D&S In The News

D&S MANUFACTURING ENGINEER JOE LANE WILL REVEAL NEW COST SAVING OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPLEMENT ROBOTIC WELDING AT 2009 AWS CONFERENCE

Black River Falls, Wis. — Michael Dougherty, President of D&S Manufacturing, recently announced that Joe Lane, Manufacturing Engineer, will serve as a presenter at the AWS National Robotic Arc Welding Conference and Exhibition 2009 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His seminar, entitled, “Implementing Robotic Welding in a Job Shop Environment,” is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, from 2:50 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Lane’s program will focus on the decisions, concepts and strategies employed for the successful utilization of robotic welding in a low volume/high mix contract manufacturing environment. Topics will include justification, part selection, robotic cell configuration, system options, programming, data management, tooling and training.

Lane earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Stout. Approximately three years ago, he was selected to lead a team of eight D&S employees in the development and implementation of a program to increase productivity through the use of robotics in the company’s production facility. At that time, the company had applied robotic welding technology for a dedicated number of higher volume, repeatable orders. In response to changes in product mix, D&S began to explore opportunities to utilize automation for less traditional applications.

“Our challenge,” Lane elaborated, “was to harness the quality, speed and accuracy benefits of robotic welding and apply them to increasingly smaller quantity runs in the most efficient manner possible. In this process, we dramatically reduced the time associated with system changeover by timing all tooling and off-line programming so they are ready the moment the project is scheduled to run. As a result, we have reduced minimum quantity requirements from more than 50 to as few as 10 while continuing to maintain shorter project lead times for our customers,” he concluded.

For additional information about the AWS National Robotic Arc Welding Conference and Exhibition, May 11 – May 13, 2009, visit www.aws.org/sections/milwaukee.

For more than 40 years, ISO 9001:2000 certified D&S Manufacturing has served as a custom manufacturer of exceptional quality large scale components, assemblies and complete weldments for a broad cross section of well-respected corporations that include Caterpillar, Oshkosh Corporation, Parkson, The Trane Company and CNH. The company’s extensive capabilities include technologically superior machining, laser, high definition plasma and oxy-fuel cutting, as well as manual and robotic welding. These resources are complemented by diverse value-added services ranging from wet painting and shot blasting to assembly and testing. A dedicated and highly skilled workforce lives a commitment to superior project management, exceptional quality, accountability, teamwork and continuous improvement, which empowers the company to live its slogan, D&S …. Solid™.

For more information, please contact John Barkley, Sales Engineering Manager, D&S Manufacturing, P. O. Box 279, Black River Falls, WI, 54615, 715-284-5376, ext. 307 or fax 715-284-4084. Send e-mail to sales@dsmfg.com, and visit D&S Manufacturing’s Web site at www.dsmfg.com.

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