After our recent trade shows and technical conferences there are so many new faces in our industry along with the world getting smaller and the abundance of information out in cyberspace is mind boggling. In talking with people it is amazing some of the most basic things going wrong in roll forming lines, which with the right vendor help and support should not even be an issue.
A company asked us to look at a new cutoff die to replace a die built 10 years ago. The customer said initially that there were no issues and it worked well. In reviewing the information, it seemed that with the way the tooling was designed and manufactured for a flying cutoff die application it was hard to believe that it really was working that well. After further conversation the die worked, but with all the issues they were having their overall performance was not very good. The reason why it was perceived that it was good, they just did not know what good tooling could provide. Also there turned out to be other cost cutting options that could be offered to the customer in material savings that they had no idea was possible.
Over the years we have considered ourselves fortunate to have been able to work with so many different people and companies on wide variety of projects, and with that time spent we have acquired a vast knowledge of how things can work well in a roll forming line (flying or stationary punching dies, cutoff dies and various press options). With those experiences come a lot of success and some failures but at the end of the day it is to get a good product that is going to work in your roll forming lines. Price does matter these days, but also what is the perceived value of paying less for possibly limited or no engineering drawings, limited warranty, no service department call support, knowledge application engineers, these things do not seem important until there is trouble. Make sure when working with a vendor that you have the backup you and your company deserves.