Brass Tacks: Manufacturers can invest in their futures while navigating higher demand for more complex parts with tighter tolerances
 
October, 2024: In his book “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the iconic fictional detective, said, “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”
 
Wila USA and The Capital Group, a distributor for the tool systems manufacturer, understand the impact small details can have on manufacturers’ ability to accurately bend metal, perform press brake tooling setups quickly or handle cumbersome dies safely.
 
For more than 85 years, Wila has built quick-change precision press brake tooling and tool systems. The Capital Group, with four locations across the United States, sells metal fabrication and robotic welding equipment.
 
Over the last decade, the two companies have seen demand grow for high-performance materials and a migration away from mass production to more complex parts with smaller runs. These trends have pushed manufacturers and job shops to find ways to adhere to tighter tolerances—particularly during bending operations.
 
DURABILITY
 
Choosing the right press brake tooling means evaluating the details behind the technology. Wila’s proprietary CNC-Deep Hardening process goes below the surface, starting with chrome molybdenum steel. Heat is applied to the steel with an electric current traveling through a copper electrode. The result is a core hardness level of HRC-30 and an outer structural hardness of HRC-56.
 
For manufacturers performing precision air bending with CNCcontrolled press brakes, the durability of punch tip radius and die shoulder radii—the only points that come into contact with the material —is crucial to accuracy and productivity whether one is processing lightgauge sheet or heavy plate. Part quality requirements may also prompt a company to switch from traditional planed tools to precision-ground and hardened tooling.
 
“One of the major reasons people choose Wila press brake tooling is to hold part tolerances with repeatability,” says Logan Conboy, tooling sales manager for the Capital Group. “Traditional planed tooling won’t hold part tolerances to +/- 0.004 in. Customers that want to replace legacy tooling are going to look at Wila’s line. If a company is producing different types of parts during a shift, Wila’s technology allows you to change punches and dies out much quicker.”
 
Conboy notes that the operator is able to meet the required tolerances and reclaim lost time. “A large majority of the aerospace industry is buying custom precision tooling. They ask for Wila every time.”
 
Maintenance must also be considered when choosing press brake tooling. If a 2-in.- long segment on conventional tooling breaks, an operator must replace the entire punch. “With Wila’s precision tooling, you can just replace that section,” Conboy says. “We can have it shipped out as soon as the next day. Manufacturers can also be assured that due to Wila’s CNC-hardening process, the quality of the replacement piece will be the same height, tolerance, bend and accuracy as the original tool.”
 
TEAM WORK
 
The partnership between the Capital Group and Wila puts support, service, installation and training under one roof for customers. As a representative for press brake manufacturers Accurpress and Safan Darley, the Capital Group can help a job shop or fabricator source a new press brake equipped with Wila clamping, crowning and tooling. “When the Capital Group sells a new press brake, they place the order with the OEM,” says Bhavik Patel, business development manager for Wila. “The press builder then reaches out to us for the tool holder the customer needs. We send the crowning and clamping systems to them, but we ship the actual tooling to the customer.
 
It’s a three-way triangle between us, the Capital Group and the press brake OEM to support our customer.” Patel says this creates a “big advantage to the customer to be able to source tooling with a new press brake through a distributor with the Capital Group’s experience.”
 
Companies that use heavy dies, for example, can choose Wila’s New Standard automatic hydraulic clamping either for an existing press or a new one. The system ensures a press brake operator’s safety while reducing setup time to seconds. Instead of unbolting and re-bolting tooling, an operator slides the tool in vertically, pushes a button to activate the hydraulic clamp and is back up and running.
 
“Wila is extremely efficient at working with us and our equipment manufacturers,” says Conboy. “They make the coordination process between everyone seamless. We train our customers on the tooling once the press brake is installed. It’s more productive for everyone when all the components work together smoothly.”
 
 
INVESTMENT
 
Conboy believes that using Wila tooling gives companies a backup plan in the event their press brake experiences down time. “Since I work in parts, I hear about manufacturing delays all the time from crashed or damaged tooling from customers who use planer tooling,” he says. “Companies need to invest in their future. If you must replace planed tooling, it can take up to 20 weeks depending on current lead times. If your press brake can’t run a job because you don’t have the tooling, then you are ultimately losing money.”
 
Whether it’s replacement tooling or a new package specified from the catalog, The Capital Group expects even quicker turnaround times following Wila’s announcement in April regarding the relocation of its North American headquarters to Louisville, Kentucky. The 52,500-sq.-ft. facility will begin producing New Standard, American Style, and American Vintage tooling by the end of this year.
 
“The decision to choose Louisville as the new hub for corporate operations and manufacturing stems from several factors,” says Patel.
 
“[This] central location offers seamless access to major transportation networks, facilitating more efficient distribution of our products across North America.
 
Wila’s goal and main priority has “always been faster response times and better customer service. The Capital Group shares our customer centric approach. That makes it easy for us to collaborate,” he says. “It’s a long-standing relationship and one we appreciate.”
 
The Capital Group, 800/635-7777, http://capitalmachine.com/
Wila USA, 443/459-5496, http://wilatooling.com/