MRO Today - Productivity under pressure

Productivity under pressure

For more than 40 years, Team Industries, headquartered in Bagley, Minn., has been researching, engineering, prototyping and manufacturing drive train and chassis components for numerous sporting and utility vehicles. The pressure to provide the highest quality products in the face of price and timeline constraints is a constant factor of doing business.

At the company’s Cambridge, Minn., machining facility, there’s also a different pressure — the high pressure operation of the plant’s thru-the-spindle machine tool coolant systems that, until recently, were creating problems in keeping machines running smoothly and at optimum output levels.

With the ever-present need for filter bag changeouts, and the likely potential for overflows and low coolant volume shutdowns, Steve Buchholz, then engineering manager at the Cambridge plant, and Ron Boudreau, maintenance manager, were challenged with the task of reducing downtime and maintenance/labor costs while enhancing coolant recovery efforts and chip handling operations.

“One of Team’s other machining facilities ordered a new machining center,” Buchholz says, “and specified a Mayfran ConSep conveyor/separator. The machine was initially set up in our plant for trials and runoffs, and that’s the first Ron and I saw the ConSep in operation. We were impressed, and have since included four ConSep systems with our new machining centers.”

“From the very first unit put in operation, the results have been outstanding, going three and more months with no problems whatsoever, and no downtime due to filtration blockage issues, changeover requirements, foaming or overflows. Our operators face fewer problems, productivity has improved and costs have decreased.”

Team performs heavy-duty machining of steel, cast ductile and gray iron components that require face milling, boring, drill and tap and deep hole drilling for oil passages.

“These operations require the machines to be outfitted with thru-the-spindle, high-pressure systems, in particular for the deep hole drilling tasks, to help cool and protect the tools and to efficiently flush chips from the hole,” Buchholz notes.

“Our previous machining systems included a chip conveyor and coolant tank from one supplier, while the separate high-pressure pump and filter system were from another.”

“But there were problems,” adds Mr. Boudreau. “One was that the cast iron components produced both chips and small fines that created a grinder-like sludge that quickly clogged the bag type filters. And clean filters are critical to the operation to keep coolant lines clear, eliminate the grit that wears on machine, tool and pump parts and help to make sure that the coolant can perform as needed.”

Filters often required changing or cleaning every week, with one to two hours of downtime. If not done, low coolant alarms or shutdowns could occur, and worse, filter backups could result in overflows and cleanups.

As coolant levels dropped in the “clean” reservoir, the high-pressure pump would start suctioning air. This caused foaming and an eventual drop in coolant performance and protection. Because the coolant tank was from one manufacturer and the high-pressure unit from another, the tank would often require refilling and topping off to keep the machines running.

Team also faced issues of integrating the different systems — the machine tool, the conveyor, and the high-pressure unit — so all would be on the same page as to alarms and emergency shutdowns. A condition might be critical to one piece of machinery, but not to another, so Team had to devise its own wiring schemes to provide warnings and procedures for their applications.

“When putting together the ConSep unit and high-pressure package,” Buchholz says, “Mayfran developed a truly integrated package, taking into account the reservoir capacity requirements, the need to interface with a host of machine brands and of course our need for improved uptime and lower costs.

“With their ease of integration, zero downtime for filter media replacement or accidents, and no more media handling or disposal costs, the ConSep units are just what we needed.”
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