Stamper Says "So Long" to Lubricant Waste

A dozen new Unist programmable roll-coater lubrication systems installed on most of the presses at Tier Two automotive stamper Clover Tool Manufacturing Ltd., Concord, Ontario, Canada, have put a dramatic halt to the significant amount of wasted lubricant that once plagued its pressroom. Gone, too, are related downstream costs resulting from applying excess lubricant—items such as waste disposal and added die-change time spent setting up sprayers. Clover Tool, which launched in 1979 as a tool and die shop in a modest 2000-sq.-ft. facility, began production stamping in the early 1990s, and today operates 20 stamping presses in a 175,000-sq.-ft. plant. It also operates a 30,000- sq.-ft. sister plant via the 2016 acquisition of Ultramet Industries, in Breslau, Ontario. “We dedicate about 90 percent of our work to the automotive market,” shares George Zeni, Clover Tool vice president and sales manager, who notes recent efforts to diversify into non-automotive markets such as HVAC and construction. With press size peaking at 800 tons in Concord and 600 tons in Breslau, much of the company’s work has shifted to stamping of aluminum, including structural components and assemblies, and body parts. For example, Clover Tool provides all of the galvanized-steel window-regulator components for the Ford F-150. In addition to aluminum, the shop stamps cold- and hot-rolled steels, high-strength low-alloy steel, galvanized steels, and stainless. Material thickness ranges from 0.008 to 0.325 in. “We’re working with nearly every major automotive OEM,” adds Zeni, “through our Tier One customers, providing parts for seating, window regulators, hood and trunk assemblies, and body-in-white.” “Window regulators comprise about 10 percent of all of the work coming out of this facility,” says George’s brother and general manager Rob Zeni. “Seating components comprise another 15 percent. And yes, we’re taking on some dual-phase steel stamping as well.”

Until recently, all of Clover Tool’s stamping operations employed spray systems to apply lubricant, “and we sprayed everything literally, the lubricant went everywhere,” shares Rob Zeni. “As we watched our lube costs continue to escalate over time, including costs related to disposing of spent lube, we decided early in 2018 to take action. We simply no longer could tolerate the added costs, as well as the hazards and added cleaning requirements related to excess lube on our machines, tooling and on the floor…more work for everyone. And, the air quality in the plant was less than ideal.” The solution came in the form of programmable roll-coater systems, Uni-Roller S2 models from Unist installed on 12 presses at the Concord facility (“our biggest runners,” George Zeni says), beginning in late 2018 and wrapping up toward the end of 2019. “Each system,” George explains, “features a programmable fluid controller integrated into the press controls. A key feature for us is the ability to tie the programming for each lube-system setup into the individual job recipe. The ease of setup made the project a good fit for our workplace culture—the operators immediately took ownership of the process change and appreciated the repeatability of the process. And, of course, they really appreciate no longer dealing with excess lube—on the floor, on the dies and, oftentimes, all over themselves.” “One of the most frustrating issues we used to deal with,” adds Rob, “was the constant need to tweak the spray systems, move the heads and adjust the spray pattern. We had individual units at each press with multiple sprayers and no control of the operator’s decision to use too little or too much spray. In addition, the operators sometimes would waste lubricant by not correctly placing the spray heads in their proper locations, regardless of how much training we provided. “With the roll coaters,” he continues, “we’ve eliminated all of the operator chores related to the lube system, which has reduced the time to complete die changeovers by 10 min. on average. Once the coaters are programmed for the individual job, we have absolutely zero adjustments to make.”

Another advantage with the roll coaters: they apply lubricant on the top and bottom of the material, most appreciated on tools forming the toughest of materials. “We have a few jobs where our tool coatings take a lot of abuse and when using the spray-lube systems, we were forced to recoat our form tools on a regular basis,” Rob says. “With the new roll coaters, we’ve increased the number of hits between recoating the tools by 50 percent on those jobs. And, with better coating life we’ve seen less burring and die marking on the stamped parts, as well as a reduction in tool adjustments needed to accommodate dimensional issues.” Lastly, customer complaints regarding parts arriving drenched in lube had disappeared, as has most of the fumes from the facility’s weld booths, including more than a dozen robotic-welding cells and more than 20 projection-welding cells. “And, weld porosity is practically nonexistent,” says Rob.

Bottom line: the new roll-coater programmable lube systems have reduced lubricant consumption by 41 percent and reduced the cost for disposal by 60 percent. Those factors alone allow George Zeni to forecast a 12- to 18- month return on investment, “not accounting for all of the other benefits,” he says. “We’ve had zero slips since the changeover, the toolmakers and operators appreciate no longer having to deal with lube-soaked tools, there’s much less cleaning required, no more dripping shop rags…the benefits are endless.”