160 Year Old Hand Tool Manufacturer Tries New Cutting Tool -- with Dramatic Results
Klein Tool recently added a million-dollar state-of-the-art machine to its Elk Grove facility. So, the Senior Manufacturing Engineer went looking for a high-performance cutting tool to match. And he found one -- an end mill that has increased their feed rate by 260%and cut cycle time nearly in half, all while lasting more than 4x longer than the old tool.
Klein Tools, established in 1857 and founded by Mathias Klein, has grown and developed along with the telecommunications and electrical industries where Klein pliers first found major usages.
In 1857, the company operated by Mathias Klein began with the manufacturing of a pair of pliers. Today, Klein Tools' product line has broadened to include virtually every major type of hand tool.
Today, Klein Tools, Inc. represents much more than Klein pliers. The company's product line has broadened to include virtually every major type of hand tool used in construction, electronics, mining, and general industry in addition to the electrical and telecommunications fields. Klein Tools also supplies a line of occupational protective equipment.
The 160-year-old family-owned and operated company has invested in multimillion-dollar facilities to manufacture its products and has the flexibility to meet and respond to customer and market demands.
VIDEO: Klein Tools Manufacturing
In today's economic climate, many companies are not able to meet market demand -- but this was not the case with Klein Tools. When they faced the increasing demand for a specific product, Dale Remelis, the Senior Manufacturing Engineer of a Klein manufacturing plant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, added a new million-dollar state-of-the-art machine to increase their production. Along with this addition, Dale wanted to reduce cycle times so that they could produce even more parts per hour.
Dale, a veteran in the metal products industry, has worked at Klein Tools for over a decade. As Dale remarks at Klein Tools, they "like to run the best of everything," and so began his search for high performance cutting tools.
Suzanne Bach (Engman-Taylor), Tod Petrik (Haimer USA) and Dale Remelis (Klein Tools)
Dale contacted his distributor, Suzanne Bach, from Engman-Taylor, who recommended using HAIMER endmills. Considering that Dale has tried multiple brands throughout the years, he was hesitant to test the HAIMER MILL endmills, even after hearing how well they perform from Suzanne. Dale says, "I was skeptical," but decided to dedicate the time to evaluate HAIMER endmills.
Unlike most tooling manufacturers, HAIMER provides solutions differently. Dale explains that most manufacturers "just drop off" a couple of tools to let them "try them out." Meanwhile, Tod Petrik, Cutting Tool Applications Engineer at Haimer USA, carefully reviewed the application, machine tool and fixtures to determine the best approach. Dale reports that in their in-depth exploration, they looked at and assessed many different milling strategies and cutting speeds until they arrived at the desired result.
One of the biggest challenges was tool life. Dale pointed out that "no matter how much we tried; we were never able to exceed 300 parts per endmill."
HAIMER MILL: One tool for everything -- ramping, drilling, milling and slotting.
However, after extensive research and trials, the innovative HAIMER MILL endmills successfully demonstrated a much greater tool life. Likewise, Tod also collaborated with Dale to develop program and tooling strategies to machine parts faster resulting in greater production output.
The unique solution provided to Klein's challenge was a tool life increase of 364% with the HAIMER MILL, allowing them to produce 1,392 parts per endmill instead of 300.
In addition, the old cycle time took 50 minutes, and the new cycle with HAIMER endmills now takes only 30 minutes. The previous feed rate was 10.18 inches per minute, but the HAIMER MILL increased the feed rate by 260% to 36.7 inches per minute. Dale asserts that previous to acquiring endmills from HAIMER, he had heard other manufacturer's sales pitches before, and in his words, the tool was "always worse" than what they had been running before, but in the case of the HAIMER, "These endmills are incredible," Dale adds.
After extensive research and trials, the HAIMER MILL endmills successfully demonstrated a much greater tool life./p]
Klein Tools upper management was very pleased with the success achieved producing parts on the new machine, Dale says, and wanted to try the HAIMER MILL in other machines.
A total of four HAIMER endmills were key in achieving 75% of the overall 40% cycle time reduction; and as a result, 444 hours of available machine time was created. "Clamping is of utmost importance for the performance of the tool itself," Dale says. "We can apply everything we learned to everything in the building."
In addition, Klein Tools has HAIMER by their side, providing solutions by incrementing their overall production. Dale states that he is "delighted with the results" and believes that HAIMER endmills are "superior to anything out there." In the future, Dale is considering applying HAIMER's full tool management system, such as HAIMER presetting and shrink fit technology.
VIDEO: HAIMER MILL
One thing is just as important to HAIMER and Klein Tools -- ensuring each brand maintains its identity and quality standards. HAIMER and Klein aren't just the company names -- they are also their family's last name. So, to live up to their legacy, these brands have developed the reputation of striving for excellence.
It only makes sense then that HAIMER continues to provide reliable products that allow machinists and engineers to complete jobs without fail. In addition, investing in the tooling technology developed by HAIMER ensures multiple long-term benefits, like the ones revealed in Klein Tools' production rates.
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