Over my 25 years of involvement in the press stamping industry, it has been my privilege to assist clients when they needed to consider whether to repair or look for a new press. The decision is often quite straight forward with the advantage of collaborating with technicians and engineers who were OEM trained with companies like Bliss, Verson and Danly. These individuals can efficiently assess the current condition of the press and what will be necessary to bring it up to performance specs.
Recent trends are showing an increasing capacity utilization rate for the fabricated metal products sector. So, metal part manufacturers need their stamping presses up and running to keep up with increased job orders.
Stamping press repairs that are postponed for too long become a real problem for metal forming operations struggling to balance downtime with production realities. When maintenance is neglected and a press is pushed beyond what can be expected it often stops running at a very inconvenient time. Suddenly, the question of inadequate budget and unplanned downtime can present significant challenges. Furthermore, no one really knows the cost of a repair that’s not visible to the naked eye without disassembling the press.
Carlson Machinery can help you schedule a thorough inspection by OEM-trained technicians. Their comprehensive report will help you make an informed decision about the cost effectiveness of the repair. The inspection report becomes the benchmark for the press condition and can serve as the basis for a preventative maintenance plan. An inspection report by an outside entity is more acceptable for OSHA and ANSI guidelines for periodic compliance inspections.
If a few specific items on the stamping press are in need of fixing, the components that are evidently broken should be repaired. This should be accompanied by an evaluation of the rest of the press for additional repairs or possible part replacement. However, if repairs are required for more than five wearable major components on a stamping press, it may time to consider a rebuild or replacement.
If a problem arises, but maintenance records indicate that, outside of the problem area, wearable components of the press have been recently inspected and look good, then proceed with the repair only after all of the machine operations have been inspected. After all, there is a cause and result for everything. If you do not locate and solve the issues causing the failure, you will just be fixing the results, and the same issues will likely recur.
The importance of using only reputable, highly skilled field service professionals is paramount. Be sure to follow up on references for the company that proposes to perform the service. It’s not surprising to find a repair made by a maintenance technician that only aggravates a deteriorating situation.
Contact Carlson Machinery or call us at (319) 553-0188 for stamping press repairs.