Nov 4 2012
Metal Fabrication Case Study – Automotive Aftermarket Metal Brackets
Metal Fabrication Case Study
Customer: Automotive Aftermarket
Product: 1/4 Plate Metal Bracket
Type of Fabrication: Laser Cutting, Press Brake Metal Forming, Powder Coating
Problem: Taking a new design from the PPAP to production
Noble Industries solution:
Noble Industries has an automotive aftermarket customer that will periodically change the design of one of their metal brackets based on the vehicle design changes. As an ISO 9001:2008 metal fabricator, when a design change is made, we will provide the customer with test metal parts and their PPAP documentation. After the customer tests the brackets they will place an initial supply of the new custom metal bracket. For this particular metal bracket we made 3 test brackets.
Once the customer completed their testing they placed an initial production order of 750. This specific part is made out of HRPO (Hot Rolled Pickled & Oiled) .25 X 60 X 120 sheet metal. This material is also known as HRPO ¼ plate material. Purchasing order sheet metal in the size of 60 inches by 120 inches because that is the sheet size for our Mazak Lasers. To produce these parts, we have estimated that laser cutting will be performed at 35 parts an hour with 1 set up. Our Virtek will inspect the first article part before the remaining 749 are laser cut. After the parts are laser cut, the job folder and flat parts will go to the Press Brake area for metal forming.
