Challenge: How do you ensure you don’t get that call in the middle of the night from the Joint Chief of Staff asking you why your component failed on a Mars rover?

Solution: Use a metal stamper that ensures the quality and reliability of their products is what they do every day — year after year.

Results: When Presidio Components needed custom engineered stamped components in the assembly of their high-quality ceramic capacitors, they came to die-tech because they understood what they produce needs to function correctly every time, no matter the conditions or temperatures. It was no surprise that the end result was a capacitor that NASA selected to be used in the Mars rovers: Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity.

Does your product need to meet the highest standards? Contact PK at 717.345.4192 or email her at stamping@die-tech.com to find out if die-tech is the right stamper for your application.

Challenge: What do you do when insertion of a solid, screw machined pin into a fragile ceramic component causes cracking and significant rework of assembled components?

Solution: Create a compliant area in the pin so that you have some spring and more forgiving tolerances to work with between the screw machine and the ceramic products.

A tiny die was built directly into a machine that coins a flat area on this screw machine pin, then pierces it. The machine also inspects each part to ensure that there is indeed a hole.

Results: Simple automation and attention to detail in tool cutting clearance and maintenance resulted in success. No expensive rework of assembled boards. No loss of expensive screw machine parts or other components.

Could redesigning a single component reduce scrap in your process? Take the first step toward a solution by calling 717.345.4192 — and talk to PK about your application.

Challenge: Hand assembly of high-reliability contacts was not consistent, reliable, cost effective, or able to keep up with the customer’s production demands. The contact was needed to maintain a perfect electrical connection during high g-force maneuvers in the military’s high-performance jets.

Solution: The assembly is performed in the same die and at the same time as the metal stamping is being produced. The operation produces a contact where multiple wires were fed into a housing; cut, crimped, and assembled with stamped parts in one progressive die. Yes, the automation was costly and time consuming. Several components of the assembly were not high enough quality to be immediately integrated into the stamping process. The original supplier’s components needed to be upgraded to meet specifications and new expectations.

Results:  High capacity, manufacturing flexibility, and significantly more reliable products that perform in demanding environments. Was it easy? No. But lives depend on the reliability of the electronics within a jet fighter.

Oh, and the next generation of this product is moving into commercial airlines. Do you have a project that would benefit from an investigation of alternatives in manufacturing techniques? Call PK at 717.345.4192.

Challenge: How do you ensure a custom engineered metal component, that can be seen by the patients and hospital staff, looks clean and shiny every time as well as consistently meet the specifications for the dimensions of the part?

Solution: Produce the custom engineered metal component in a facility that approaches a Five Sigma quality rating or better, select the correct plater for the secondary process, then manage the supply chain properly. It is just that simple when you work with the correct metal stamper.

Results: You don’t have to do these things yourself — let us manage the supply chain for you and make you shine day after day, year in and year out.

Call PK at 717.345.4192 to get started.

Challenge: In the development of a new stent the IDev R & D team realized they needed a tiny metal stent activator. Their current stamping supplier just wasn’t able to produce such a small part consistently.

Solution: Start with a metal stamper that makes teeny-tiny parts every day. die-tech prototyped this custom engineered stamped component for the development team so they would be able to start the FDA approval process for their medical device.

Results: “We were thoroughly impressed with the entire organization.  Your employees’ commitment to excellence was clearly evident and we appreciate everyone’s efforts on our program,” said Michael Igoe, Sr. R&D Engineer at IDev Technologies.

Tiny parts? Complex Shapes? Tight specs? Bring it on! Call PK at 717.345.4192 to start the conversation.

Challenge: A major resistor manufacturer wanted to change their design from a ceramic substrate to a less brittle material that was harder to damage in the harsh environment found under the hood of an automobile. It was critical to maintain the same flatness tolerance and ability to preserve co-planarity on the substrate. The million-dollar question was: could metal be held to the same, or better, flatness specifications?

Solution: Absolutely. Careful process design and monitoring the progressive die produced a 4 x 4 inch stamped metal plate with a flatness variance of less than 0.008 inches.

Results: This is not an expensive run — inspect — scrap — then run some more, operation either. The process boasts consistent control and scrap rates less than 0.03% with hundreds of thousands of plates produced annually.

Isn’t quality most cost effective when it is designed into the tools and die at the start of a project? What improvements could precision metal stampings make in your world? Call PK at 717.345.4192 — to start exploring the possibilities.

Challenge: The material thickness for a terminal used in an automotive control was specified at 0.030 inches. This made the terminal too expensive for the customer to win a contract.

Solution: die-tech engineered the part to be manufactured using 0.015 inch thick material. The edges were folded over in a progressive die to obtain the required thickness of material in the customer’s critical areas.

Results:  This saved the customer 30% on their cost of material and allowed them to make their target price. All the electrical and contact characteristics required for the terminal were maintained.

Significant savings were realized with simple design changes that use material more effectively. In addition to the immediate cost savings, valuable environmental resources and raw materials were conserved.

How can die-tech help you to produce more with less? Call PK at 717.435.4192 to find out.

Challenge: A well-known manufacturer of computer hard drives had an assembly process that was terribly complex and difficult to keep in control.

Solution: This battery contact was designed to be its own fixture for assembly, eliminating complexity in the application machinery. Automating this loose-piece process reduced manufacturing costs and improved consistency.

Might a new approach reduce your equipment and manufacturing costs? Start the refinement process today by calling 717.435.4192 — and start talking to a stamping engineer.

Challenge: How do you make billions of solder joints with 100% reliability so that your product can dominate a market?

Solution: To IBM’s management on the PowerPC project, rework due to poor solder joints just wouldn’t allow them to win in the competition for market space against Intel.

Most manufacturers of hybrid edge clips design flaws into their products that result in a significant number of joint failures in the soldering process. They neglect to have the solder bearing feature in contact with the mating surface.

die-tech’s patented solder laden edge clips stamped on an 0.5 millimeter pitch, with selective gold plated tails, allowed IBM to attain zero soldering defects in their leaded version of the PowerPC.

Zero defects for billions and billions of solder joints. How many of your products are rejected or reworked because of a poorly designed metal stamping that was the lowest price of three bids?

Perhaps it is time to work with a company that will help you take a second look to increase your yields? Call our engineers at  717.938.6771 — to explore the possibilities.

Challenge: Printers that use ribbons may be obsolete in most countries, but there is still a demand for them in some parts of the world. The company that was determined to take over what was left of the global market needed a precision metal stamping for their product and had no time to waste.

Solution: This 12mm star wheel for their printer, blanked from stainless steel, was made with Die-Tech’s New Technology (NewT) process. Production parts were shipped 30 days after approval of the design and using the NewT process kept tooling costs under $5,000.

What markets could agile manufacturing open for you? Let us help you explore the possibilities — call 717.435.4192 to speak with PK about your project.

Challenge: Cemm Thome needed a precision metal stamping partner to assist in the growth of their business in the Americas.

Solution: As Cemm Thome ramped up production in Mexico to serve the automotive industry in the Americas they needed a partner that was an expert in forming metal to ensure their sockets for automotive exterior lighting would be a success. They selected die-tech.

Results:  “One of the things we find most valuable about Die-Tech as a partner is that they review our designs and make suggestions to optimize production,” said Nestor Talavera, head of New Product Development. “When we can make changes to our design or process based on those suggestions we do, but if we can’t make the suggested changes, die-tech makes it work for us anyway. And their culture of continuous improvement will help ensure our future success as new opportunities for programs are developed in North America.”

Ready to have die-tech experience in your corner to help ensure your success? Call 717.435.4192 and speak with PK to get started.