Yonetani Die & Mold Co.
The town of Kashiwazaki on the west coast of Japan has been the home of Yonetani Die & Mold Co. since the mid-1930s. For its early operations with wooden moulds, the company has developed into a hi-tech manufacturer of complex mould tools. Yonetani’s operations extend over a broad range, since the tools differ greatly in terms of size and casting technology.Engine blocks, cylinder heads and transmission parts for Japan’s automobile giants are examples of products made in Yonetani tools.
Yonetani analyze and optimize the virtual cores before actual manufacturing process.
CEO Yamagishi explains: “These parts are strategically important for the car manufacturers and competition is very keen, so it’s vitally important for use to be at the forefront of developments. We therefore participate actively in research and development” where flow, thermal conduction and solidification, etc., are concerned”.
One example of the trend is the engine blocks, which used to be greatly over-dimensioned, this meant that a lot of material was used and they were heavy. Today, they are optimised for weight and strength and for the number of cores in the tool. The cores of today are more complex, and there are far fewer of them.
The fact is that Yonetani – together with giants such as Mazda Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. – was among the first to obtain a licence to use new software to produce tools for pressure die casting and coremaking.
CEO Yukio Yamagishi – “Lead time is highly important”.
It is now possible to simulate the entire coremaking process, including flow rate, degassing and venting. This makes it possible to optimise the virtual cores before ploughing lots of time, money and material into the actual manufacturing process.
Yukio Yamagishi continues: “We use the same three-dimensional CAD/CAM system as our major customers, making it easy to exchange information. All data comes from the same source and is used throughout the production process, right up to the finished tool. It’s safe to say that the design and preparation department, with young, well-trained and enthusiastic employees, is the heart of our operation.”
Ever more frequent model changes in the auto industry mean that the lead times for tools are becoming more and more important as a means of competition for toolmakers. This means that the days of die-sinking EDM at Yonetani are numbered. Now the watchword is high-speed milling.
The heart of the operation – the design department.
Since the workpieces are usually processed in several different machines, requiring a number of rset-up operations, Yonetani have been working with their own ‘pallet system’ in the form of grid plates for the past 25 years. These are substantial plates, since a half-tool may weigh nearly 3 tonnes when complete.
“The set-up operations are a nuisance. They have a severe effect on the total lead time” explains Yamagishi. “We started to look for a pallet system that could reduce our set-up times. Every hour spent set-up that can be converted into active spindle time gives an increase in production that’s far from insignificant.”
Four, six or nine chucks per application – 285 Delphin units in all!
So last spring Yonetani installed four Delphin chucks in a machine as a test under actual production conditions. The outcome was that they more or less immediately decided to equip every machine table with Delphin, whether the machines were vertical or horizontal, four-axis or five-axis. And all their angle shelves and cubes as well. Four, six or nine chucks per application. 285 Delphin units in all!
“We’ve cut set-up times by two-thirds, which can now be converted into spindle-hours. A capacity increase that has clearly had a positive effect on lead times. A while back we set a record of a total lead time of 3.5 weeks for a tool, and that will be hard to beat”, says Yamagishi.
printer friendly version
Related links:
Delphin