Wayne Trail Update Newsletter

Fort Loramie, Ohio USA
VOL. 9
Spring 2006
Special Announcement Issue:
Expansion plans, acquisition activity and business report
Investing in additional facilities and technologies to
better serve the needs of our growing customer base
The trend of our business continues to be
upward in all of our market technology
segments. Newer, faster and more intelligent
automation solutions are being developed in
response to our customer’s requirements for
higher productivity and increased reliability.
Here at Wayne Trail Technologies, our engineering, manufacturing and program management teams
strive to complete our projects on time, and within budget – ready for a rigorous set of pre-shipment
acceptance trials - a critical step to ensure that each and every product we deliver meets or exceeds
performance expectations. In many cases, we also supply pre-production prototypes to help our endusers meet key program ramp-up or start-up objectives. Our service group is tasked to bring each
system ‘back to life’ at the customer’s facility in a minimum amount of time, so that production
schedules are met, and quality benchmarks are achieved.
To reliably meet these challenges and to further improve our capabilities, we are expanding and
improving nearly every aspect of our business – from a new assembly and office facility, to the
acquisition and integration of a new market segment: Robotics, Welding and Fixturing. These
improvements and others will augment our ability to provide our customers with a ‘total solution’ for
an ever widening range of applications.
We are embracing the challenges of the future, and are working hard to earn your business.
Sincerely;
David M. Knapke
President and CEO
Wayne Trail Technologies, Inc.
www.waynetrail.com
IN THIS ISSUE
NEW FACILITY IN FT. LORAMIE INDUSTRIAL PARK
ROBOTICS, WELDING & FIXTURING CAPABILITY
SYSTEMS & INSTALLATION UPDATE
INTEGRATED SYSTEMS
BUILD TO PRINT
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ISSUE
A New Facility - and Plenty Of Room To Grow
We have recently commenced with the construction of an
additional 30,000 sq.ft. facility. This building, also to be
located in Fort Loramie, Ohio, will be situated on twelve
acres of land in a fully developed industrial park,
approximately 1 mile south of our current site. The land
and building layout has been optimized to accommodate
further expansion - to more than 5 times the initial
construction plan. This new building is expected to come
on-line by December of this year.
Initially, the facility will be optimized for final assembly
and pre-shipment system trials. This pre-shipment test
activity provides an excellent opportunity to conduct
training and equipment familiarization for our
customer’s operator, maintenance and engineering
teams. Wide bays, good cranage, excellent lighting and
easy truck access will enhance our ability to handle
larger systems and workloads, as our business
continues to expand.
New offices for our sales, applications and administrative teams will include additional conference room space, providing a good working
environment to meet with our customers and conduct effective product and project review sessions.
All Wayne Trail facilities, including the one
currently under construction, are located in Fort
Loramie, Ohio – along state route 66,
approximately 12 miles west of Interstate 75.
Within a few hours drive time to Detroit,
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Indianapolis,
Chicago, Louisville, Nashville, Toronto and more,
the close proximity to the I-75 and I-70 corridors
reduces transportation cost involved in shipping
components and assemblies to or from our
facility. This same close proximity also enables
efficient and timely communications, making onsite meetings or work-in-process inspections a
relatively easy undertaking for many of our
customers. The airports in Dayton, Columbus,
Cincinnati or Detroit provide an excellent travel
alternative for our more distant visitors.
Fort Loramie
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New Market Segment Brings New Opportunities
In the metal forming and fabricating industries we serve, whether
automotive, appliance, or general hardware related, it is a reasonably
well known fact that a large majority of the flat, tubular or formed
components produced, go on to be processed in weld cells, brazing
stations, assembly fixtures or other value added processes - as they
work their way towards becoming finished products, ready for use.
Robotic weld cell utilizing tandem Motoman SV3X welding robots
Fixture and gauging system for automotive seat-back assembly
From a quality perspective, it is often difficult to ensure that the
component part produced in an upstream bending, forming or
stamping line, even if ‘per print’ or ‘per gauge’, will properly make the
positions or shape required in the downstream weld or assembly cells.
A large amount of time and expense is consumed when different
equipment providers, along with the customer’s engineering or
manufacturing teams, work thru the various issues and responsibilities
of fixturing and handling, before final product quality and production
set-ups can be agreed, verified and implemented.
Wayne Trail has long identified this frequent problem area as a
potential opportunity for improvement. If the downstream processes of
welding, assembly and fixturing – combined with handling automation
or robotics needed to meet required productivity targets – could be
designed and supplied from a single source, who was also largely
responsible for the output quality, shape control and handling of the
upstream forming or bending operations, our customers would benefit.
