1. MECHANICAL DESIGN OF A NEEDLE BEARING
AND PINION PRESS MACHINE
By
BRIAN BREUHAN
ET 4999 Senior Project
Division of Engineering Technology
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
December 2013
2. i
MECHANICAL DESIGN OF A NEEDLE BEARING
AND PINION PRESS MACHINE
By
BRIAN BREUHAN
ET 4999 Senior Project
Division of Engineering Technology
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
December 2013
Approved by:
M S Rathod, Faculty, Date
4. iii
SUMMARY
NEEDLE BEARING AND PINION PRESS STATION
By
BRIAN BREUHAN
December 2013
This project involved the replacement of five currently running hydraulic press machines
in the field to be combined into one singular press station using clean operating servo press
array. The customer provided a specification report which included a rough visual concept,
machine footprint showing overall maximum size dimensions with anticipated press forces and a
list of preferred components with applicable manufactures to be used within the design. The
advantages of moving from hydraulic presses to the electronic servo press include clean
operation, high resolution of accuracy with press force and distance with the ability to detect an
interference with part to part contacting before the customer’s parts become damaged and
unusable.
This design was the first time combining five press operations in a single station running
17 different models, front and rear differential cases. The design was a combination of efforts by
FEC Inc., Honda (end user), and DDK (the former parent company of FEC and the manufacturer
of the servo presses). The final machine was successfully assembled in July 2013 and set-up was
done for sample parts of each model differential case. Final part tests were completed both at the
FEC facility and then again at the Honda facility. All calculations and selected mechanical
components functioned as expected with only minor adjustments and process updates in the
field. The final machine met all of the specifications of Honda Manufacturing of South Carolina
and will be implemented into full production at the beginning of February 2014.
5. iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Brian Breuhan would like to thank the following people and parties for their guidance, support
and use of facilities to help successfully complete this project.
• Dr. Mulchand Rathod, ET 4999 Professor and project advisor
• Mark Ishikawa, for continued support and guidance throughout the years
• FEC Automation Systems, for providing the opportunity for the design and allowing the
use of this machine for the Wayne State University senior project.
• Dai-ichi Dentsu (DDK) Ltd., provided design input and design assistance
• Honda Manufacturing of America, LLC. end user of the machine and allowing the use of
the machine for this project.
• My wife Lisa Breuhan for being my major drive and support through my Wayne State
University career.
6. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Title Page
Signature Page .……………………………………………………………. i
Copyright Page .………………………………………………………….... ii
Summary ………………………………………………………………….. iii
Acknowledgement .……………………………………………………….. iv
Table of Contents .………………………………………………………… v
List of Tables …...………………………………………………………… vi
List of Figures …..………………………………………………………… vii
List of Symbols…..…………………………………………………………viii
I. Introduction and Literature Review……………………………………… 1
II. Design and Manufacturing……………………………………………….. 3
III. Conclusions and Recommendations………………………………………. 22
IV. References ……………………………………………………………….…25
V. Appendices
Appendix A: Project Timeline …………………...……………….. 26
Appendix B: Servo Motor Specification Sheet………………….… 27
Appendix C: Gear Reducer Specification Sheet ………...…………28
Appendix D: Spur Gear Specification Sheet……………………….29
Appendix E: Ball Screw Specification Sheet………………………30
Appendix F: Ball Spline Specification Sheet………………………32
Appendix G: RoboCylinder Specification Sheet…………………...34
Appendix H: Radial Bearing Specification Sheet…………………..36
7. vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Press Slide Unit Weight Study…………………………… 12
Table 2: Bill of Materials (Manufactured Details) …………..……..20
Table 3: Bill of Materials (Purchased Details) …………..…………21
8. vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Differential Cases…………………………………..…. 4
Figure 2: Drive System ………………………………………... 7
Figure 3: Bearing Package………..………………………………. 9
Figure 4: Press Rotation..…………………………………………. 12
Figure 5: Press Position Diagram.…………………………………. 13
Figure 6: Press Tooling Shift.…………………………………….. 15
Figure 7: Quick Change Chuck.…………………………………... 17
10. 1
I. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
This project was initiated at Honda Manufacturing of South Carolina for the need to
increase floor space and combine three operations done by five presses into one machine and
was presented to Honda of Japan for financing. Honda of Japan contacted Dai-ichi Dentsu
(DDK) Ltd. (FEC’s parent company at time of project proposal) in regards to the combining five
currently operated hydraulic press stations into a single standalone press station using DDK
servo presses to press all current and future model differential cases being produced in the
United States for Honda ATV’s. Issues were discussed in regards to costs and logistical matters.
