31 August 2007
Further Ekenas order underlines benefits of specifying AddisonMckee’s integrated tube forming work cell solutions

World-leading tube bending and end forming technology specialists, AddisonMckee, have designed, developed and installed a new, fully automated, totally integrated tube forming workcell for leading Swedish exhaust and automotive component manufacturers, Ekenas Mekaniska.

Exceptional versatility

This latest solution for Ekenas, based around a DataBend DB32ESRD (E- electric C-axis, S – multi-stack, R – multi-radius, D – left and right hand bending capability) tube bender, has been developed for the production of complex shapes with consummate ease, brings additional versatility to the Swedish OEM’s tube forming capabilities and joins several AddisonMckee machines already in regular, reliable daily operation at the company’s manufacturing facility.

AddisonMckee’s fully automated work cell solutions have generated considerable amounts of new business opportunities for Ekenas over recent years, as they provide highly appropriate, exceptionally efficient means of tube bending, end forming and cutting simultaneously.

Longstanding relationship

AddisonMckee’s relationship with Ekenas first began in 1998 with a workcell based around a DB40STV with side-loaded forming line. In 2004, the tube manipulation specialist developed a work cell solution based around its popular DB75ESRB tube bender – a model acknowledged across the global automotive sector for its accuracy, repeatability and control, and capable of accepting 6-meter tube lengths (as opposed to processing three 2-meter tube lengths separately).

Significant production benefits

“Via the development of work cells that are able to accept mill cut tube lengths of 6 meters, instead of the more commonly used 2 or 3-meter lengths,” commented AddisonMckee Export Sales Director, Graham Wood, “we were able to provide tubular component manufacturers with solutions that offer considerable reductions in wastage, reduce workload and enable the production of sequential components to be manufactured from the same piece of tube.”

Seam detection

In the DB75ESRB 6-meter tube solution developed by AddisonMckee for Ekenas, tubes are loaded into the AddisonMckee work cell holding bunker via use of a forklift device, with loading times reduced as a consequence of using larger material lengths. The tube retaining straps are cut and the tube is then seam detected to ensure correct orientation in readiness for presentation into the AddisonMckee DataBend tube bender.

At the same time, precise tube length measurement also ensures that the exact length of every piece of tube is known in order to maximize the number of components that can be produced. The bend and cut process then takes place component by component, or sequentially, with completed components being removed by robot. Bent components can then bet transferred for all necessary end forming processes, including de-dimpling, de-burring, sizing, slotting, tube end expansion or reduction, with any number of end forming functions being built into the work cell subject to cycle time.

Highest possible utilization rate

Added Graham Wood, “Our ability to create work cell solutions to maximize production time savings enables the complete tube forming process to be run at the highest utilization rate possible. In fact, once the bend and cut parameters have been programmed into the control system, operators need do little more than keep the hoppers full.”

Additional orders

Impressed by the high levels of repeatability, reliability and tube forming precision offered by AddisonMckee technology, and in order to further meet the growing manufacturing demands resulting from their investment in the latest tube forming solutions, in 2005 Ekenas then further expanded their manufacturing capability via the investment in an automated work cell based around one of AddisonMckee’s DataBend DB50DHSTP machines – a true dual bend, twin head machine, designated for the manufacture of fluid transfer lines in trucks.

Further expanding capability

This order was followed in 2006 by Ekenas’s investment in a further AddisonMckee automated work cell, this time designed around a smaller diameter DB24ESRD model – a high performance tube bender typically for the manufacture of small diameter tubular components, including brake tubes and air conditioning pipes and with the capability to side load tube of 2.5 meters in length complete with end fittings. Finally, in June 2007, the DB32ESRB model was delivered to Ekenas.

Committed to greater manufacturing efficiencies

Concludes Graham Wood, “AddisonMckee is wholly committed to advancing today’s ongoing drive towards greater manufacturing efficiencies via the development of tube bending and work cell technology that significantly reduces cut tube wastage and considerably improves process cycle times.”

“Through our relationship with Ekenas Mekaniska, an exceptionally forward-thinking, quality-focused manufacturer,” he continues, “we are able to demonstrate how investment in high quality tube forming solutions can reap significant benefits in terms of greater accuracy, enhanced performance and manufacturing efficiencies – and provide the opportunity to significantly build the capabilities and customer base of a business.”

About AddisonMckee

2007 winners of The Manufacturer magazine’s World-Class Manufacturing Award – a prestigious award based on an organization’s ability to benchmark, examine and make continuous improvements in all aspects of its operations – AddisonMckee is globally renowned for the design, manufacture and supply of some of the world’s finest tube bending and end forming technologies – for increasingly complex automotive, aviation, truck and shipbuilding requirements.

In addition, AddisonMckee also offers highly innovative tube measuring solutions, tube perforation, piercing and louvring technologies, hydraulic press machinery, muffler assembly solutions, plant automation and complete workcell integration.

In addition to these capabilities, a whole range of tooling and accessory options are also provided, as are comprehensive maintenance and service contracts, training and education programs and financial services. Where applicable, AddisonMckee is also able to offer customers the opportunity of machine rebuilds, refurbishment, upgrades and trade-ins.

From its state-of-the-art manufacturing centers in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada and China, AddisonMckee is committed to providing rapid solutions to market and also regularly assists clients in product prototyping, parts development, small production runs and pre-production sample development.

AddisonMckee is principally owned by WHI Capital Partners (WHICP), a Chicago-based private equity group that invests in middle market, industry-leading companies with solid financial fundamentals and proven management teams. WHICP is an affiliate of William Harris Investors, Inc., a family-based asset management firm founded by Irving B. Harris in 1987.

For further information please contact:

Christian Rogiers, Global Marketing Director – AddisonMckee
E-mail: crogiers@addisonmckee.com
Tel:  +1 513 228 7076
Fax: +1 513 228 7226