EDM Pages 81 to 86 Improve Your Current Efficiency Rate By James Jergens Ernie Green Industries’ tool shop had to build molds in less than one year, which required extensive, high-precision wire EDM machining. EGI’s focus is precision medical molds for non-evasive surgical devices, and many of the wired inserts and wired holes are very small (. inch x . inch x . inch) or have thin steel conditions of less than . inch. However, in its current state, the shop did not have the wire EDM time needed with its two GF Progressive VP machines. During the quoting phase of the project, the company laid out a timeline to determine project feasibility and quickly discovered it did not have enough wire EDM hours. Average cut time was hours per week (, hours per year). EGI needed to ind alternative solutions without investing in machines or staff. 1. Review All Processes to Determine Where Efficiency Improvements Can Be Found Utilizing two machines, EGI had hours available cut time at % eficiency; however, it was only achieving an aver-age of hours cut time per day, or % eficiency. The EGI team decided to put multiple blocks in the machine. Then it looked at how its toolmakers dropped inserts/slugs , as EGI’s are so small they could be easily lost in the tank, or if they got into the machine head, the insert could cause costly machine damage. 2. Challenge the Team to Look Outside the Norm The initial solution was to buy two additional machines at the cost of $, per machine and hire the two to three additional staff to run the machines, but these were not via-ble options so the team had to improve its current eficiency rate instead. EGI discovered it could catch each insert/slug using Autoix, an already-available function offered on the com-pany’s machines. Implementation of these two steps helped achieve an eficiency of % or more and signiicantly increased available capacity. 3. Collaborate With Equipment Suppliers to Maximize Existing Machines Reaching out for support to the EDM machine manufac-turer helped the EGI team discover the Autoix function and Small mold inserts punched out of wire block. implement it within one day. Autoix goes back to each wire tab and reduces it so that the insert can be tapped out with a small punch after the block was removed from the machine. EGI also learned that its PEPS CAM system has a similar function to Autoix, which provides multiple ways to achieve eficiency for wiring small, high-precision inserts and pockets. 4. Invest In Employee Training When identifying the placement of multiple blocks in the machine as a solution to improve eficiency, EGI realized that its toolmaker had always put one block in the machine at one time in the same spot. The toolmaker didn’t know that putting multiple blocks in the machine would enable EGI to run the machines for extended periods, including over the weekend. EGI proitably completed the project requiring high-precision molds and is considering additional wire EDM work because of open capacity. FOR MORE INFORMATION Ernie Green Industries / 585-295-8951 / egindustries.com James Jergens, Operations Manager. GF Machining Solutions / 847-913-5300 / gfms.com 86 MoldMaking M g Technology y — — JU JULY 2021 Image courtesy of Ernie Green Industries.