For this reason, and to expand our capability of providing total
solutions to our customers, Wayne Trail Technologies is pleased to
announce the launch of our newest market technology segment:
Robotics, Welding & Fixturing.
Typical fixture assembly features robust design and construction
3D simulations are used to verify concept, reach and cycle time
Rather than simply ramping up our existing technology and
applications teams to meet this challenge, we elected to jump start our
capabilities in this new segment by the acquisition of an experienced
and well respected player in the market. On April 3 of this year, we
completed the acquisition of the assets and know-how of Flexible
Systems Engineering, Inc. (FSE), of Tipp City, Ohio. One of the
principals and founders of FSE, Michael Scott, has been appointed to
the new position of Market Manager – Robotics, Welding and Fixturing
at Wayne Trail Technologies. Along with other key engineering and
technical support members of the previous FSE team who are now
Wayne Trail employees, Michael will be focusing 100% of his efforts on
developing new applications and system solutions that we can bring to
the table – either as stand alone fixturing, assembly or welding cells –
or in combination with our existing range of Flexbending,
Hydroforming, Laser Welding or Press Automation system solutions.
We are pleased to welcome our new team members, and are excited
to meet with our customers to demonstrate how we can effectively and
efficiently solve their next welding or assembly application challenge,
with a totally integrated Robotics, Welding and Fixturing solution
from Wayne Trail Technologies.
Page 3
Tube Bending & Fabricating
Wayne Trail Technologies has become the
leading supplier of fully integrated tubular
bending and fabricating systems for the
automotive market. Companies such as
Johnson Controls, Setex, Camaco, Brown
Corporation, Trim Masters, Lear, Dana,
Hutchinson, Van Rob, Koyo, ITT Automotive,
Hisan and more – depend on Wayne Trail to
deliver the flexibility, quality and precision they
need to satisfy the ever changing demands of
their OEM customers. In many cases,
prototypes and pre-production parts can be
supplied to help our customers meet critical
program launch and ramp-up requirements
before their actual system is completed,
installed and ready for production.
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Photos 1, 2, 3 and 4 illustrate a typical Flexbending system, processing a typical tubular component for use in automotive seat frames. Bend profiles
and post-bend processing steps can range from simple to extremely complex within the same family of parts.
Photos 5, 6 and 7 are of a ‘twin’ Flexbending system, configured specifically to process aluminum underbody fluid carrying lines, as used in the rear A/C
or heater units of SUV’s and vans. These systems must accommodate a large swing radius on tubes that can be up to 16 feet long with as many as 30
bends per part.
Photos 8, 9 and 10 depict a dedicated bender work cell, developed to process radiator core supports for a high volume application. Such work cells can be
supplied in a stand-alone configuration with manual load and unload stations, or as part of a semi- or fully automated material handling scheme.
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Photos 11 thru 14 highlight some of the key and optional features of a Wayne Trail Technologies Flexbending system: end of line racking or stacking of
finished parts; weld seam detection and orientation; programmable robotic ‘end of line’ post-bend processing; tandem RD1500 rotary draw bend heads.
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Press Automation Systems
Servo-based transfer systems from Wayne
Trail Technologies are being installed in
record numbers in stamping shops across
North America. The extremely popular ‘Front
& Back’ design is based on a standard
module, built for stock, and then integrated
with an application specific mounting on
virtually any new or existing press. Over 70
modules have now been supplied in
configurations using 1, 2 or 4 modules per
press – depending on bed size, part shape
and process flow. Companies such as
Harley-Davidson and American Standard are
some of our more recent customers who
have decided to use this standardized module
approach to automate entire press lines.
Press Automation Systems
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Photos 1 thru 7 show typical WTTBD-II two module installation solutions, mounted on a variety of new presses, or retrofit applications. Standard vertical
lift for die access can be further enhanced with optional horizontal or extended range vertical lift options when desirable.
Photos 8, 9 and 10 depict the WTTBD-IV four module solution that is used for larger presses with longer beds. The fully programmable independent
servo axes of the WTTBD-IV arrangement caters to several unique processing options, referred to as ‘split pitch’, ‘split clamp’ or ‘split lift’ modes. These
techniques optimize tooling and finger bar design for higher through-put and operating efficiency.
Photos 11 and 12 illustrate typical pre-shipment construction, assembly and test routines that are carried out at the factory before each unit is shipped to
the installation site. Quality procedures and an excellent manufacturing environment provide for a high level of customer satisfaction.
