Taront Die &Tool
Created: 2008-05-02
Short description:
Taront, based in Cradley Heath, produce dies to supply to the drop forge and allied trades. They produce new dies and refurbish worn and damaged dies. Products that utilise their dies include a range of rail infrastructure and rolling stock links and cranks plus landing gear legs for aerospace and steering knuckles for automotive.
Description:
Taront Die &Tool
Taront, based in Cradley Heath, produce dies to supply to the drop forge and allied trades. They produce new dies and refurbish worn and damaged dies. Products that utilise their dies include a range of rail infrastructure and rolling stock links and cranks plus landing gear legs for aerospace and steering knuckles for automotive.
Manufacturing concerns
Taront produce drop forge dies which are extremely complex shapes defined by surface geometry rather than dimensions. Responding to customer demands of dies being produced by CNC millers to guarantee accuracy and quality they had acquired CNC machines and CNC controllers. Taront started to experience severe machining problems, resulting in extended lead times, lost production time and excessive levels of rework. Taront knew that to continue producing competitively they had to address these manufacturing issues.
MAS action
Taront had established that the problem was associated with the CNC controller’s inability to cope with the quantity of data to be handled, they then looked for assistance. MAS-WM provided assistance, through the Rail Business Improvement Programme, in the specification and selection trials for the machine tools, specification of compatible CNC controllers, the integration of the cutter path data for existing rail products and maintenance and operator training. Support was also provided by the associate EEF in investigating the suitability of CAD modelling packages and post processors for the new controllers. Special emphasis was made of “on machine recovery” and the opportunity to operate “lights out” manufacturing.
Diagnostic
Knowing the limitations of the current CNC controller Taront made a decision to purchase new 3 CNC’s. Having gathered the history of Taront problematic issues MAS-WM recommended a project necessary to ensure that the correct CNC Controllers were purchased and supply the necessary support to integrate the machines successfully.
Results
Taront were losing 20 hours a week due to faults and rework, with some die faults not being repairable. The project ensured that Taront successfully adopted the right machines and software that would allow them to reduce lead times from 2 weeks to 6 days and eliminate all arrears. They have doubled their single shift capacity and eradicated rework issues. Taront has further increased output with the ability to run unmanned and with the optimization of post processors.
"If it hadn’t been for MAS-WM support we would not be producing anymore, we had hit an all time low.”
Barry Jones
Taront Die & Tool
“Resolving the severe downtime and rework problems has enabled Taront to achieve the demanding quality and delivery standards of the rail and other industry customers.”
Ron Adams
MAS-WM, Rail Project Manager.
