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What was the Problem?
What was the Problem?
This was a design project that I undertook while at Mancor, the switch-over between each job was taking too long, and prone to error, creating waste and adding rework time, since it was for an automated spot welding process, making the setup important to promote repeatability. The culprit? The fixture design. The old fixtures required looking at a multiple-page work instruction to determine the correct fixture base, and then grabbing and placing removable, unlabelled pins into the correct locations that changed depending on the part #.
Old fixture design, different pin layout depending on part being made
How Could it be Fixed?
How Could it be Fixed?
Create a new fixture, that eliminates the need to find and place pins in the right location, determining the correct base, and following a complex work instruction, while designing it to ensure the parts would not need to be reprogrammed.
I decided to use one fixture base that would remain on the work table, with modular top plates that are organized by part number
Having the correct pin layouts already tacked onto the plate.
The plates would be easily placed with locating pins, and a set screw in the middle to keep from being removed during operation.
The idea was to keep the design functional and simple, while solving the previous issues encountered with the old design.
With this new design, the operator only needs 2 things: the part # of the job, and a simple instruction with a picture of how the part should be placed.
Locating pins in orange, pink and red pins are tacked onto plate.
What was the Final Result?
What was the Final Result?
The new design was fabricated on the laser cutter, eliminating the extra cost of machining the holes on the plate.
The pins were machined on the lathe, and then tacked to the correct location.
One issue: the warping in the top plate from the welds, and so I worked with the welder on subsequent iterations to ensure tight tolerances were maintained.
After a few iterations, the design was where our team was happy with it, and
20+ top plates were made to replace the old fixtures and corresponding work instructions.
The new design resulted in a 50% decrease in setup time and eliminated defects and reworks related to an incorrect setup.
No new programming was needed, the new fixture could be used with no adjustments.
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