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Tag Archive: manufacturing technology

  1. Keeping Up with Technology: How Keats Manufacturing Co. Stays Ahead (Part 2)

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    Keats Manufacturing Company has been in business for over 50 years. During that time, we have developed an outstanding reputation for providing excellent customer service and industry-leading product quality.

    Our responsive, highly knowledgeable customer service team is responsible for part of our reputation; and the rest is our exemplary part quality. We work hard at Keats Manufacturing to ensure that our products are always of the best quality available, and we maintain our high-quality by evolving our processes as technologies become more advanced. Our facilities — Wheeling, IL and Keats Southwest in El Paso, TX — each employ the most advanced technology available to ensure that each of your orders are of unsurpassed quality.

    CNC Machining Equipment

    cncIn computer numerical control (CNC) machining, machine tools are controlled by highly specialized computer programs. A detailed CAD drawing is created for a part, which is uploaded to the CNC machine’s computer. The software determines the ideal machine process, programs it, and controls the machine during production.

    CNC machining is more precise, more repeatable, and faster than manual machining, and can produce shapes that are drastically more complex, including 3D shapes, manual machining cannot produce. At Keats Manufacturing, we use CNC machining for quick, precise tooling development and for repetitive, high volume jobs that require exceptional precision.  This equipment allows us to adapt quickly to changes and develop new manufacturing processes to better serve our customers.  The addition of our newest CNC machine from Milltronics USA allows us the capability to build replacement production machine parts such as cams, slides, blocks & die components extremely efficiently and quickly.

    MRP System

    jobbossOne key to a smooth production process is an effective material requirements planning (MRP) system.

    MRP systems — which are used to plan and schedule production, and control inventory of both raw materials and completed parts — ensure required raw materials are available when needed, and required completed parts are available when deliveries are due. A good MRP system will keep material and product levels at roughly the minimum required levels to help control production costs like storage.

    Keats Manufacturing uses an automated, fully-integrated software-based MRP system called JobBoss to plan manufacturing processes, purchasing, and delivery schedules, control inventory, and manage bills of materials.

    We also integrate our MRP system to work with our customer portals and unique proprietary MRP systems such as Ariba, Covisint, Plex, and SAP.  Our team of 10 dedicated sales and customer service professionals are highly trained on unique customer portal integration and customer specific software requirements. Our MRP system professionals can work with your JIT “Just in Time” delivery / Kan-Ban system to custom print shipping labels as well as update stock levels digitally.

    Keyence Digital Visual Inspection Equipment

    Because part inspection is every bit as important as quality manufacturing in ensuring only perfect products leave our facilities, we are constantly upgrading our visual inspection equipment.keyence

    We employ a range of digital visual inspection equipment from KEYENCE, a globally leading sensing technology manufacturer, at every step of the manufacturing process. Dimensions and tolerances are pre-loaded onto our server — the visual inspection equipment, including high speed machine vision systems, pull a part’s specifications and measure all of them virtually instantaneously on as many as 99 parts at once.

    The data measured by the machine is then stored digitally on our server which allows us to implement statistical process control or SPC into our manufacturing process seamlessly.  This technology also takes the guesswork of the inspection process since the parts are checked the same way each time.

    In-Die Camera and Laser Inspection

    Another facet of our in-process inspection process is our in-die camera and laser inspection equipment.indie

    This technology yields a number of important benefits. Most notably, it allows us to pinpoint errors before they become problematic, allowing us to reduce scrap, and minimize or eliminate rework time and cost. It is also helpful in eliminating quality control bottlenecks — production no longer needs to be stopped to find and diagnose a problem.

    In-Die Sensing Technology

    There is no time in your supply chain for unplanned downtime in the manufacturing processes of your parts and components. At Keats Manufacturing, we understand that.

    laserWe use in-die sensing technology to achieve precise tool positioning, continuous alignment checks, and emergency press stopping. By using in-die sensing technology, we can drastically reduce damage and unplanned wear to your tools and dies. This allows us to increase not only production, but part quality as well.