Because DDK is located in Japan and Honda’s the end user of the machine is located on the east
coast of the United States lead to shipping expenses and timing discrepancy. Because the
machine would need to pass through customs which can be a lengthy process, DDK contacted
FEC Inc. in regards to doing a collaborated design and build of the standalone press machine.
This would not only reduce the cost of producing the machine but it would also remove language
barriers and provide a local knowledgeable support group for warranty work or trouble shoot
issues in a timely manner.
The initial design and concept work was given to FEC Inc. with the list of Honda
required specifications and preferred manufacturers/materials list. Once the initial concept and
rough design was completed, travel to Japan was required to meet with the Honda and DDK
engineering groups to discuss changes and their input of how the end machine would look and
function. During the trip to Japan, a great deal of the complex areas of the machine was
designed. Major areas of design were based on past concepts that had been proven in current
11. 2
assembly plant production. There was a great deal of care taken in component selection because
the final end product would be manufactured and assembled within the United States. FEC’s
review of the selected materials and components assured the availability in the US was current.
At the beginning of the design, DDK was the parent company of FEC but after the first
month of the project FEC fell under new ownership, DDK sold FEC to an American holder. This
was an initial concern of Honda when the changing of hands in the company that the sharing of
knowledge and data would become harder between FEC and DDK. It would ultimately delay the
machines progress. This ended up not being the case, both FEC and DDK assured Honda that the
machine would stay on schedule and the relationship change of FEC wouldn’t affect the current
relationship that is in place. The machine was produced on time as a collaboration of the two
separate companies. The machine is currently waiting to go into production in February 2014 as
part of a brand new assembly line being constructed at the Honda South Carolina ATV plant.
The machine is currently running small batches of parts and is being used to train operators for
full production once the assembly line is complete.
The servo press machine is set to replace five existing press stations and free up a great
deal of space for new machines, Honda is planning to convert the area to handle. The current
machines in place that are building the differential cases are hydraulic presses with very heavy
press tooling. The tooling that the operators need to change out when switching models weight
are over 20 lbs. The idea is to keep the new tooling on the servo press machine under 5 lbs max.
This would provide ergonomical improvement and reduce the chance of a Honda associate from
injury while operating the machine. There was review of compotator website information
regarding similar operations but the final design was completely different. Honda deemed as
more practical than examples produced by competitors.
12. 3
II. DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING
In the design process there are four major areas of concern to achieve the desired
mechanical outcome; of pressing the needle bearing and pinion gear/bearing into the Honda
ATV differential cases. The four areas are broken down into three systems of motion and one
manual quick change socket assembly for the operator to change tooling. Each system is
described individually in this section to reduce the complication of how the machine functions
mechanically. The criterion for the function was based on a strict set of specifications provided
by Honda Manufacturing of American. The important specifications that applied to this section
of the machine were:
1. Use the FEC servo press that will provide at least 10kN of force to press needle bearing
and Pinion (with pinion radial bearing)
2. Fourteen (14) model parts will have the components pressed in at zero degrees and three
(3) models will have components pressed in at thirteen degrees
3. Quick change jigs and fixture rings that are light weight (under 2 lb.) to accommodate all
seventeen (17) different model parts
4. Poka-yoke (mistaking proof) to keep the operator from placing the needle bearing tooling
in the pinion tooling and vice versa.
