Samel-90 AD: Production of new serial parts for the automotive industry

Project assignement

Serial production of precise aluminum rotary details:

- shortening the production time

- lowering production costs

- increasing the processing accuracy

- measuring the quality

 Solution

• Implementing a machine for thermo-assembling of a tool (shrink-fit)
• Delivery of specialized cutting tools
• Improvement of the Siemens NX-postprocessor for NC control of a two-pinion double-blade lathe
• Delivery of measuring instruments

 Results

• Switching from prototype to series production
• Reduction of the work cycle time of milling / turning by 22%
• Reduced cost of cutting consumables
• Managing allowances and roughness - reducing the waste
• High precision quality control

Samel-90 AD is an enterprise with over 50 years in the mechanical engineering. Until 1989, the factory was an important part of the defense industry of Bulgaria. After the November the 10th 1989, the factory was privatized, a significant part of the workshops underwent conversion and began civil production. The products for foreign clients borrow an increasing share of the work in the mechanical sector, and the main contractors are companies from abroad. In 2014, the company received a request for a large-scale production of aluminum parts for a customer from the automotive industry. Except the expected high performance, a particularity of the manufactured part are the deep openings and high precision requirements. For the pricing, Samel-90 turns to various suppliers of metal cutting tools and machine equipment. After getting acquaintied with the prototype, Soltec proposes to deliver the following set of tools for the implementation of the project:

- a machine for the thermos-assembly of the tool Shrink fitting unit GARANT SG1

- monolithic hard-alloy aluminum cutters with DLC and ZOX coating

- a set of GARANT measuring tools

The machines for thermal-assembly of the tool (shrink-fit) offer grip on long tools at the maximum surface theoretically possible. This reduces the vibrations and the radial beating, critical when working with a long tool. The cutting tools with special coatings ensure trouble-free chipping of the soft aluminum material. The test series of the product is sent to the assignor and approved without any comments, which provided Samel-90 to obtain the entire production errand.

The employer did not believe that this detail could be produced in Bulgaria

A year later, the same client offered Samel-90 collaboration for a more complex rotational detail. Together with Soltec, Samel-90 considered two production options - classical lathe machining and two-spindle lathe machining. Soltec provides the following services:

- personalized NX-postprocessor for two-spindle lathe DMG MORI TWIN42

- building a virtual machine

Despite the higher depreciation of the more sophisticated machine, the simulation of the cycles shows a considerable time advantage of the usage of a twin-spindle lathe with two turret heads versus the classic version with the usage of a CNC lathe with turning of the detail and two processing cycles, which finally makes the company settle on the first option.

In a serial production every penny counts.

The serial production ensures predictability of the work, even load of the production facilities and job perspectives. However, contractors are international companies with high volumes of work, high quality criteria and a wide choice of subcontractors from all around the world. Maintaining the competitiveness in such environment requires maximum optimization of the production process, which means high productivity, maximum automation, low cost for materials and consumables, diminishing the waste losses and provision of constant quality. Soltec provides the Bulgarian manufacturers the same access to tools and technologies as the one available to their competitors in Western Europe. This gives the local industry a chance to be part of the global market.