Better Forge Lube Application Process for Powder Metal Con Rods

Overview

Overview
During the process of creating connecting rods, GKN applies a lubricant to the mold cavities in order to prevent tool damage and facilitate rod extraction. Over time, dried flakes of the lubricant will fall into the mold cavity and then forged into the connecting rod causing undesirable defects.

Objectives
Our task was to create 5 new innovative ideas that reduce the occurrence of defective parts during the production process and rank them on implementation cost, sustainability, and effectiveness.

Approach
-Conducted a site visit in order to fully understand the process and how the problem occurs

-Organized multiple group brainstorming sessions to propose multiple ideas

-Weekly group meetings and updates with the team members and the advisor

-Narrow the potential ideas down into 5 innovative ideas

-Explore each idea for implementation cost vs sustainability and effectiveness

-Using a cost analysis, effectiveness analysis, and sustainability analysis, rank the ideas from best to worst

-Using the previous analysis, narrow the innovative ideas into a recommendation

-Recommend the best solution along with the process of implementation

Outcomes
-Finally, list the outcomes for this project making sure to clearly convey their implications for the sponsoring company:

-The sponsor will save $XXX as a result of this project

-Manufacturing/production times were reduced by XX hours/minutes as a result of this project

-The project reduced set up time, assembly time, tool wear, etc.

-If the project resulted in a new/unique product/approach/simulation, make sure to convey that as well.

-Finally, make sure this fits on one page, and submit both DOC and PDF to your instructor

Objectives

-Generate at least 5 potential ideas to reduce “Visual Defects” caused during the lube application process. The team is encouraged to not only look at improving the current process, but to think outside the box for innovative and new ideas (both process & materials)!

-Rank potential ideas against the criteria of cost to implement, effectiveness, and sustainability.

-Recommend the one best hypothesis solution to pursue and outline the next experiments required to validate the recommendation.

Approach

– Brainstorming of ideas

– Narrowing list of ideas to 5

-Research on 5 ideas

-Rank ideas based on cost, effectiveness and sustainability

-Choose the best idea based on the criteria and help outline the next steps to test this idea

Outcomes

– Using an add-in lubricant of Boron Nitride (BN) or fully switching to BN lubricant