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Job Shop Doubles EDM Throughput by Automating

From Mitsubishi EDM/Laser
 

 

Success can have its limitations, especially when your shop's demand exceeds your capacity. When Summit Packaging Systems ran into this dilemma, they had to find a solution. The company, a manufacturer of plastic aerosol valves, discovered automation was the best answer to its troubles.

"We needed more capability," says EDM Department Supervisor, Jesse Hargrove. "We had more parts, but not enough people to run the machines, so we were trying to get more unmanned machine time."

Hargrove's department supplies valves for plastic injection molding and other parts to various departments within Summit Packaging. With orders for the company's patented valves steadily increasing, a bottleneck had formed at the EDM department. "EDM is a very timeintensive process, and there isn't a shortcut that can help push things through faster," Hargrove explains. "It became obvious that adding another machine plus automation was going to be our best bet."

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