Parts keep on rolling at American Axle

New materials handling systems in brake drum production have reduced labor while improving efficiencies.

By -- Modern Materials Handling, 8/1/2000

An old saying states that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Some-times factories can take on the appearance of camels after many years of adapting systems to meet ever-changing needs.

Often starting from scratch is the best way to improve materials handling operations at these places. Such was the case with American Axle & Manufacturing's Buffalo, N.Y. plant.

"The old layout was the product of years of changes," says Michael Jacobi, project manager. "There was a lot of double handling and we also had utilized overhead conveyors that made it difficult to see our production."

American Axle, a leading maker of rear axles and steerage linkages for automobiles, was putting in new equipment for axle production. This necessitated the relocation of its brake drum manufacturing area to a new building added onto the main factory.

While American Axle chose to re-use much of the old production machinery, Jacobi and his planning team saw this move as an opportunity to redesign the materials handling systems that support brake drum production.

"My responsibility was to come up with the layout of the machinery to fit the confines of the new building," says Jacobi. "We had to design a system to eliminate the double handling of the drums, eliminate the overhead conveying, and maintain a minimum of work-in-process."

The resulting solution (Hohl Machine & Conveyor Co., www.hohl.com ) included new overhead conveyors. The system has increased efficiencies enough to add 5% to output, decreased labor 35%, improved ergonomics, and has made machinery more accessible for line workers.

American Axle has three production lines in its brake drum operation, each making a different drum product.

Parts arrive as two-piece castings consisting of an iron drum and a steel plate in large wire-mesh containers. These returnable containers are owned by General Motors, American Axle's largest customer and former parent before the company was spun off 6 years ago. The raw materials containers are stacked and staged at the dock, then are taken as needed by lift truck to a central loading station. Automated lift and tilt tables here feed all three lines and are a vast improvement over the old manual loading station.

The parts first go through a coining process that flattens the drum, followed by a piecing operation, that stamps holes for the mounting bolts. Parts then proceed through a turning operation, washing, balancing, honing, a second wash, and finally a pack-out operation.

Conveyors handle transport through each of the processes. After the coin and pierce operations, materials travel to the turning processes on a chain-driven live roller conveyor that feeds an inclined belt conveyor. This conveyor raises the work from 40 to 78 in. until it connects to a multi-lane, under-and-over, roller flight conveyor. The double-wide upper unit is designed with flexibility to take the drums to any of the three lathes, while the lower portion handles takeaway. The bed of the upper level is split into two sets of rollers to create two distinct product lanes. This system allows a train of 100 10-lb. brake drums to accumulate. The lower level consists of two separate parallel conveyors. The under-and-over design saves floor space.

Completed brake drums are loaded into reusable wire-mesh containers with special vacuumed-formed dunnage. About 80% of the brake drums manufactured in the facility are used in the production of axle assemblies and are transported by lift truck to those assembly areas. The remaining 20% are sold as completed units and are transported to shipping.

Improved flow

The new materials handling system has allowed American Axle to increase brake drum output by 5% while reducing labor 35%. It has also provided better production monitoring.

"We have better visual control of the entire process and have defined positions for everything," says Jacobi. "It is now easier to see the work in process."

Bottlenecks have also been done away with and a better flow established to improve production machine cycle times.

"We wanted to improve the uptime of the machinery through the material handling system so that we were not over-running one while starving another," notes Jacobi. "We've been able to do that."

Manufacturer Profile

American Axle & Manufacturing
Delavan Plant - Buffalo, N.Y.

FACILITY FACTS:

Products produced: rear axles, steerage linkages, brake drums

Customers: OEM auto makers

Brake Drum Assembly: 15 employees, two shifts

Brake Drum Output: 400 units/hour

Materials Handling Suppliers:

Production conveyors:
Hohl Machine & Conveyor Co., 716-882-7210, www.hohl.com

LIFT TRUCKS:
Yale Materials Handling, 252-758-9253, www.yale.com

TILT AND LIFT SYSTEMS :
Knight Industries & Associates, 248-377-4950, www.knight-ind.com

Handling Specialty, 716-694-6333, www.handling.com

SHIPPING CONTAINERS :
Robinson Industries, 517-465-6111, www.robinsonind.com

Peninsula Plastics, 248-852-3731, www.peninsulaplastics.com