The TPR interviewed Steve Williams, Plant Manager at Wilson Tool & Die based in St. Charles, MO.  Wilson Tool & Die specializes in die cast tooling but also manufactures injection molds for plastic, as well as stamping dies, component parts, fixtures and gauges.

What is your company niche and what does your company do that is notable, unique or different?

Over the last 37 years, we have diversified into several areas such as designing and building die cast dies, component parts, plastic injection molds, stamping dies (progressive and single hit), fixtures and gauges along with precision grinding capabilities. What makes our shop unique is our latest capital investment to have the first NC polishing machine in North America.

When and how did you get into the industry, what attracted you to it?

Glen Wilson started his business in 1969 with himself as the only full-time employee, specializing in precision grinding. Today at Wilson Tool and Die, we are equipped with a variety of CAD/CAM systems, software, and machinery to handle most tooling needs. Today, we have 47 employees that include Toolmakers, Machinists, Tool Designers, Programmers and Administrative support staff. Our team loves a challenge; we take pride in being able to help our customers in ways that go beyond simply supplying tooling. We have developed strong relationships that have been mutually beneficial in being able to meet or exceed customer expectations.

The attraction has been the challenge. We are fortunate to be involved with such a wide variety of work across several different industries. We keep challenging ourselves by raising the bar for internal expectations coupled with increased demands from our customers. Part of those demands has required a formal implementation of a quality management system. Every company needs a quality management system and there are several to choose from. When we did our due diligence, we based our decision on our operations with respect to our customers’ needs. We are ISO 9001:2000 certified. To further enhance our position, we have recently started implementing lean manufacturing techniques. Both of these programs, ISO and lean, address cultural changes that do not happen over night. However, we have already seen a positive impact on our operations from implementing these programs.

Relate a notable "best time" for your company (can be more than one)

We experienced our first major expansion in 1985 and had to move into a larger building at a new location. In 1993, we had to add on to the existing building in order to facilitate growth. In 1997, we added another building to our property and moved administration and engineering into it. This afforded more manufacturing space in the main shop.  Currently we operate within about 18,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Similarly, relate notable challenges that your company has overcome.

The biggest challenge we face is becoming diversified to meet the challenges of an economy in flux with respect to our business goals and objectives.

An example of a recent success story for us was a plastic injection over-mold project that turned out extremely well for our customer. This was an existing production job that was generating over 40% scrap and using twice as much plastic than was necessary. This was a multi-cavity tool but was not able to produce good parts from each cavity. Even when a “good” part came off the old tool, the flash had to be manually trimmed. With all of these tooling related inefficiencies, you can easily imagine what a negative impact it was having with their production schedules. We were asked to look at the job to see if we could improve it. 

Part of the challenge in this tool was to design and build it in such a way that our customer could run up to four different sizes of parts in multiple cavities and it had to be changed over in the press (their old production tool could not be changed over in the press). Our staff went to work on a conceptual design for approval. We were able to demonstrate to our customer the mold design concept by giving them a presentation with solid models. This visualization technique is better received as opposed to looking at a set of blueprints. In this case, we used Unigraphics but we also have other design solutions in house.

We delivered the tool, on time, and helped set it up in the press. While the tool was being pre-heated, we helped to address other tooling issues with some of their other projects. Within 15 minutes of shooting the first part, our tool was producing good parts from every cavity. A 30% cycle time reduction was realized along with a shot size reduction. Additional labor savings were enjoyed by eliminating the operations for culling and reworking the bad parts. Overall TAKT (cycle) time for this line was reduced, helping to streamline scheduling and production requirements.

When you are working on projects with your customers, what aspects would you like them to better recognize?

The overall value we provide in our quality and services. Our tooling has met the challenge of going beyond the initial setup or parts approval process. A value inherent to our tooling that goes beyond the initial cost of the tool is in the savings realized during the production runs off our tools. We enjoy a tremendous amount of repeat business simply because our tools perform. In some cases, our customers will get competitive bids and find that ours is not always the lowest on initial cost. We are fortunate to have customers that see beyond the sticker price. They perform an overall cost analysis that factors in the initial cost of tooling, impact to production schedules and efficiencies (through less down-time), service and support. Our customer support is second to none.

List newly acquired technology, machinery or key personnel (in last year).

We acquired the first NC polishing machine in North America in November of 2005 from Douglas Park of D.P. Imex, the U.S. representative for Fine Ace Technology Company out of Changwon, South Korea. This venture came out of a need to increase polishing efficiencies while balancing the sensitivity to OSHA concerns about jobs that entail repetitive motion. If you are going to be in the mold making business, plastic or die cast, you must be able to polish. We see this machine as being able to offer relief in both areas.