5. Robotic cylinder to be used to shift between press tooling
6. Final design must be approved by both Honda Manufacturing of Japan and Honda
Manufacturing of America.
The servo press that was selected is the 30kN model DPS-301R4H-20FB and the servo press
technical specifications can be found in Appendix G. It was discussed with Honda that the
13. 4
upsized servo press was a better option than the smaller 10kN. The concern was if the provided
data for the press forces were higher than anticipated the press would not fully press the pinion
or bearing. In addition, if future model parts of a larger size were to be added than the high force
servo press could accommodate them without reworking the machine. Honda agreed with
concerns for the upsizing of the presses. This ended up being a good decision because the actual
forces on some (but not all) of the model parts were higher than 10kN when test parts were
provided. The forces were within the range of 10.1kN to 10.6kN. Other smaller model parts, the
test data fell within the expected range of 3kN and 6kN.
The most complex motion of the machine was to do what seems like a simple task of
pressing at two different angles. These include one horizontal angle press of zero degrees for
fourteen different model parts and a press angle of thirteen degrees for the final three model
parts. The motion required to achieve these two pressing angles involved a number of additional
Figure 1: (a) shows the 13 degree press model differential case and (b)
shows the horizontal 0 degree press model differential case.
a b
14. 5
mechanical components. Figure 1 shows examples of these two different types of press angles
provided by Honda’s specifications.
Because only one servo press was allowed to press the pinion and needle bearings on both types
of parts, there were four different design concepts were produced to achieve the motion to press
them. Honda was given the different designs and selected the one they felt was the best option
for them to produce the final design. The selected design incorporated a variety of mechanical
components and mechanisms in order to raise, lower and rotate the press head. The design
method is broken down into three different systems:
• Raise, lower & rotate of the press unit
• Press tool shifting
• Quick change tooling with mistake-proofing
During the initial design process a variety of methods and designs were created to produce the
raising and lowering of the press unit. The original idea of Honda was to use servo cylinders to
achieve both motions. Due to the weight limitations of currently produce servo cylinders as
explained in the IAI Robo Cylinder catalog the better option Honda approved the use of a servo
motor and ball screw drive system for the raise/lower and agreed to use an air cylinder with hard
stops for the rotate portion. In addition, a shot pin cylinder was to be also incorporated in the
design to help locate the two angles more precisely. [1]
The raising and lowering system was constructed with a Mitsubishi 1kW servo motor
running a Nidec-Shimpo 5 to 1 gear reducer turning two gears that in turn run a THK ball screw.
The technical data for the servo motor, gear reducer and ball screw can be found in Appendix B,
C and D respectively. The distance the press head had to move in order to achieve the 13 degree
15. 6
press angle is 210MM (8.28 inches) from its zero degree horizontal position. The system of the
raise and lower components are shown in Figure 2 on the next page. During the design process, a
representative from Mitsubishi was consulted in regards to selecting the proper combination of
servo motor and gear reducer transmission to increase the load capacity. It was also noted that
there will be a resulting force of up to 0.7kN acting downward when the servo press is pressing
parts at the thirteen degree angle.
When pressing parts at the horizontal or zero degree angle the press plate and THK blocks will
be on only factors seeing the reaction force.
13° ܲ݁ܿݎܨ ݊݅ݐܴܿܽ݁ ݏݏ݁ݎ = ሺܨሻ sin ߠ {1}
Thus,
ሺ3݇ܰሻ sin 13° = 0.67 ݇ܰ ↓ {1.1}
Because the force for the horizontal pressing is absorbed by the press plate and linear motion
bearing blocks, the drive system doesn’t have to account for that force. [2][3]
A weight study shown in Table 1 on page 8 was created and provided to the engineering
consultant along with a conceptual layout of the drive system. Based on the information
provided, a Mitsubishi 1kW servo motor was recommended along with a mating Nidec-Shimpo
5 to 1 gear reducer by the Mitsubishi engineering consultant. The drive system was rated to lift
800 lb by Mitsubishi. [4] [5]
16. 7
Mitsubishi – 1kW Servo Motor
w/Failsafe Brake (24VDC)
Part #HF-SP1024BK
Nidec-Shimpo – 5 to 1 Gear Reducer
Transmission
Part #VRSF-PB-5D-28HF24HF-SP102
THK – Ball Screw, Nut &
Bearing Supports
Load Rating 10.7kN
Lead: 6
Rows & Turns: 1 x 2.5
Part #BNF3606-5RR-505LC5
KHK Gears
Module 2
Part #SSG2-70
Figure 2: shown is the press unit raise and lower drive
system.
