Improvement of Mixing Tank Production Final Report Submitted To: Eirich Machines, Inc. 4033 Ryan Road Gurnee, IL (847) 336-2444 G enicu Company Representative: Fred Holsinger, Manager of Operations ‘Submitted By: MEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Eirich Machines Inc. is interested in improving the polishing stage in the manufacturing process of the American Process Systems stainless steel mixing tank product line. ‘The current polishing process is very labor intensive and consumes 40% of the total tank manufacturing time. The excessive length of the polishing stage bottlenecks the tank production process. Consequently, the cycle time needed to produce each tank is so long that Eirich often cannot keep pace with the number of orders that they receive. As a result, product delivery dates are often delayed and potential customers must be turned away. Eirich’s challenge was to develop an improved process that would reduce the tank polishing time by 10%. A variety of alternative methods were considered in the development of a solution to the problem. Electrochemical polishing, altemative manufacturing of agitator components, free abrasive polishing, addition of grinding fluids, and the use of round tipped grinding plugs were explored. However, each of these alternatives were ultimately eliminated from the final solution process for various reasons including manufacturing time, space considerations, inefficiency, cost and project time constraints. Efforts were focused on the design of a process to polish the steel in the flat, using a drum sander to reduce polishing time with its wide cutting path. Experiments were performed using a modified belt sander testing apparatus to model a drum sander. The experiments yielded a set of process parameters to be used with a drum sander on all of the flat components of the mixers (hell, endplates, and cover). The relevant process parameters determined through experimentation were grit sequence, pressure, cutting speed and feed rate. The process will allow Eirich to achieve their No. 4 surface finish and strict visual appearance standards, but in a substantially reduced quantity of time. Using the current time necessary to manufacture a DRB-215 mixing tank, it is estimated that implementation of the devised process solution will reduce total polishing time by 24% and polishing costs by 65% for the shell, endplate, and cover. This reduction in polishing time corresponds to a 15% reduction in cycle time and will allow Eirich to increase their annual production capacity by 10-12 mixing tanks.TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. 5. 6. Introduction ....ssssssssssssesseessssssseessees 1.1 Background : 1.2. Problem Statement . 1.3 Objective. Focusing the Scope 2.1 Processes Ruled Out through Research 2.1.1 Electrochemical Polishing ... 2.1.2 Altemative Manufacturing of Agitator Components - 2.1.3 Free Abrasive Polishing... 22 Processes Ruled Out after Testing. 22.1 Grinding Fluid.......... 2.2.2 Round-Tip Plus as Area of Focus...... Experimentation....ssssssssssees 3.1 Methods 3.1.1 Apparatus. 3.1.2 Surface quantification/qualification, 3.1.3 Statistical Probability of Success. 3.2. Discussion of each test. 3.2.1 Feed Rate vs. Number of Passe 3.2.2. Ry vs. Number of Passes Curves 3.2.3. Bi-level DOE...... 3.2.4 Belt Wear. 3.2.5 Successive Grit Sequences. 3.2.6 Repeatability. 3.2.7 Tests to Meet USDA Standard R, 3.3. Experimentation Conelusions.. c Solution......cssesssssees AL Process.ecssesssse 13 4.2 Implementation. 3 Cost and Time Benefits of Solution....ssscsssssssseussssnsssssennesssseeeessesseseesssee 1d 15 Conclusions... References.sssssesesee