Top Tool

Posted by Mark Erickson, President

At this writing, I’ve been in my new role at Top Tool for two months. I’m still in the ramp-up stage, and it’s clear there’s a lot to experience and learn. But it also means I come in contact – almost daily – with aspects of the company, our customers and our team that make “getting started” very motivational. After almost 30 years in metal stamping, I don’t mind admitting it’s fun to learn some new tricks.

I’m happy to see, for example, the high number of Top Tool relationships that are “design-for-manufacturability” collaborations and partnerships rather than basic, arm’s-length customer/vendor purchasing transactions.

What does a design-for-manufacturability collaboration look like? Here are three examples of involving precision metal stamping design and engineering early – well in advance of the final print – as a way to optimize cost, quality and performance.

1. Focus on what is critical. Generally, 70-80% of a product’s cost is locked-in by the time the design is complete. At the component part level, every design-stage feature or dimension steers a part toward a manufacturing approach or method. Typically, a few key features or dimensions are critical, but a significant number are non-critical. Looking at manufacturability can drive design modifications that optimize for “critical,” but prevent “non-critical” from increasing cost or risking quality unnecessarily.

2. Integrate the supply chain. Manufacturability can be a missed opportunity when supply chain relationships occur in silos. One example: assemblies that merge stamped components and plastic over molding. A non-integrated approach looks at molding and stamping as separate, unconnected elements. Because the molder develops its approach independent of the best way to stamp the metal component, the stamping options can be constrained to solutions that “fit the mold.”  A design-for-manufacturability approach, by comparison, puts the OEM in the same room with the stamping supplier and the molder . . . early in the design stage.

3. Different thinking creates new ideas. Our customers are experts at what they want their products to do. Top Tool is at the table to help determine the best way to make our precision metal component work in the product. I’ve already observed that powerful results – from R&D breakthroughs to long-term product life-cycle impacts – get a boost from making design-for-manufacturability principles available to a customer’s design and engineering discussions. With some insight into what optimized precision stamping is uniquely qualified to accomplish, new ideas inevitably start to flow around the OEM table.

Regular customer/supplier interactions happen every day and usually don’t give the supply chain an opportunity to think creatively. Early involvement and collaboration can have a positive effect on cost, quality and manufacturability.

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