18. 9
The final design as shown in Figure 2 was completed and approved by Honda. Additional
components were added to tie the system together and the final product of the drive system
works as follows: Servo motor runs through the Shimpo 5 to 1 gear reducer to increase power,
the gear reducer is connected to a 1 to 1 spur gear set connected by mechanical locks. The
second spur gear then turns the ball screw which moved the press unit up or down. There are
precision linear motion blocks and rails that take any side load from the ball screw and drive
system.
Once the drive system design was complete, the next step was to rotate the press unit. A
singular design of the bearing package was created based on a reference design found in the New
Departure Handbook. [6] This design layout is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Bearing package for press unit rotate.
19. 10
The bearing package consisted of two assemblies, one on each side of the press unit. The design
comprised of a Timken double row radial bearing (specification sheet in appendix H) pressed
onto a pivot post that was piloted into side plate of the press unit. The bearing was also seated
on the pivot plate with a bearing cover to hold the bearing in place. In addition, there was a
retaining clip placed against the inner bearing ring to help keep the inner ring seated on the pivot
pin. Additional die spacers were placed between the bearing and the retaining clip at assembly to
eliminate the gap between them. This gab, even though small would cause the press unit to drift
out of center. With added spacers the drifting was eliminated. The last component was a cover to
help keep or minimize dust and other foreign material from contaminating the bearing during
operation and or its life cycle. [7]
The bearing was selected based on its static load abilities and not based on rpms. RPMs
were not considered because the press head would possibly only rotate once to twice (at most) a
day during production depending on which model differential case was being run in the machine.
The differential cases are run in batches of 300 before changing to a new model. Thus, with only
one to two bearing rotations a day the rpms are not a factor. The bearing will be seeing side load
from each press of the needle bearing and pinions, the bearing would need to be able to handle at
least 3kN of force in addition to holding the weight of the press unit. The double row radial
bearings can handle loading in both the radial and axial directions. With the 30o
contact angle
helps distribute the load seen by the press away from the pivot pin into the mounting plates. It is
also worth noting that the state load rating of the set of radial bearings chosen for this application
is 97kN each.
20. 11
To rotate the press unit, a 100mm bore 75mm stroke air cylinder was selected with a
50mm bore 30mm stroke shot pin cylinder to locating purposes. Hard stops were also
incorporated for fine tuning the angle. The 100mm bore rotate air cylinder that was selected has
a push force of 975lb at 80psi (the specified air pressure in the Honda plant) as shown in the
following equation:
ܲݏݑℎ ݁ܿݎܨ = ߨݎଶ
× ܵ݁ݎݑݏݏ݁ݎܲ ݈݀݁݅ݑ {2}
Then,
ܨ௫ = ߨሺ50݉݉ ×
ଵ
ଶହ.ସ
ሻଶ
× 80݅ݏ ≈ 973.896 ݅ݏ {2.1}
Or,
ܨ = ߨሺ50݉݉ ×
ଵ
ଶହ.ସ
ሻଶ
× 60݅ݏ ≈ 730.422݅ݏ {2.2}
The actual design will allow the cylinder to still achieve its task at a lower air pressure of 60psi.
In this case the cylinder will have a push force of 732lb. This is put in place in case there is an
error in the pressure reading at the plant and the actual pressure falls below the anticipated 80psi.
