Tooling solutions from Mitsubishi Materials Corporation helped Sona BLW to achieve desired accuracy and consistency

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2016-01-28 17:07:00

Established in 1984, Sona BLW Precision Forging Ltd is located in Pune. They manufacture precision forged (net shaped) bevel gears, differential case assemblies and synchroniser rings for automotive and other applications. The strategy of the company, which has its mother plant in Gurgaon, is to take an active part in its customers’ globalisation strategies and offer worldwide services. “Precision for a moving world” is company’s motto. They also strive for its commitment to the customers under continually changing conditions.

Sona BLW manufactures precision forged components from alloy steel and carries out various processes such as cold forging, warm forging, heat treatment and finish machining. This is followed by flexible packaging according to customer demands.

Mr. Ajit Parikh, Assistant Vice President (Operations) of Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd said, “We follow 3M principle—Man, Machine and Material—in totality and we are able to maintain the component accuracy within 25-30 microns with surface roughness of less than 0.8 Ra by hard part turning. All 130 employees in our Pune plant are committed to the manufacturing needs of our customers. We have various CNC machines for soft and hard part machining of bevel gears along with inspection facilities such as CMM, contour measuring machines etc.”

The company carries out hard part machining using CBN inserts from Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Japan. Sona BLW also uses ISO Turning Inserts and Indexable Drills of Mitsubishi. These products are supplied by MMC Hardmetal India Pvt Ltd (MMCI), a subsidiary of MMC, Japan.

“MMCI contributes a lot in our manufacturing process as they interact with our engineers at regular intervals and suggest right tools for the right applications, be it hard part turning or soft machining. We follow engineering practices and machining process sheets finalised at Gurgaon, though trials are conducted at Pune plant in the presence of MMCI staff,” Mr. Parikh said.

Asked about the reason behind Sona BLW selecting MMCI as their partner for tooling solutions, Mr. Parikh and Mr. Pramod Chinchkar, Assistant General Manager (Manufacturing) said, “MMCI as a tooling partner plays a significant role as their focus is on productivity improvement without compromising accuracy of end components. They first understand the application and suggest the best tool available which gives desired accuracy with optimum cycle time.”

“MMCI also conducts various training programs at our facility to enhance knowledge of our machine operators, supervisors and engineers. This not only helps us to get additional information about latest trends in cutting technology, but also increases awareness and helps in troubleshooting. As a result, rejection percentage is reduced drastically,” Mr. Chinchkar said.

“Such is their technical prowess that once we were getting inconsistent results and asked them to arrive at a solution. After careful analysis, MMCI suggested us to check input material properties i.e. hardness. They also advised us to maintain minimum overhang for the boring bars to avoid chatter during boring operations. Both these observations helped us in getting accurate and consistent results.”

As far as after-sales support from MMCI is concerned, Mr. Chinchkar said, “We appreciate MMCI Pune team, as they quickly respond to our queries. They always support us in times of crisis. Their biggest advantage is one day delivery to our plant from their warehouse in Bangalore. We are successfully able to reduce our inventory and we can now schedule our production lots quite effectively. MMCI’s Pune team is very receptive and gives instant feedback about all our queries. All in all we are very happy with their support.”

About the future plans the officials said, Sona BLW will surely continue partnering with MMCI as it is a win-win situation for both. “Both the companies are growing together and that is the biggest advantage of this partnership,” they concluded.

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