Optimization of Tool Wear Versus Tool Change at Affordable Interior Systems

Martin, Ryan; Cass, Phillip

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Optimization of Tool Wear Versus Tool Change at Affordable Interior Systems

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The objective of this paper is to understand the lifespan and wear characteristics of the tooling used at Affordable Interior Systems (AIS), our project focused on the creation and running of an experiment that focused on creating baseline metrics for AIS. We did this due to the need for standardization on the shop floor of AIS, a high-volume custom furniture manufacturer who uses CNC routers to machine hundreds of particle boards per day. To do this we used sensitivity analysis along with DOE methods to run capacity experiments on the current tooling that AIS uses. This along with interviews with shop floor workers allowed us to recommend a baseline lifespan that will allow engineers at AIS to inform their workers better as to when to changeover endmills. The results of our testing ended up being quite similar to what is currently being done, which works nicely as it solidifies that what we determined was a good quantification of what is already being done. In some cases, there was a decrease in changeovers, which was monetarily represented in a financial analysis. This analysis showed that the cost of the equipment required to implement standardized distances across all machines would pay for itself within 1 year. The conclusion is that there is a monetary gain to be had if AIS standardizes their changeover indicators, which will in turn remove the amount of variability that is currently occurring when it comes to when operators changeover the end mills.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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