Category: Engineering

As technology creeps further into every aspect of the manufacturing industry, European Springs Ireland is excited to be at the forefront of technological developments. We’re fascinated by the successes of these innovations and are always looking for ways we can implement new technology into our practices to provide better services for our clients.

One technological advancement that has proved it is here to stay is automation. In recent years, we have seen incredible automation developments in manufacturing and have been fascinated by how it is assisting manufacturers and engineers worldwide.

So, today, we’re exploring everything you need to know about automation in manufacturing. We’re taking you on an insightful look behind the curtain as we delve into what it is, how it has been implemented into the industry, and what the pros and cons are of this revolutionary technology; read on to learn more.

What Is Automation?

Automation is a term for any technology or computerised machine that, in order for it to work, requires little human input. While automation isn’t new, the different types of automated technology available today are constantly updated with the latest software.

There are different types of automation available, for example:

• AI. Artificial intelligence is used in many manufacturing companies across the world. For example, in spring manufacturing, it can be used in the replacement of the testing process to minimise resource waste.
• Process automation. This involves the use of apps or other software used to streamline business processes that were previously completed by humans either on a computer or through paperwork.
• Robotics. Also known as integration automation, robots have been used to mimic the actions of a human and can complete physical tasks such as packing.

There are also other, much more basic examples of automation that aren’t just found within the manufacturing industry. For example, using an online chat room for employees is considered a part of automation, as it replaces physical human interactions, which has been implemented in almost all industries.

How Has Automation Been Implemented Into Manufacturing?

As mentioned, automation has been implemented in the manufacturing industry in a wide variety of ways, such as through:

• Robotic assembly lines
• Computer-controlled tools
• Automated material handling
• Automated inspection systems

These are just a few examples of the many different areas of automated manufacturing, and we believe it will only get bigger and better. Whilst we would never expect automation to take over the creative minds of our spring design team, for example, we do believe it can be beneficial in other areas of our business. For instance, when it comes to producing custom bulk orders for our clients, implementing automotive technology may increase the springs’ accuracy and speed up the process.

Automation and Analytics

Analytics are used throughout manufacturing and has been a major part of Industry 4.0 in terms of machine data. As this often involves a lot of technical skill and, more often than not, advanced experience, automation has been tested to take over this area of manufacturing.

The two work together by providing automated data on production processes and machines. The automation systems are able to collect data from machines before feeding it into analytics software for review. During the review, the collected data can be used to identify patterns, which then allows manufacturers to make informed decisions about improving productivity and efficiency, for example. In addition, automation systems can also use this data to predict problems with the machines and prevent them from occurring.

Advantages of Automation in Manufacturing

There are plenty of advantages of automation in manufacturing; let’s take a look:

• Increased efficiency. Automation reduces production time significantly and works to streamline processes.
• Reduces human error. It can eliminate mistakes made by humans and produce more consistent products.
• Cost-effective in the long-term. By increasing production rates and reducing labour costs, automation can help manufacturing companies cut costs in the long run.
• Increased safety. By eliminating human error, injuries are reduced. In addition, as mentioned, automation processes can predict when a machine may have a problem, improving the safety of the technology humans work with.

Disadvantages of Automation in Manufacturing

Of course, many people will have doubts about automation, which is completely understandable. While it is impressive technology, it also comes with some drawbacks.

• Potential job losses. As mentioned, we don’t believe automation could take over humans in all aspects of manufacturing. Still, some areas may see some workforce cuts due to the overwhelming advantages of automation.
• High initial investment. Automation is cost-effective in the long term, but it must be mentioned that the initial investments can be high. Machinery, software, and other equipment are expensive.
• Technical issues. Like all technology, automation may run into some technical issues or malfunctions, which can cause delays in productivity.

Whatever your feeling about automation area, there is no denying that it is making its way into manufacturing in a variety of forms. If you work in the sector, you probably already noticed an increase in automation; if not, you certainly will now.