Our NC polishing machine comes with an eight station tool holder and can perform automatic tool changes. Its six axis of movement allows us to tackle a wide variety of work. It can run four axis simultaneously in stroke or spindle rotation mode. The programming is simple and user friendly. Currently, there are only five basic programming routines with the “teach-learn” controller. These programs can be chained together and run in combination depending on the part requirements. These programs can also be stored and recalled for future use. Once you see the machine in operation, you will wonder why this machine has not been on the market any longer than it has. It is a clean, simple design that allows you to set the machine in an office environment.  

Will this machine completely replace a polisher? No. Depending on your specific polishing requirements, it may be able do 100% of your polishing needs. Will this machine be able to perform the bulk of the tasks that the polishers do? Yes. Again, it depends on your specific polishing needs. 

Polishers will still be needed to do some of the more intricate details. Keep in mind that this machine mimics the movement of a robot. Its capabilities will, in part, be determined by how good you become in programming the motion you want it to repeat. What the polishing machine will do is work concurrently with the polisher(s). This will decrease the amount of time that the polishers will be exposed to the vibrations and frequencies inherent with the normal tools of their trade. 

We trained our lead polishing man on how to program the machine in less than one week. This machine is no different than any other piece of equipment: the more you use it, the better you get. Once he gets a job running, he continues doing his normal polishing duties from the bench. Most Shop Owners and Managers fully understand the positive impact of getting double-duty from their operators. In most cases, operators will run multiple CNC machines to maximize machine run time efficiency. In this case, the polisher continues his task of applying his skills and expertise where it is needed while the machine takes care of some of the less demanding polishing areas that tend to be mundane, but are nonetheless necessary. This concurrent approach to polishing increases the man and machine efficiency while streamlining the workflow to help attain the ever-decreasing lead times. We are using our NC polishing machine the same way you use a conventional CNC mill with a tool changer. We set it up toward the end of a shift and let it run overnight. 

Depending on the complexity of the workpiece to be polished, we are seeing a productivity improvement of two to five times. There have been case studies where companies with large polishing departments were able to realize the same production with two polishers and one machine as compared to five polishers without this machine.

Has your company recently expanded?  Plans to expand or form partnerships/alliances? 

We have been able to keep expansion costs down by applying lean techniques to existing facilities. This has given us the space required to meet existing customer demands. We are also using alliances to provide value added services in order to remain competitive. 

Are you involved in any industry organizations or educational programs related to the trade?

Currently our involvement is with the North American Die Casting Association (NADCA). We are entertaining other avenues for further involvement with the tooling community.

What do you think about changes occurring in the industry due to globalization?  How has it affected the way you do business?

Globalization has increased competition for tool and die shops in the United States. Competition in itself is good but when tool shops are being forced to meet “Chinese” prices (this term is also used throughout the Pacific Rim), many shops are being handed their death sentence. It has had a “Wal-Mart” effect in that the smaller shops are being put out of business as manufacturers court cheaper prices, lesser quality and have service expectations that are nonexistent compared to what local shops must abide by. It is forcing local shops into a retrenchment approach and limiting capabilities for supplying services that were once considered standard. The downside of all this is that we are choking off our future talent pool through layoffs and right sizing. Many companies cannot afford apprenticeship programs and statistics show a decline of people getting into the trade.

Our business approach is now more focused on customers that meet our strategic objectives. We used to be the “go-to” solution for a much larger customer base due to the tooling and technical services we provide. We are implementing lean approaches to our internal operations and applying some of this methodology to our customer base.

What will the industry look like in 3 to 5 years?

In my opinion, the U.S. is set for another form of an industrial revolution. The global competition has provided a cleansing that in some cases was overdue. However, I don’t think we will ever get back to the way things used to be. 

History has a peculiar way of repeating itself. Americans are in the habit of rising to a challenge. I believe the global community has started to awaken a sleeping giant. 

Additional background information:

Number of years in business:  Established in 1969 

Current number of employees:  47

Current square footage:  18,000 square feet 

Additional locations:  None at this time 

Website:  www.wilson-tool.com  

Types of tools built and/or run:  Designers and builders of die cast dies, component parts, plastic injection molds, stamping dies (progressive and single hit), fixtures and gages. We also offer precision grinding capabilities. 

Industries served:  automotive, commercial and aerospace markets