9
YOUR GLOBAL CRAFTSMAN STUDIO
The Tool Technology Council is a generator of wide ranging achievements
the Tool Technology Council had a
significant impact. One of the concepts
for technical improvement at that time
was the “Constant Search for Quick
Change.” The development of spring
clamps for face milling cutters and the
hydraulic clamping mechanism reduced
tool replacement time to less than one
minute, and eliminated the need for
wrenches and other tools.
All:
Yes, those are great memories!
Takiguchi (Mitsubishi Materials):
There
were no machining centres at that time
and it was impossible to exchange
tools automatically; but we had already
developed a system very close to
the automatic replacement type you
see today. I can tell you that the Tool
Technology Council played no small role
in making it possible to produce a large
number of engines, very quickly.
Ogino (Mitsubishi Motors):
It is really
great to get together with the major
players that were on the Council at that
time to share memories.
Shimizu (Mitsubishi Motors):
Our
proposals for technical improvements
are summarised in this edition of “THE
TOOLING.” The colour on the front page
is one of the PAJERO colours, which we
decided to use to show our spirit.
Kitamura (Mitsubishi Materials):
There
was no other production line in the
world that was as complex as ours.
Our achievement was outstanding and
it made us proud that our tools were
used on one of the busiest and toughest
production lines in the world.
Shimizu (Mitsubishi Motors):
We did
have some troubles though. Line
maintenance required a serious effort.
The lines only stopped for a short time
during summer and at year end. During
thesetimesweanalysedandaccumulated
data about the products we developed.
We also inspected deterioration of
cutter reference planes and worked in
cooperation with the tooling centre to
examine changes in runout. We worked
constantly to monitor machined surface
accuracy over the years.
Kitamura (Mitsubishi Materials):
We
worked hard onmaintenance. All through
our 20s, we spent our summer and New
Year holidays ensuring that the lines
would keep running.
Shimizu (Mitsubishi Motors):
For
solutions to problems, the initial design
can achieve up to 70 percent of the
improvement but the other 30 percent
must be found in manufacturing
techniques. Employees devote them-
selves to improvement and that has not
changed.
Takiguchi
(Mitsubishi
Materials):
Experience in manufacturing can be
applied to design.
Kitamura (Mitsubishi Materials):
The
origin of all tools sold by Mitsubishi
Materials to automotive industries
around the world can be found in the
history of the Tool Technology Council.
Everyone knows that a defect in a tool can
cause the stoppage of a production line
that produces 50,000 vehicles per month,
and that would be a serious problem.
Uno(MitsubishiMotors):
Wewill continue
recording the problems that come up
in production lines and reflect them in
improvement proposals. The importance
of sharing problems and solutions has
been passed down from past members
and we want to continue this great
tradition through Tool Technology Council
activities to ensure a level of quality that
leads the automotive industry.
The Tool Technology Council expanded
its activities in 1993 by adding mass
production and metal mould processing
teams. Cutting tools have improved
significantly over the past 50 years and
the Council has been a key factor in
development each step of the way. It
produced tools utilizing the UTi20T grade,
as well as multi-layer chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) coatingsandcubicboron
nitride (CBN) materials. Simultaneously,
we set new themes for further technical
developments. These included lowering
tool costs, increasing productivity,
better chip control as well as improving
tools for mass production and mould
machining. The technology accumulated
here supports the production lines at
Mitsubishi Motors and technical research
conducted at user sites has become
know-how that Mitsubishi Materials
uses for proposals over a wide range of
industries.
(Left/ Right in the photo) Tadashi Terasaka: Powertrain Production Engineering Group, Powertrain Production Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Motors
(Left/ Left in the photo) Hajime Goto: Powertrain Production Engineering Department (in charge of machine technology), Production Engineering Division, Mitsubishi Motors
(Middle/ Right in the photo) Hiroyasu Furubayashi: Keiji Office, Osaka Branch, AdvancedMaterials & Tools Company, Mitsubishi Materials
(Right) Motoki Yamada: Global Key Accounts Department, Sales Division, AdvancedMaterials & Tools Company, Mitsubishi Materials
FOCUS ON PERFORMANCE
