|
|
|
Company
Chem Processing – Rockford
Employees
70
Breakthrough > market diversity, new coating technology
Chem Processing applies industrial finishes to metal, composite, and plastic parts to harden surfaces, prevent corrosion, lubricate, and increase aesthetics. Components treated by the company’s plating and coating technology make their way into machines, vehicles, aircraft, electronics, and other products.
Chem Processing had a chance to land a large contract to apply a hard surface to nail gun cylinder bores and sought IMEC’s assistance to develop the process, tooling, equipment, testing, and transfer to production.
Working with the Chem Processing team, IMEC specialist Tim Maurer used 3-D modeling to design special tooling and fixtures to apply the process to large quantities of cylinder bores. The team built and tested several prototypes, made refinements to the design, sourced the production of the fixture from three local manufacturing companies, and conducted the final performance test.
“Our challenge was creating a process to enable the deposition of the hard alloy directly onto diecast aluminum,” said Curtis Cedarleaf, president of Chem Processing. “The system had to allow for a solid electrical contact to each part while still allowing us to load and unload these parts quickly without damaging the aluminum surfaces and maintain a very uniform thickness.”
After establishing the process on the production floor, IMEC created a quality plan to ensure process controls were in place from receiving through shipment. Today, Chem Processing produces hundreds of cylinders a day with a defect rate approaching zero.
“Working with IMEC is extremely easy,” said Engineering Manager Bruce Lindblade, who also praised IMEC’s assistance for helping the company with its AS 9100B Quality Registration. “They’re very responsive and truly understand our business.” |
|
Info Center
Lean Successes |