Increasing Quality and Production Rates
Posted on 02/13/2019 | by The Orbitform Blog Team
Manufacturers in the medical industry face extreme pressures to produce robust parts at high volumes. It is crucial that their products have secure joints that withstand wear and tear, but they also need to be produced quickly and in a cost-effective manner. It's not enough to produce a good product if you aren't seeing an increase in your bottom line. One manufacturer of Ankle Foot Orthoses turned to Orbitform to address these concerns.
Cycle Time & Tight Spaces
The previous manufacturing process involved hand riveting straps and chafe buckles to the braces with special two-piece rivets. This process had been sufficient for meeting volume requirements and producing secure joints until their company and production rates grew.
The size of their smaller foot braces also presented a challenge. The standard lower tooling of pneumatic riveters was too wide for this size part, making it difficult to reach inside the smaller braces to rivet the straps.
An Engineered Solution
To address these concerns, Orbitform’s engineering experts looked at designing a custom pneumatically driven impact riveter specific for their application. Their special rivets required the operator to assemble the part and start both halves of the rivets. They then loaded the part over the anvil and cycled the machine to press the assembly together. Orbitform’s impact riveters have a typical machine cycle time of less than one second. This allowed us to dramatically decrease their cycle time over their hand riveting process.
While designing their machine, our engineers reviewed each size of braces the company manufactures. We custom designed lower tooling small enough to support riveting on the smallest braces and robust enough to support their larger sizes.
By partnering with the manufacturer and reviewing their needs, Orbitform provided a custom impact riveter with a quick cycle time and custom tooling. This allowed the manufacturer to produce high quality parts and meet the increase in production rates.
Each of our machines are custom designed for our customers’ applications. From customized tooling to engineered fixtures, we ensure your parts are supported through the entire process to meet your requirements. Send us your part models today and let us design the right equipment for your desired outcome.