request any more "job eliminations" in the first place However, if new car sales are miserable enough for a long enough time, say a year or more, then GM isn't going to continue to lose millions of dollars, everyday, on labor & materials, just to keep building a car that has no buyers. They'll lay everyone off & close the plant, & there's little the Union can do to stop it
