Raving Fan: MTH Tool Company

	CUSTOMER STORY
	MTH Tool Company: Advocate of Automation

Dave Tremain, MTH Founder and his son Tim Tremain, MTH President. pose near their newest machine - the Multiplex 630 with Gantry Load robot. The fixtures were designed for MTH by the Machinery Systems' Engineering Group.

MTH Tool Company (Plano, IL) began as an idea initiated by David Tremain, a young mechanical engineer fresh out of Valparaiso University in Indiana. He developed an interest in regenerative turbine pumps while employed at a competitive pump manufacturer. By 1965 he had worked with many pump manufacturers, but none took to his ideas for a lower cost, easier to manufacture multistage turbine pump. So he decided to pursue the development of this pump in his spare time.

In 1984 the primary thrust of Dave's efforts was to update the manufacturing capability of his company by replacing the manual machines with state-of-the-art CNC machines. Then in 1985 Dave's son Tim (current MTH President) was formally introduced to the business and was involved in the development of a new line of pumps know as the T51 series.

MTH Tool has always embraced technology and automation to rely on the machine’s capability in addition to the employee’s contribution. In the mid ‘80s MTH invested in a 2 pallet H15 horizontal machining center. In the ‘90’s MTH has taken advantage of Mazak’s emphasis on technological solutions to automation.

Two Mazak Ultra 550 Horizontal machining centers. Both with 6 pallet changers, 120 tool magazine, Renishaw Touch Probe system and dedicated fixtures and tooling. Now a job change over can be as quick as 2-3 minutes as opposed to hours and days. This helps MTH to strive closer to JIT manufacturing and decreased inventory.

Two Mazak Super Quick Turn 15Ms lathes with live tooling. These machines were put into a cell to manufacture the pump impellers. The flow is now three operations instead of the previous five handlings. The key way and balancing holes have been added to the lathe process, with no increase in cycle time. "The SQT15Ms have been the best investment yet," states Dave Tremain. "We are the best turbine pump impeller manufacturers in the industry. In fact, we now make many impellers for our competitors because we can do it so cost effectively," adds Tim Tremain.

Mazak Quick Turn 28 with barfeeder. This is the best "hands off" way to make simple small turned parts. The barfeed allows the machine to run unmanned for extended periods of time. The operator can now run multiple machines and spend his time doing important operations instead of loading and unloading parts.

Multiplex 630 with Gantry Load robot. This six axis lathe allows for both sides of a part to be turned/milled/drilled and finished in one handling. The load/unload of the raw casting is handled by the gantry robot. Included in the cell is a Renishaw touch probe to make offsets and datums by machine command versus the traditional operator intervention.

Dave Tremain states; "We will never buy another CNC machine with out some aspect of automation." From live tools on a lathe, barfeeders, load/unload robots or multiple pallet pools on machining centers. He adds. "We have to own the capabilities and incorporate the consistency of the automation into our manufacturing process."

MTH Tool has partnered with MSI in many respects. Our Service Group is contracted to do preventive maintenance on all MTH machines. Although MTH builds their own fixtures, our Engineering Group has been contracted to design some of fixtures. Our Mazak Group has provided MTH with their capital equipment. MTH has purchased Zettl Mimatic Workholding and Blaser Coolant from our Tooling Group. Also, our Used Equipment has been able to liquidate various older machines. Unfortunately our Systems Financial Credit (SFC) Group has not been able to beat MTH Tool’s bank in any of the investment loans; however, "we will keep trying" says Mark Charlton, SFC General Manager.

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