Oster engineers approached Wisco Industries
 several years ago with
the idea of making motor mounts and motor brackets as metal stampings
rather than the more expensive castings as currently done.Wisco Industries consulted with its tooling experts and felt that the idea had
merit and proceeded to work with Oster personnel to make prototypes.
After a successful life test of the blenders into which these motors went,
Wisco Industries was given the orders to proceed with production quantities. The
savings by eliminating the castings that required machining was
fantastic.
Wisco Industries started making the mounts and brackets, complete with the bronze
bushings to support the motor shaft. These assemblies were done on a
dial-type assembly machine at the rate of 1,450 per hour. Even at this
rate, the cost of the parts were significantly less than the previous
castings.
As time went on, further pressure was put on the cost of these parts,
and Wisco Industries went into the Continuous Improvement mode in an effort to
accommodate our customer.
After having exhausted all efforts in efficiency, we looked at the
process and developed a method and technology whereby we are able to
assemble these parts "in the die" at every stroke of the press.
The
pictures you see here are of that operation.
Instead of being able to produce 1,450 per hour of one or the other
parts, we now produce approximately 55 per minute when the press is
running. This cost savings made it economical and necessary to duplicate
the tooling so that we could have one running while the other is being
maintained. We now produce several styles of each, utilizing multiple
presses to sustain production. We utilize both our Oregon, Wisconsin, stamping
facility and our Cullman, Alabama, facility to keep Oster running on a just-in-time basis.
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