Finding Toolpaths to Success

The strategy for growth at True Die, Inc., based in Zeeland, MI, may be tied to the future of the mold and die trade itself.

Tim Rietsma and his brother Mike started their mold and die shop in 2000 wanting to continue their profession's proud heritage of skilled toolmaking. But with the adoption of evolving machine tool technology have come new ways of doing things, and soon the brothers faced an unexpected challenge to both their business and to their ideals.

The toolmaking profession had changed. Qualified toolmakers were becoming scarce. While the trade had always been based on the development of skilled and well-rounded toolmakers, the tech schools were beginning to turn out candidates for jobs in basic machine operation.

Looking back, Tim Rietsma now observes, "When we started our company, I had 15 years of experience building molds and my brother had 20 years of experience building stamping dies. The toolmaker that we had in the 1990s - I do not think we will ever see that type of person again."

Technology Has a Double Edge

Contour Tool & Engineering, the original name of the company, was recently changed to True Die, Inc. with a new ownership investment, the addition of new round product tooling capabilities and a renewed commitment to the toolmaking trade. As Contour Tool, the company was a one-stop resource for OEMs needing an integrated knowledge and approach to building molds for injection molded plastic parts. As True Die, leadership says the company's heritage can now be more fully leveraged.

"As we design and machine a tool, we are thinking about what goes into the finished part," Rietsma explained. "We see a problem at any step and we are able to solve it. Once that is done, the rest is basically the machining. I have had job placement companies come to me offering their services. I tell them I need a moldmaker or a die builder. They come back with someone who went to tech school and who knows how to run a basic machine to cut a part. Then they say, `Well, that is what you do here, right? Cut parts?'"

For True Die's leadership team, two decision paths have emerged: invest in newer basic machines that give a machine operator the ability to cut a part, or invest in more capable machine/control packages that enable employees to build their skills, their careers and the company.

In 2014, the company bought its first ROMI machine, driven by its first Siemens CNC. The ROMI D1000AP vertical machining center (VMC) featured the Siemens Sinumerik 828D control and drives package.

"We initially wanted higher speed and accuracy," Rietsma said. "With the molds, you cut both halves of the tool, and then both halves need to fit tight to each other within one-thousandth of an inch. If your machine cannot do this, you must spend a lot of time with a hand grinder on a bench."

Doing away with bench grinding proved to be one of the immediate paybacks of the ROMI/Siemens investment. Any grinding related variances in precision and surface quality were soon avoided and the profitability of the business was boosted by the increased capacity for throughput.

"Three years ago, most of our surfacing work was done at a feedrate of around 50 to 60 IPM," said Rietsma. "With the Siemens and ROMI combination, some of our feedrates have already approached 200 IPM. What comes out of the machine is a part that is cut in much less time and that offers repeated high quality to the customer."

One-Pass Drilling

The ROMI D1000AP VMC features integrated cooling during high-speed drilling. The coolant flows through the drill bit to flush the metal chips out and away from the flutes. Carbide drill bits last much longer and drilling cycles have been reduced from five minutes to 30 seconds.

Now the shop can drill a hole in one pass rather than repeating up-and-down passes to clear metal chips from the hole and bit. "So the price for a tool may be quoted at $25 for each of five holes," Tim Rietsma explained. "Whatever the going rate, we can produce five of those holes in the time it used to take to produce one."

This feature alone gives True Die the flexibility to increase the company's margins or to strategically price jobs to win new business - and sometimes both.

Faster to the Finish

With the Sinumerik 828D CNC, True Die has the ability to program the machine to minimize the time it takes to cut a part. A feature called "Advance Surface" enables the shop to optimize mold cutting velocity, accuracy and surface quality for the most efficient machining motion. So, for example, machine speed (velocity) can be reduced when the tool path requires the precise cutting of sharp corners (accuracy), and accelerated when machining through rough cuts to produce a part to the exact finish requirements (surface quality).

"With a couple of short clicks on the control, I can tell the machine that a particular block is not so fussy on tolerance," said Rietsma. "I can in effect say, `open the tolerance up' and that will increase the speed of the machine through that sequence. We can get the surface finish that the mold requires and the maximum speed of the machine all at the same time."

Easy-to-Use

"The Siemens CNC has full graphical support," said Rietsma. "You see what you are doing while putting in a program. With a lot of the other controls, you are looking at the book trying to figure out what things mean."

Investing in an easier-to-use Siemens control that drives an advanced ROMI machine was not the endgame for True Die, Inc. The greater goals were the enablement of the shop's people, the betterment of the business and the contribution to a toolmaking profession that was built on knowledge and skill development.

"We are still learning on the machine every week," said Rietsma. "When the machine hit the floor, we needed to make parts. We did not have time to really learn the CNC. Every week we learn a little more. The sky is the limit with the Sinumerik 828D."

Other proven returns on the machine/control investment have been the faster production of consistent quality molds; leveraging their newfound flexibility to produce different parts for different types of customers on the same machine; the ability to name and call up any of the tools in the tool holder; reducing mold rib cutting from a 20-hour off-line EDM process to a 1.5-hour milling process at the machine and eliminating hours of "homing" restart time in the mornings due to a Siemens absolute encoder that holds the exact previous setting.

Looking Ahead

Brian Brown, True Die, Inc. Owner and President, is especially proud of the company's position and outlook on toolmaker education. A journeyman toolmaker himself, he is passionate about protecting and growing the trade through the adoption of more enabling technology and more robust education.

"Our business has a state certified apprenticeship program," Brown said. "And our business is uplifted by companies like Siemens and ROMI, who understand the challenges of our industry. In fact, to further enhance our market and product offering, we just purchased our second ROMI to machine round tools for the deep draw industry - a C420 lathe with a Sinumerik 828D control that will be used strictly for hard turning.

"This approach will minimize the need to I.D./O.D. grind round tools after heat treating. Hard turning can hold comparable surface finishes and tolerances to grinding, but it is a much more efficient process."

The toolmaker's trade may have changed, but for True Die, Inc., the way forward includes investing in more open-ended technology that will build knowledge and skills, encourage inventive thinking and reward career-minded workers who bring new ideas to the shop floor.

For more information contact:

True Die

2425 104th Ave

Zeeland, MI 49464

616-772-6360

www.truedie.com

John Meyer

Siemens Industry, Inc.

Motion Control - Machine Tool Business

390 Kent Avenue

Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

847-640-1595

cnc.us@siemens.com

www.usa.siemens.com/cnc