    Work with Keats

    keats_supplychainThese technologies are only a handful of the tools Keats Manufacturing Co. uses to ensure the highest quality parts and assemblies for our customers.

    To learn more about Keats and why we should be part of your supply chain, download our eBook, How to Add Keats to Your Supply Chain, for free today.

  2. Keeping Up with Technology: How Keats Manufacturing Co. Stays Ahead (Part 1)

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    Over more than 50 years in business, Keats Manufacturing Company has built a strong reputation of unsurpassed product quality and excellent customer service. This reputation is one that spans industries, sectors, and customers.

    3d printerOur world class customer service team is responsible, in part, for our exemplary reputation — they are highly knowledgeable, responsive to our customers’ needs, mind all of the details, and focus on long-term relationships as opposed to sales figures.

    Equally important is part quality. Even the best customer service can only do so much in the face of substandard quality. To maintain the high level product quality that drives our reputation, Keats works hard to stay informed of the constantly evolving technological landscape.

    At both our main facility in Wheeling, IL, and our Keats Southwest facility in El Paso, TX, we employ a range of state of the art technology to ensure that we manufacture and deliver only the highest quality products possible.

    3D Printers

    Keats Manufacturing Company’s dedication to quality starts at the design and prototyping stage. We are equipped with cutting edge 3D printers — these tools are used not for production, but for prototyping.

    The ability to produce full size part models quickly and inexpensively is invaluable. These prototypes allow us and our customers to inspect parts before beginning full-scale production, allowing us to correct errors and make improvements when it is easy and least expensive to do so. Through the use of this technology, not only will your product be of a higher quality, it will get to the market faster.

    AutoCAD and 3D Visualization

    autocadWhen your prototype is approved, we use the most modern AutoCAD software to finalize its design and 3D die visualization software to design the tooling components your part will require.

    These two pieces of software help us plan the production run of your part, minimizing waste and raw material requirements, and develop tooling that balances performance with cost considerations.

    Process Automation

    autocad2Wherever possible, Keats integrates automation into our manufacturing and assembly processes. In both of our facilities, screw insertion and contact insertion have been automated, as has staking. Staking is a type of contact insertion wherein a emboss on one piece is inserted into a hole in another — the emboss is axially compressed, forming a permanent interference fit  Joint.

    Keats also automates screw insertion and hole threading/tapping.  This process is fully automated through advanced production equipment that threads/taps holes in stamped parts as well as inserts a screw into the threaded hole.  The screw is torque checked in-line and a digital readout is displayed before the finished part is ejected from the machine.

    Process automation increases our production capabilities, allowing us to accommodate larger production runs with ease, while keeping your costs reasonable.

    Rotowire Chamfering

    Common in mechanical and manufacturing engineering, a chamfer is a transitional edge between two faces of an object sometimes known as a bevel.

    A value added automated process, we have seamlessly integrated rotowire chamfering into our manufacturing process — it allows for one-piece flow manufacturing in place of the multiple steps that would have been required in the past.

    Wire EDM

    wireWire electrical discharge machining (EDM) is an extremely versatile manufacturing process. Using an electrical current running through a hair-thin wire, electrical discharges remove material from a workpiece on a micron level.

    Wire EDM allows us to manufacture highly complex shapes with unique geometries and maintain extremely precise tolerances. It works with materials of all types and is automated and fully CNC controlled. At Keats, we primarily use our wire EDM capabilities for the quick and precise manufacture and maintenance of tools and dies.

    At Keats Our 2 state of the art wire edm machines allow us to respond extremely fast to any tooling malfunction issues.  In the event of a tool component failure, a replacement component can be replicated in-house within a matter of hours.  All of our tools are built with insert-able cutting and forming stations allowing us ease of maintenance and quick adaptability to customer driven part changes.

    Work with Keats

    keats_supplychainThese technologies are only a handful of the tools Keats Manufacturing Company uses to ensure the highest quality parts and assemblies for our customers. Check out Part 2 to learn about the other tools and technology Keats incorporates into their manufacturing processes.

    To learn more about Keats and why we should be part of your supply chain, download How to Add Keats to Your Supply Chain for free today.