Through-the-Window servo transfers shown in photos 13 and 14 are also provided by Wayne Trail Technologies in nearly every shape and size to
cater to applications where part geometry, press design or customer preference is better addressed with the WTTS solution.
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Page 5
Hydroform & Structural Frame
Tubular hydroforming has become a key
design enabler for mass reduction, strength
enhancement and assembly simplification
efforts within the automotive community.
But the process alone is ineffective without
the proper integration of required pre- and
post-hydroform processing steps that
provide the means to prepare and ‘finish’
the hydroformed tubes - suitable to use in
the downstream assembly process.
Wayne Trail Technologies augments the
hydroform process by providing full
integration services for operations such as
de-bundling, pre-bending, lubricating,
loading, unloading, shearing, notching,
piercing, inspecting, washing, drying,
racking, palletizing and more.
Our customers often rely on Wayne Trail Technologies for full control integration and turn-key responsibility for their
installations – saving them time and money while having the comfort of knowing that their installation is being managed
and integrated by an experienced partner, who can supply local engineering and technical support, 24/7.
The installation illustrated above is located at F&P America in Troy, Ohio. Wayne Trail Technologies has provided automation and system
integration services for two hydroforming systems at this modern and well maintained facility, where a variety of tubular hydroformed components
and sub-assemblies are produced for the OEM automotive market.
Complete post-hydroform processing systems such as the one pictured here recently completed for
Midway Products/PSI, are custom designed to include the features, functions and line layout that
best suits the customer’s process and facility requirements. Station to station part transfer can be
provided by robust overhead transfer systems like the one shown here, or by robotic handling –
using either new or in many cases, existing robots, that will be efficiently tooled, programmed and
integrated by Wayne Trail Technologies to optimize cycle time and overall line efficiency.
Page 6
Several laser blank welding systems were completed over the past year.
Installations at Honda and Nissan are running at production rates and
quality levels that lead the industry. Soon, a new Flexweld II multi-axis
system will be completed for Toyotomi America – a key supplier to
Toyota. Automotive OEM’s have come to realize that the benefits of a
VIL/Wayne Trail blank welding system extend well beyond productivity
and quality gains. Combined with significant cost savings, smaller
footprint, easily available commercial components and most importantly,
local expert technical support . . . it’s easy to see why the number one
choice of North American automotive OEM’s, when it comes to tailored
blank welding systems, is VIL/Wayne Trail Technologies.
VIL Laser Systems
EPS (edge preparation systems) from
VIL/Wayne Trail are now available from
stock – ready to improve the productivity
and quality of any existing laser blank
weld system. Customers such as Tailor
Steel, Powerlasers, Noble, TWB, Honda,
Nissan, Daewoo and LWB Steel & Alloy
know that there is simply no better
technology on the market today. A true
‘plug and play’ solution, Gen III and Gen I
systems are in use around the world,
providing higher process speeds and
fewer defects in every line they serve.
Nissan LW-B Robotic system in pre-installation system trials
Gen III 1x-D EPS
Gen III 2x EPS
Gen I ‘die change’ type EPS
Toyotomi Flexweld II system in mid-stages of construction
Page 7
INTEGRATED SYSTEMS
Wayne Trail Technologies frequently supplies system integration and project
management services for larger, more complex lines. Such systems require significant coordination between 3rd party
vendor supplied devices, such as lubricators, washers, presses, tooling, laser stations, robots, buffer stations and more.
The system illustrated here was installed at Whirlpool Corporation in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This single, fully integrated
line can produce a family of over 20 different refrigerator/freezer door combinations - saving capital and floor space
compared to any traditional multiple press, multiple work cell approach.
BUILD TO PRINT MANUFACTURING SERVICES
The manufacture,
installation and maintenance of jet engines for military and commercial aircraft requires
significant use of specialized precision tooling. Such tooling, fixturing and devices are key
to the quality that must be constantly maintained when assembling, handling and caring
for these critical devices. Wayne Trail Technologies is a recognized leader in the supply of
such equipment – providing a wide variety of products that are machined, assembled and
checked to extremely tight tolerances and standards. Our products are ultimately shipped
and used at jet engine assembly or aircraft maintenance facilities around the world.
This same quality and attention to detail is applied by the Wayne Trail manufacturing
support team to projects involving check-fixtures, assembly jigs, specialized tooling or subsystems for the automotive, appliance, HVAC markets and more.
Wayne Trail Technologies, Inc.
203 E. Park St. Fort Loramie, Ohio 45845
Tel: (937) 295-2120 • Fax: (937) 295-2642
www.waynetrail.com
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