A pilot operated check valve was also incorporated into the design in case of pressure lose. If
pressure is lost during the operation of the machine, a lock will be engaged and the pressure unit
will not fall from the 13 degree angle. The push force of the shot pin was also calculated using
equation 2. [8]
21. 12
The shot pin rotate positions where set up with a signal pin mounted inline at the end of
the cylinder. The pin was then run through a single flanged steel bushing to hold its centering
location with the cylinder. The bushing and cylinder were both mounted on the pivot plate which
is stationary during the rotation of the press unit. On the press unit, a removable plate that was
doweled and bolted on the side plate was designed. This plate contained two steel flanged
receiving bushings. The idea behind the removable plate was to allow just that plate to be
removed and reworked in case of alignment issues based on dimensional tolerance stack ups.
This idea would make it easier for the machine builder to make modifications to instead of taking
the entire press unit apart to repair the locating holes if they were off location. Figure 4 shows
the layout of the rotate components.
Bearing Package Shot Pin Cylinder
Hard Stops Rotate Cylinder
Rotate Direction
Figure 4: Shows the components required for rotation of the press unit from
horizontal press position to thirteen degree press position.
22. 13
Linear bearing blocks and rails are in place for the press unit to raise and lower with the
rotation of the ball screw. The bearing blocks are mounted to the main mounting plate of the
press unit and the rails are mounted to the main base of the station. This allows for low to
frictionless linear motion to raise and lower the press unit. The lowering of the press unit allows
the differential case fixture to remain in the same location when the press is rotated to press at
the thirteen degree angle. The unit needs to lower approximately 205.42mm from home position
before the press unit is in line to press at the thirteen degree angle. There is still 30mm of travel
beyond the 205mm for additional adjustment if ever needed. Home position of the press unit is
25mm above the highest horizontal press potion as shown in figure 5.
Home Position (0mm)
Horizontal Press
Position (25mm)
13o
Angle Press
Position (205.42mm)
Over Travel Distance
(235mm)
Figure 5: Positions for the different locations of the press unit
from Home to over travel limit.
23. 14
The next part of the design entailed the shifting of press tooling while using a single
servo press. At the request of Honda, a robotic cylinder was needed to be incorporated into this
section of the design. In the design, linear motion bearing blocks and rails were used. In addition,
ball splines were used as press ram extensions for the tooling shift. The ball spline technical
information can be found in appendix F. The ball spline nuts were mounted to a shifting plate
that would ride on the linear motion bearing blocks. This would make the weight of the splines
and mounting components neglectable for the robotic cylinder which was mentioned earlier has
limitations on how much load it can push and pull.
The robotic cylinder was mounted on the rotating press unit and connected to the slide
plate with a floating cylinder coupler to allow for tolerance stack ups to be off. The other
advantage of using a robotic cylinder for this application is the 240 programmable positions with
fine position tuning of .01mm movement. This set up was integral to the function because once
the two press positions were set (10mm from home position for the needle bearing and 115mm
for the pinion) in the horizontal press position. It was noticed that when the unit was lowered for
the thirteen degree angle the press distances from home position were different. There was a
.5mm discrepancy in one direction. The new press positions for the angled press were 10.5mm
for the needle bearing and 115.5 for the pinion from home position. This discrepancy was caused
by the linear guide’s tolerance of just being out of vertical. Because of the robotic cylinder, new
positions were easily programmed and set.
Figure 6 on the next page shows the mechanical set up of how the press tooling can shift
without losing connection to the press ram ends.
25. 16
When shifting the press tooling, the ram coupler block is either engaging the press ram or being
retained by the retaining blocks. The ball spline is never released from either the ram end or the
retaining blocks during any point of the press tooling shift. The ball spline nut is mounted to the
slide plate which was mounted on precision linear blocks and rails that were also doweled in
place. This was designed to keep the place within a high tolerance of position while the tool
slides horizontally between one another. As said before, the linear motion blocks and rails reduce
friction to a neglectable factor. In addition, for strength because of the press forces, the majority
of components are made of steel or an alloy steel. These types of materials can be found on the
detail drawings in AutoCAD that were released for manufacturing.