As mentioned, we’re excited about these digital transformations here at European Springs Ireland and actively seek opportunities to implement them into our spring manufacturing processes.

If you’re as excited as us by digital change and think that the fascinating world of spring design and manufacturing is a place you would thrive, we would like to hear from you. Get in touch to find out about our latest vacancies and start your new career at this exciting time of automation transformation.

At European Springs, we are proud of our role in manufacturing high-quality springs and pressings for a broad range of applications. We strive to develop new innovative processes and methods to maintain our status as one of the UK’s top manufacturers. Part of our work is to understand the causes of spring failure and prevent any such losses from occurring in our products with superior techniques.

Spring Design Considerations

With so many applications that require some spring to function, spring failure at any time will be at best a hindrance and, at worst disastrous. As spring manufacturers in Ireland, we understand that spring failure is not an option. However, we believe that by understanding why a spring fails, you can work toward avoiding it for yourself.

Spring Stress is a primary cause of spring failure. Overstessing your spring by applying stress or force that exceeds its specifications indicates a breakdown in the design process. For example, an extension spring will not have much elasticity if designed for strength, so by overextending this spring, you will put it under extreme stress, and it will most likely break.

Wrong Material Choice is also a common cause of spring failure. With so many materials available for your spring manufacture, you need to be sure that you select the best material for the function it needs to perform adequately. For example, Stainless steel is a good choice for clock springs but may not be for other spring types such as valve springs.

Shock loading and other misuses of your spring will lead to spring failure. Shock loading is when the weight of the load increases suddenly or speeds up. Dropping your spring from a significant height is an example of accidental shock loading. The more times the spring is shock loaded, the higher the risk of failure. You can mitigate this with friction devices such as vibration dampening devices or internal damper coils.

The key to our spring manufacturing process is to source specific high-quality materials to meet even the most exacting of production standards. Combined with our in-house contemporary CAD and CAM software and systems, we can help realise a comprehensive range of prototype ideas so you can be sure your specification will work in your required application.

Preserving Your Springs

Even with the best materials, manufacture and design, no spring will last forever; fortunately, as experienced gas spring manufacturers, we know of ways you can increase your spring’s life and prolong replacing it for as long as possible.

Several factors can shorten your spring’s lifetime, but you can ensure your product lasts longer than you expect with careful planning and a reputable manufacturer.

Friction – A spring touching the sides of a shaft (for example, a compression spring inside a gas spring), with repeated friction, will cause increasing damage to both components until one fails.

Environment – A spring that doesn’t have the correct finish will be less likely to function. It will continue to degrade until it fails. In addition, heat or extreme humidity will negatively affect an untreated spring and potentially cause spring relaxation. By keeping these springs cool, you can prolong the life of your spring and reduce the chance of spring relaxation

Stress – This is linked to the overstressing mentioned above. Applying too much pressure to your spring is unlikely to compress as far as it is designed. This will lead to overstressing and breaks. We recommend choosing a larger wire diameter to reduce the chance of spring stress. Additionally, lowering the final load and allowing more room for the spring will enhance longevity.

Prestressing to Prevent Spring Failure

Prestressing is the process where the spring is loaded to the point where the wire is under controlled stress. A spring designed to be prestressed will benefit from withstanding higher pressures and increasing its load-carrying ability while lighter than its equivalents. When spring is prestressed, the changes will increase its lifetime and provide you with a better product.

Shot Peening Improving Operating Life

Shot peening is a method where the surface of the spring is hit with small spheres. It is used on clutch springs, coil springs and compression springs. These impacts will create small indentations, which will overlap as they are repeatedly struck. As a result, the whole exterior of your spring will have a layer of metal in a state of increased residual compressive density. Shot peening essentially increases the tensile strength of your material and makes it far harder for fatigue cracks to start to form. Shot peening is beneficial for:

• Preventing corrosion
• Cracks and fatigue
• Hydrogen embrittlement

High-Quality Bespoke Spring and Pressings from European Springs

By choosing a world-renowned gas spring manufacturer such as European Springs, you can be confident that your required springs will be the highest quality choice with high durability and customised for whatever you need them for.

