Automotive electronics and systems manufacturer Delphi has bucked the outsourcing trend, and moved some of its mould-making operations back in-house to meet cost and delivery time objectives.
Delcam’s PowerMill CAM (computer aided manufacturing) software, additional Makino machining centres and some different thinking have changed the way things are done in the company’s Flint, MI 29 Mould Build Toolroom.
Now, the technicians that operate its impressive array of machines use eight seats of the Delcam software to produce the programs for them themselves.
“As machine operators, we understand the elements necessary to produce high quality mould inserts,” explains Jeff Johns, a CNC machinist and CAM programmer, who is responsible for high speed machining mould insert sets.
“The combination of our practical experience, the Makino machines and the Delcam software gives us consistently excellent results.” And he adds: “By giving us, as machinists, the ability to program exactly as needed, we have seen huge reductions in the amount of air-cutting time and in the number of tool breakages.”
“In addition, we haven’t had a software gouge using PowerMill software,” adds Rob Bergeron another CNC machinist and CAM programmer. “This is becoming increasingly important because, in more and more applications, no weld marks are allowed on the tool surface. One gouge can mean the mould insert would have to be re-machined.”
The tooling completed so far has been mainly for electro/mechanical applications, including the housings for air cleaners and instrument clusters, and enclosures for fuel level senders. Moulds have also been produced for Del;phi’s novel passenger occupancy detection system – PODS.
“We know we are going against recent practice by bringing work in-house,” admits Bill Jordan. “However, high-speed machining on the Makino machines and shop-floor programming with PowerMill enable us to meet the necessary cost, quality and delivery requirements to most often exceed our customers’ expectations.”
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