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Who are we By turning over the blank after the first stage, Clamason's Chin Fong Worcester transfer press line enables the same press tool to make both left and right hand versions of the housing – a huge competitive cost advantage for tooling. This line of six presses located together provides rapid transfer of individual pressings between stations by pick-and-place robots. The components, two per car, are supplied on a just-in-time basis to Ford's first-tier supplier TRW at Peterlee, Co Durham, where the curtain airbags and 9in long, round inflators are all fitted. The Clamason concept is to exploit the fact that its customer TRW can bend the mild steel material - once only - to close around the inflator. The idea has proved so successful that the same principle is now applied by TRW to airbag inflator housings made by Clamason for a General Motors SUV (sport utility vehicle) being built in Mexico. The SUV line runs at 250 vehicles per week, in comparison with a weekly production rate of 650 for the Jaguar X-Type and 180 for the X-Type Estate.
The components, two per car, are supplied on a just-in-time basis to the first-tier supplier TRW at Peterlee, Co Durham, where the curtain airbags and 9in long, round inflators are all fitted. By turning over the blank after the first stage, this line enables the same press tool to make both left and right hand versions of the housing – a huge competitive cost advantage for tooling. The transfer press line also allows far more work to be done at each stage because there is no need for a carry strip, which would only get in the way and later have to be removed. A brand new idea, the curtain airbag inflator housing was initially conceived by world-class design engineers based in Detroit at both Ford and TRW, with Clamason making considerable inputs subsequently into the design as well as the downstream automation facilitated by automation engineers located at Darlington, Teesside. Accordingly, the successful project represents a fine and well co-ordinated team effort and achievement by the four parties. The Clamason concept is to exploit the fact that its customer TRW can bend the mild steel material – once only – to close around the inflator. It has proved so successful that the same principle is now applied by TRW to airbag inflator housings made by Clamason for a General Motors SUV (sport utility vehicle) being built in Mexico. The SUV line runs at 250 vehicles per week, in comparison with a weekly production rate of 650 for the Jaguar X-Type and 180 for the X-Type Estate. Clamason’s material properties solution of folding steel shut to enclose a device and their cost-saving process solution of the transfer press line have now been successfully carried over to various other components. Accordingly Clamason uses the same principles to make the tethers securing the airbag to the roof of both Jaguar X-Type models and the GM SUV, six per car. Clamason employed the idea, too, to realize the design of another type of housing, for an airbag inflator deploying special roll-over curtains on the BMW 5 Series. The customer was Simula, Inc, a US defence and personnel safety equipment OEM located at Tempe, Arizona (www.simula.com). The automotive business of Simula recently sold its UK factory at Ashington, Northumberland, to French company Zodiac, a producer of airbag fabric as well as of military and professional rigid inflatable boats or RIB’s (www.zodiacmilpro.com). In fact Clamason has expanded into making enclosures for several of the World’s five airbag OEM’s. Another is Delphi Automotive Systems, who has designated Clamason as a “Worldwide Supplier of Choice”. Delphi, headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA, is the World's largest automotive supplier with around 200,000 employees and 200 wholly-owned manufacturing sites and is Clamason’s no.1 automotive customer. COMPONENTS SPANNING MANY APPLICATIONS ON THE MODERN CAR Further examples from Clamason’s broad spread of components for European, Japanese and American automobiles are casings for in-car entertainment (ICE) systems, engine control unit (ECU) covers, car door locks, overmoulded horn buttons, overmoulded electrical busbar, GPS antennae, wiring harnesses and welded tie-down loops for luggage. Current customers in addition to Delphi, TRW and Zodiac include Autoliv, Hitachi, Intier, Magna Kansai and Motorola. MEETING THE NEEDS OF FIRST-TIER SUPPLIERS IN CENTRAL EUROPE Clamason Industries has recently opened a 10,000 sq ft satellite plant at Nitra, on the motorway network 80km east of Bratislava, which is the capital of Slovakia and a major port on the River Danube. This is part of Clamason’s strategy of staying close to existing automotive customers – first-tier suppliers in Central Europe such as US multinationals Delphi in Hungary and TRW Automotive in Poland – who demand bi-weekly or even daily deliveries on a just-in-time basis. Parts manufactured at Kingswinford can be shipped to Nitra in flat pack form for labour-intensive second operations – such as welding, the addition of tapped holes and final assembly. For example, a car radio chassis made in a cell at Kingswinford will be welded together at Nitra to feed a continuous production line in Central Europe. Buffer stocks will be maintained at Nitra, too, for such customers with critical deliveries.
To obtain further technical information, please contact:
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| T 01384 400000 | F 01384 279222 | E sales@clamason.co.uk |