If you’re interested in any springs, pressings or wireforms, then please browse our stock catalogue to see what we have readily available.

Throughout our decades of experience manufacturing high-quality pressings and stampings, we have developed our processes to create an expert service that is constantly in high demand from our clients worldwide.

Our team of engineers have earned a wealth of knowledge in this field, covering manual, semi and fully automatic production to suit the requirements of the customer’s needs. One thing that became evident very early on is that no one type of press applies to every product. An important lesson is that adaptability is vital when conducting the bespoke pressings and stampings operations we offer. Therefore, our engineers must have a working knowledge of various press machines.

How Do Machine Presses Work?

Initially, pressings had to be created by hand. Before the machine press was invented, workers used tools such as hammers to change the shape of the metal. This was not only an agonisingly slow and physically draining process, but it would also be less effective on harder metals. So, this was replaced with the steam hammer around the mid-1800s. The steam hammer (or drop hammer) is the earliest known machine that led to modern pressings.

In modern manufacturing, the machines have replaced their steam with hydraulics. Every device will have its own unique designs, but all pressing machines share specific processes and features. Most pressing machines operate in a straightforward manner by pressing the workpiece plate or die onto the workpiece materials or into it for a more dramatic result. This process is controlled through multiple tool setters that ensure the position of the workpiece. This is when the hydraulics come in; the press pushes the plate or the die against each other using hydraulic pressure. This enables the desired change.

Machine presses rely on high pressure to create the intended results. Most machine presses use around 1 to 30 tons of pressure, which enables them to reshape a broad range of materials such as steel, beryllium copper, and stainless steel alloy. As experienced spring manufacturers, we have used carbon spring steel in our pressing operations with impressive results.

Punch Press

A punch press is the most well-known design of a press machine, and as the name suggests, this press deforms the material by punching holes into it. First, a portal frame with a centred ram or a C frame with a hydraulic ram. Punch presses can be operated manually, but with advances in CNC machining, computer-run punch presses are significantly more popular as they vastly increase production quotas.

Stamping Press

A stamping press is another well-known press design we use at European Springs a lot. While these are similar to punch presses, there are significant differences. They both use a pressurised tool to change the materials workpiece, but stamping does not create clear, clean holes like a punch press.

In this case, the material is pressed into the die to take the same shape, and the material is secured with a bolster plate between the die and a press tool. The tool in the stamping press is pushed into the material, forcing it to deform into the shape of the underlying die.

Lid Press

A Lid press is quite different to the previous examples. Whereas the previous focus was on changing the form of the material, this press is designed to apply a cover to an existing object. As a result, you’ll find lid press machines most used mainly for sealing storage containers such as buckets or cans.

Press Brake

A press brake is exclusively used for metal manufacturing. The role of this press is to bend and deform metal workpieces such as sheet metals. These are sandwiched by a tool and die, similar to other operations, especially stamping presses, with the exception that this machine only works with metal pressings.

Screw Press

As the name suggests, the defining feature of a screw press is the screw-driven ram installed. This updated design has been around for centuries but is now usually controlled through CNC machining to twist and turn the ram and force the tool down onto the workpiece to get the desired shape.

European Springs Pressings and Stampings

At European Springs, we can provide our clients with a broad range of materials to choose from, such as:

• Aluminium
• Beryllium copper
• Brass
• Carbon spring steel
• Copper
• Phosphor bronze
• Stainless steel
• super alloy

We can work these materials into your desired components from our high-quality strip material. This can include flattened wire for manufacturing flat springs and non-metallic materials if our clients prefer it.

Once you’ve worked with our design team to refine the idea, our engineers are able to decide the most effective method of creating your components in mass quantities using our fully equipped equipment room. They can create the perfect tool suitable for either manual semi or fully automatic production of your pieces.

Our facility has 24 progression power and multi-slide presses, with also nearly 40 single-stroke presses. This impressive collection of equipment allows us to create pressings efficiently, whether it’s a single prototype or full production.

