The POM Group Receives Top Industry Credential As a 2001 Automotive News PACE Award Finalist
26 October 2000
The POM Group Receives Top Industry Credential As a 2001 Automotive News PACE Award Finalist
PLYMOUTH, Mich., Oct. 26 The POM Group, Inc., has been
named a finalist for its NuTool(TM) tool reconfiguration technique in the PACE
(Premier Automotive suppliers; Contributions to Excellence) Awards
competition.
This prestigious annual awards program recognizes automotive suppliers who
have embraced innovation to meet the growing service and quality demands of
their customers; the world's major automotive manufacturers. PACE, co-
sponsored by Automotive News and Ernst & Young LLP, sets the standard for
innovation and excellence and has become a significant industry credential.
POM is the first company in the world to successfully develop and produce
a commercial injection molding tool for automotive exterior trim with a
technique that uses its patented DMD(TM) (Direct Metal Deposition)
manufacturing process.
Dwight Morgan, president and chief operating officer of POM, said: "It is
truly an honor to be part of this distinguished group of world-class finalists
for the 2000 PACE Awards.
"Launching new products is difficult and costly, and OEMs are under
continual pressure to shorten time-to-market while keeping products cost-
competitive," he said. "Our NuTool manufacturing technique provides our
customers the means to succeed under these conditions, which is a significant
achievement in itself for POM. But, to have the global automotive supplier
community as a whole recognize our innovation? That's the sort of recognition
that drives our employees for continued excellence in process innovation."
Morgan added that the recognition by the PACE Awards judges means a great
deal to POM, its employees and its shareholders. "This represents both an
honor and another brick upon which our company shall build value to our
clients," he said.
What is NuTool(TM)?
Using POM's DMD(TM) process as its enabling technology, the NuTool
technique reconfigures existing tooling to create new tooling.
"The introduction of the NuTool process changes the rules of high-volume
automotive manufacturing in that the lead time and cost to fabricate tooling
systems can now be reduced significantly," Morgan said.
NuTool adds fully dense tool steel metal to an existing production tool
surface, creating a new part geometry on a tool that would otherwise be
discarded. This eliminates the need to manufacture an entirely new tool,
significantly reducing tooling cost and slashing lead-time by as much as 70%.
As part of the new product introduction for a 2003 model year General
Motors SUV, POM teamed with the automaker's Tier 1 supplier, Andover
Industries, to speed time-to-market and ease vehicle launch pressures. The
companies together reconfigured an obsolete prototype injection molding tool,
used previously for past model year programs, into a new production tool for
this new model year program.
The NuTool technique cut the customer's tooling costs by 25%. This was
achieved by eliminating the need for a new tool to be purchased. The customer
also realized time savings of 50%. The entire project was completed in half
the time typically associated with the fabrication of prototype tooling (12-14
weeks).
"NuTool allowed us to revise several obsolete prototype molds for an
upcoming model year program," said William Klopp, Andover Industries program
manager. "We incorporated the latest production design-intent improvements
into three different tools. When done effectively, we can repair and
reconfigure injection tooling in half the time of conventional.
"Our management is looking closely at this process," Klopp added. "They
view this technology as an interesting and significant opportunity to increase
customer value."
DMD(TM), NuTool's enabling technology, is the result of blending five
common technologies: lasers, CAD, CAM, sensors and powder metallurgy. The DMD
process creates or reconfigures a part by focusing an industrial laser beam
onto a metallic workpiece or preformed part, creating a molten pool of metal.
A stream of metallic powder is then injected into the melt pool, increasing
the size of the molten pool. By moving the laser back and forth under CNC
control, tracing out a pattern defined by the CAD geometry, the new or
modified part is built ... line by line, one layer at a time.
With this process and its translating laser energy source, the molten pool
solidifies at a rapid rate, resulting in a fully dense, refined
microstructure. The DMD(TM) process results in parts with physical properties
that exceed those of conventional wrought of cast materials, providing
superior quality and increased strength.
The PACE Award winners are to be announced March 5, 2001, at its seventh
annual ceremony at the Detroit Opera House in Detroit, Mich. The date also
coincides with the SAE 2001 World Congress, a major automotive conference held
annually in Detroit.
POM, based in Plymouth, Mich., is the world's first companies to introduce
a commercially viable, reliable, laser-based direct metal fabrication
processes capable of producing prototype and production tooling using premium
tool steel metals that are mandated for all plastic injection molding and die
casting markets. A minority owned and operated service bureau and OEM, POM
provides DMD process equipment as well as finite element analysis, CAD/CAM,
fabrication and repair services.