For rough initial set-up, a hand placed pin was produced to help find a center location for
both press potions of the tooling. This pin was designed to create a starting point to honing in the
robotic cylinder to its final programed press position. The pin was put in place; a location
reading was taken from the robotic cylinder. The pin was then removed. Press tooling was
manually shifted to the next press position and the pin was placed in that locating hole. The
second location reading was taken from the robotic cylinder and from there the presses could
shift to the rough but very accurate press locations until actual master differential cases were
placed in the fixtures to press and determine the final shift location. The error from the rough
locations and the final locations were approximately ±0.05mm.
The final part of the design was the error proofing quick change tooling end of the press
ram. As described in the Honda specifications, the end of press tooling has the ability to prevent
the machine operator from placing the wrong tooling on the opposite press ram end. This was
achieved by making the center bore of the press end different diameters. The needle bearing end
tooling bore was a diameter of 24mm and the pinion press end bore was 25mm in diameter. This
26. 17
is what allowed for the mistake proofing of the tooling. The design of the end of ram tooling
attachment was simple and a variation of standard quick change chucks currently being produced
for commercial and industrial applications. The construction of the quick change end of ram
consisted of: receiver base, sleeve, three ¼ inch carbide balls, retaining ring, retaining clip and a
compression spring with a spring rate of 5.4 lbs/in (0.94 N/mm). They layout of the quick change
tooling is shown in figure 7.
ø24mm = Needle Bearing
ø25mm = Pinion
Receiver Base Sleeve
Carbide Ball
Retaining Clip
Retaining RingSpring
Figure 7: Quick change chuck with mistake proofing for needle bearing and pinion press tooling
27. 18
The carbide balls were spaced evenly in three places around the bore diameter. When the
station operator would change tooling for a new model differential case. The operator would pull
and slide the sleeve to the right, hold the sleeve, carbide balls would freely fall into the groove of
the sleeve and the operator would pull the current tooling from the receiver block. When the new
press tooling was slid into the receiver base, the carbide balls would fall into a groove cut into
the press tooling. Once the press tooling was inserted, the operator of the machine would then let
go of the sleeve and the sleeve would fold the carbide ball in the groove of the inserted tooling
under the force of the spring pushing the sleeve back over them. In addition, the sleeve that the
operator will be pulling to release the tooling has a medium knurl for better grip when sliding the
sleeve to release the carbide balls into the groove to change the tooling. It was also decided that
the press tools and chuck receiver be made out of A2 tool steel. This was chosen because of the
stability to hold tolerances after being heat treated. [9]
If the operator attempted to place the pinion press tooling into the needle bearing receiver
block, the tooling would not fit and the operator would then place it in the correct receiver base
and vice versa. Because the machine will automatically press the parts after the pinion and
needle bearing are placed in the machine and the operator places their fingers on the Opto-Touch
inferred switches (set-up to the proper ergonomic distance of 18 to 22 inches apart within the
guide lines of the Honda plant specification and ergonomic reference). If the tooling was placed
in the wrong receiver blocks assuming the mistake proofing were not incorporated, the servo
press would attempt to press the pinion and needle bearing in the wrong order. This would not
only damage the differential case and components, this would also damage the press tooling and
possible other components of the machine. [10]
28. 19
The overall design of this section of the machine incorporated all the required
specifications laid out by both Honda Japan and Honda Manufacturing of America, LLC.
Attention to detail for proper mechanical function with ergonomic and operator safety was
reviewed by all parties involved and they include: FEC Automation Systems, DDK Japan,
Honda Japan and Honda Manufacturing of America, LLC. The designs were review by
production engineering, manufacturing engineering as well as Honda plant safety. The final
machine was approved and test run before the final product was shipped and installed at the
Honda South Carolina plant. All the components for both manufacture and purchase can be
found in Table 2 and Table 3 respectfully on the following two pages.