You can learn more about our acclaimed pressings and stamping process online, including how we can help you with your next application. We are not just limited to our high-quality pressings; we also diversify into manufacturing springs and wireforms, all of which are made by our expert engineers and available for order online.

The drive toward increased sustainability in manufacturing has never been higher as more companies within the industry join this commitment to creating an ecologically improved and profitable industry.

This shift to a more eco-friendly approach may seem like something that has only just begun, but it has been an evolving part of the manufacturing industry in Ireland for years, with many steps being taken toward this goal.

Sustainability Goals in Manufacturing

There have been substantial announcements recently to make manufacturing far more eco-friendly. Phrases such as NetZero 2050 and the green industrial revolution are becoming commonplace as these environmentally friendly initiatives affect more of the industry.

As spring suppliers, we took a great interest in the COP26 event, which was a significant moment for sustainability in manufacturing. The COP26 event was a global United Nations summit addressing climate change and how countries plan to combat it.

COP26 was held in November 2021 in the UK after a significant delay from the previous year due to the pandemic. This is the 26^th event for the Conference of the Parties (or COP), which consists of all the United Nations countries that signed the UNFCC in 1994 (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change). The importance of COP is the opportunities it provides for a more effective, unified approach to combating climate change across the world and at every level of the industry. For example, at COP26, the UK launched an energy transition council. This council unites 20 governments and over 15 international institutions to support transitions and technical assistance to clean power.

How does COP26 affect the manufacturing sector? First, it has increased the already present demand for companies to embrace sustainability through decarbonisation. The new carbon NetZero targets set during the COP26 focus more on the electricity and gas parts of manufacturing’s high energy usage. This will affect manufacturing significantly within the UK as half its energy is imported.

Positive Growth

One successful way of supporting these green movements is the manufacturing industries’ attempts to create a circular economy. This is the concept of creating products more sustainably with lean manufacturing. By manufacturing from recycled materials, companies save significant energy losses compared to making every product from new, raw resources.

As all manufacturers work toward these positive goals, the real question becomes, how can it be achieved whilst still being competitive within the market? Every business needs to adapt to thrive, and discovering new ways of remaining compliant and competitive is no different. Technology seems to be the key to balancing both of these.

Technology has helped improve manufacturing in many different ways; whether it’s the development of CNC machines or assistive software, it is vital for the future of manufacturing, more so now than ever before.

Technology and manufacturing have developed a close partnership in many ways. These digital solutions have helped support the already successful lean manufacturing processes, improving their waste reduction and efficiency. Beyond the methods themselves, these technological improvements have given the industry increased visibility of its broader operations and workflows, thereby helping identify the wasteful areas and reduce emissions.

 

Building Profitable Relationships

As experienced gas spring manufacturers, we know that manufacturing has gained significantly from its relationship with technology. So there are potentially infinite benefits ahead through continuing this partnership, including supporting sustainability. But it’s essential that when choosing your partner, you make sure they have similar environmental goals. Exploring the environmental attitudes of your potential partners helps build a sustainable, greener workflow from start to finish.

Since COP26, technology providers have recognised the need for urgency to support sustainability within manufacturing.

When there is a unity of manufacturers, technology providers and customers that all share a vision of increased sustainability, the benefits to the environment are remarkable.

What Does the Future Hold?

Sustainability isn’t simply a single problem that can be finished. Combating climate change will require a persistent shift in operational processes and attitudes to maintain a meaningful impact. This will lead to commitments to lean manufacturing and embrace the waste hierarchy and many other ideas that support manufacturing whilst having a minimal environmental impact.

While the world’s governments are putting measures to increase sustainability, the industry must realise that it doesn’t need to wait for permission to improve its ecological status. The relationships developed between manufacturing and technology have proven to be an immensely effective tool for improvement. By exploring new opportunities, this partnership will achieve staggering results for both sides.

