CWP Line Boosts Productivity for Lawn & Garden Equipment Manufacturer
 

As a leading manufacturer of premium quality lawn and garden tractors, Simplicity Manufacturing, Inc., uses a lot of steel. So when they needed a new coil handling system to increase their processing capability, they installed a 12" wide Cooper Weymouth Petersen (CWP) coil handling system with the ability to handle material up to .250" thick.

"Reduced changeover time and the ability to run partial coils were paramount to our equipment selection process," says John Wolfe, fabrication supervisor at Simplicity. "The CWP system we eventually selected provides both of these benefits."

The coil handling system uses CWP Model SMX12H ServoMAX feed, proving full-width capacity through gear-driven, four-inch diameter feed rolls. The feed was equipped with an automated, pass line height adjustment function to speed up adjustments when changing tooling over. This includes automatic clamping of the feed to the press.

At Mr. Wolfe's request, a CWP Model 4RD double-stock reel was added to provide an easier method of partial coil changeover. At 8,000-lb capacity per spindle, the reel is equipped with hydraulic expansion, inching drive and hold-down arms with powered rider rolls. Each function is independently operated for each spindle.

The system also features a pneumatically raised and lowered threading table that carries stock on a direct path the feed. Once coil stock has been threaded through the feed, the table is lowered, creating a loop.

Crane Production Systems of Waukesha further automated the system by integrating the feed control with a new press control and die protection system.

"We are very pleased with the new system," Wolfe says. "The increased production capacity has exceeded our expectations and we are moving unplanned jobs over to the new system based on production time savings alone."