supplier: SST-Canada
end user: Toolplas
Last year marked a significant milestone for Oldcastle, Ont.-based mould and tool manufacturer Toolpas Systems Inc. With 2019 being the company’s twentieth year of operation, the manufacturer has upgraded its Tecumseh, ON., manufacturing plant and made significant investments in equipment, including the purchase of a five axis machine, the Makino V90S VMC, acquired through Single Source Technologies (SST-Canada), Makino’s distributor in Canada. Toolplas specializes in manufacturing of multi-colour, multi-material two-shot rotary tooling, gas assist, P20 and low-pressure difficult tooling requirements for the automotive supply chain with a customer list that stretches around the world.
Serving interior trim and under hood components, Toolplas’ manufacturing requirements drove our team to multi-axis machinery and cutting developments to deliver on time, direct run, first-time quality moulds and components to our customers,” says Andrew Gruening, manufacturing leader and manufacturing process coordinator at Toolplas.
“Modern five axis machinery that could deliver continuous five axis motion—in addition to our 3+2 axis placement that was currently in use—was key in deciding our manufacturing future and footprint going forward,” Gruening continues. “Makino and SST, from the early stages, were driven to partner with Toolplas and deliver a world class product, not only to meet our needs now, but to continue to grow with us, and evolve with the ever-changing and evolving state of manufacturing.”
Gruening says this commitment to a long-term development and service relationship with Toolplas was more than just a deciding factor in going with Makino and SST. “[This] was part of an ongoing blueprint to rethink and reimagine how our manufacturing needs are met. From lights-out machining to automated processes and development checks, our decision has proven itself correct over and over.”
The V90S continuous five axis CNC machine complements Toolplas’ existing lineup of Makino equipment and drives down the company’s manufacturing time by hitting all aspects of a tool, at once on one machine, lights out. “This machine consistently hits production weekly runtime averages of 90 per cent with a proven 99 per cent first-run quality inspection of tools and parts,” says Gruening. “Speed and smoothness of axis motion has led to reduced spotting and handwork, as hard lines associated with our older multi-axis machines are almost eliminated on the new generation of Makinos.” SMT
