Steelcase is one of the premier manufacturers of office systems, (chairs, furniture, office dividers), in the world. Steelcase, Western Division, has one laser and four CNC turrets. Steelcase also uses hard dies in conjunction with UniPunch tooling on the same template.

“ The laser and the CNC can’t compete with UniPunch tooling as far as producing high volume parts, fast.”

“ The turret and laser are good machines but they’re not real fast. The main application of UniPunch tooling is to make parts that we use in high volume, high quantity or hole intensive parts."

“ I buy some special corner notch units that they make up special for me, also some cluster punches that have a round and two little punches on the side. This allows me to make three holes in one hit. One hit...one part. "

“ If I can get 500 pieces an hour, [7.2
seconds per part] with UniPunch tooling but only 100 pieces an hour with the laser, I tool up for the 500. I make the projections based on the product line and then decide how we are going to make the part. "

“ I like to let the laser do what it’s better at doing. We have a big project going through right now that started on the laser, and I was pretty sure that the laser wouldn’t be able to handle it, so slowly but surely, I’m getting the UniPunch tooling in place to handle it so I can pull that work off.”

Steelcase is a big company. How do you go about
determining whether or not you use UniPunch tooling when you have lasers and turrets in house?
“ What is your usage, how many parts do you expect me to make per week? That number helps me determine how I make the part. It’s speed. If I am only going to run 20 pieces a week, then speed isn’t as important, so I would put it on the laser because one machine does it all. Usage and the projected demand of that product determine how I make it.”

Do you employ dedicated setups in your operation?
“ All of our jobs are pre-set-up on a plate. When an operator puts that setup in the brake press, all he has to do is set his shut height and go. When I order tooling I order holders too because I want the whole enchilada. I’ve found that it’s a whole lot faster this way.

“ We used to knock our UniPunch setups down but it just took too much time to knock them down and set them up. We’re saving at least one or two men’s time a year by going dedicated, $50,000 to $100,000 a year. Your setup is easier, training is easier. With dedicated you just set them up once and go.”

Why do you still use UniPunch tooling?
“ We’re not a job shop--we’re building high volume. And I don’t care what anybody says, I can blow the laser out of the water over here with UniPunch tooling running the same product. And it’s not that I don’t like the laser because the laser is a great thing, but the laser and the CNC punch press can’t compete with UniPunch tooling as far as producing high volume parts...fast. And the cost of UniPunch tooling really isn’t all that elaborate anyway. Once you buy them you can run thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of parts on them.”

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