Locomotive Case Study
Customer Profile: Engine manufacturer specializing in Electro-Diesel locomotive engine manufacturing.
Challenge:
Spherical cut for a crab bolt on locomotive engine block with a hole size of 1-5/16” and a 10” reach. After clipping on safety harness to fixture, operator would climb up the fixture and manually attach cutting head, climb down, unhook harness, walk to the machine controls, press go to activate the back spotface cycle, and repeat. This method took one hour per spotface, as well as making the work environment unsafe.
Steiner Solution:
Fully automate the back spotfacing operation with a torque bar activated Autofacer®.
Results:
A massive reduction in cycle time from 1 hour, down to 5 minutes per spotface; 12 times faster than the previous method. All the while maintaining a 63 finish and eliminating a potentially hazardous operation. Steiner Technologies was later informed that the operator was on the verge of quitting his job to this operation. Switching to the Steiner solution saved time, improved safety and saved an employee’s job.