31. 22
III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
During the design phase of the machine, many changes and updates were made to the
drawings. The changes were based on past experiences with machines of the different persons
involved in the project. Once the final design was approved with all necessary changes and
updates, the detail drawings and purchased components were released and within a month the
machine build was started. The machine build took approximately one month with minor updates
along the way. Some of these important changes involved an interference that was missed during
the check process of the drawings. The lift bracket that attaches the press unit to the ball screw
interfered with a set of mounting bolts in the base when the press unit was lowered. This issue
was fixed by removing the mounting bolts and counter boring the plate the bolts were mounting.
This allowed the bolts to be recessed below the plate surface and eliminated the interference.
Another issue that came up during machine build was an open tolerance build up space
between the rotate radial bearings and the retaining clips of approximately 0.01mm. This issue
allowed the press unit to become out-of-center by slightly drifting 0.01mm in different
directions. This issue was resolved by placing die spacers with a thickness of 0.005 between each
radial bearing and retainer clip on both sides of the press unit. This stopped the unit from drifting
from side to side during pressing or raise and lower. The only other time consuming issues that
arose involved programming and electrical which was designed by another colleague involved
on the controls side of the project and is not covered in this mechanical report.
The final machine was completed on time and installed six months before the anticipated
startup of the new production line for building the front and rear ATV differential cases. During
this time period of down time will allow Honda to train operators of the machine before full
32. 23
production. Prior to the machine shipping, three sets of each model part were shipped to FEC for
a pre-run of parts and data collection. One engineer from Honda Japan and two engineers from
Honda North American were on hand for the initial run of parts. With FEC’s assistance, all parts
were run as well as safety of the machine was reviewed over a period of a week. A set of minor
updates were left with FEC to complete before a single engineer would return in four weeks from
Honda North America to sign off on the updates. The updates included adjustments to guarding,
marking bolts and valves for alignment, adding tags, etc.
During the final installation process, it was noticed that the press lost the initial part set-
up alignment done at FEC prior to shipment. This was most likely caused by the vibrations and
bumps during shipment of the machine from Michigan to South Carolina. The realignment of all
the model parts was a time consuming process that was not anticipated. This caused a three day
setback for FEC personnel. This should have been expected in advanced and should not be
overlooked in the future. On future projects similar to this one, it should be anticipated that
alignment issues will arise during shipping and be a factor for future installations. That way
additional money is budgeted if this issue happens again. Only alignment should be setup for all
the extreme variations at FEC and the remaining in-between part setups should be completed at
the customer’s facility to avoid aligning every model part twice.
In the future, additional training time should be recommended to the customer when
acquiring this type of equipment. This is the first FEC servo press being installed in this Honda
facility. The issue that had come up was questions from the engineering staff at Honda in regards
to setting up new model parts and general operational questions. It was the intent that FEC would
train three to four production and manufacturing engineers at Honda. In turn, these engineers
would then train the line workers on how to perform the task of operating the machine. The
33. 24
adding of future model differential case parts would be done by the engineers originally trained
by FEC with the anticipation questions would addressed to FEC for the assistance of that
process. The questions regarding general operation of the machine was not anticipated post
training. The recommendation would be in the future to include a longer more intensive training
of function in addition to other more complex operations. This would be brought up at the
quoting level of the new project and reference this situation.
Finally, it is recommended to follow the procedure of design that took place with the
production of this machine. There was great care in making sure the customer and the additional
engineering support from DDK in making sure the final machine met all the criteria provided by
Honda and overall knowledge base of the different individuals and opinions involved. The
amount of mistakes made during the design process was very low for the complexity of the
machine. The view points and back checking each step of the way actually saved time of going
back and correcting issues that may have come up during the manufacturing of components
and/or during the machine build. That is not to say all mistakes were caught but it is believed
based on past projects of this nature, that there could have been a great deal of unseen issue that
might have been caught if only two people looked at the design and details of the machine.
34. 25
REFERENCES
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