 

Professional Bespoke Springs, Wireforms and Pressings

At European Springs Ireland, we believe that transparent, continuous engagement and discussions between our technology partners will be essential for developing these relationships and discovering new innovative ways to improve sustainability and efficiency.

Additionally, our expert team of engineers is committed to maintaining effective communication with our client base. Working together, we have had many years of success with manufacturing clock springs and many other bespoke spring designs, pressings and wireforms.

You can read more about our manufacturing processes here, and if you have a product that requires high-quality springs or pressings, please don’t hesitate to contact us today, and one of our team will answer any questions.

Metal is one of the most versatile materials used for manufacturing components. The ability to shape and process this durable material into an infinite variety of forms makes it ideal to suit any application.  

With technologies and machinery becoming more technical and complex every year, the demand for durable pressings with exact specifications has also grown. But this increased complexity means that finding off the shelf ready components for your application is almost impossible.  

Furthermore, solutions that are off the shelf will always demand that you consider their specifications when implementing them. More often than not, your vision will have to change to suit these pre-made components; that is why we offer the superior option of supplying bespoke pressings. 

What Are Bespoke Pressings? 

A bespoke pressing is a brand new part made uniquely for your purposes. These are designed and manufactured from scratch in-house so that you can be sure it’s the most economical and fit for function.  

Metal pressings, in general, are a cost-effective choice for creating a high volume of parts. Pressing or stamping is the process of moulding metal pieces into new shapes. A flat sheet, coil or blank form is placed in a stamping press, and the installed tools will form the metal into the desired shape. 

The machines we use at European Springs IE have tools unique for each product, and the overall machines are some of the most technologically advanced pressing equipment in the world. We use multi-slide and coiling machines, laser cutting, welding, tapping and grinding, and many more devices and processes to create the final product  

After the pressings have been made, they can undergo additional treatments, including the most common process, the punching. Punching is when the new metal form is punched away from the excess material, leaving only your newly created pressing behind.  

Bespoke pressings go through the same processes but give you the added advantage of customising your pressings to suit your application instead of the other way round.  

Why Choose Pressings Over Fabrication? 

There are some significant differences that separate pressings and fabrication. Pressings use the previously mentioned pressing and punching processes to form your component into what you want. Metal fabrication focuses on cutting, drilling and welding with various tools to reach the same end.  

So why are bespoke pressings the superior choice? Our metal pressings create exact shapes that get the most out of the raw materials placed in the machine. As a result, you can significantly limit the costly material wastage and save on costs by choosing pressings.  

Metal fabrication has the considerable disadvantage of being more labour intensive than computer-controlled pressings. This can also increase your costs per piece, especially when ordering a bespoke piece that may demand the use of a pressings machine, after all.  

Sectors That Use High-Quality Custom Pressings  

The development of new medical machines demanded engineering companies with machining capabilities for many years, but this has now been replaced with metal pressing and stamping. With medical innovations utilising these machines, we now have far more complex machinery saving lives worldwide.  

The automated fashion of pressings makes it excellent at maintaining exact specifications with absolute accuracy, essential for medical equipment requirements. In addition, cutting-edge microstamping has further broadened its usefulness, allowing them to be used in jaw housings for laparoscopic surgeries. 

Airbags are essential for car safety. A small but not insignificant part of a vehicle’s airbag is called the grommet. Whilst these can be made of various materials, metal is the most secure. These grommets are designed to prevent critical tearing and wire protection and assist in fitting and protecting the exceptional air pressure in the airbag. These items are an example of a bespoke metal pressing as each needs to be customised to suit the car design.  

Scuba diver suppliers will require bespoke pressing for the D-rings. With the growing variety of harnesses, suits and air tank rigs available for people of all sizes, there isn’t a single D-ring that can suit everyone.  

How European Springs IE Pressings Design Support Can Help 

At European Springs we have spent the last 65 years growing into a leading UK company for metal pressings.  We have a lot of experience manufacturing pressings to suit the particular specifications our clients require in small or large batches. The bespoke element is a part of our pressings process we’re very proud of.  

With European Springs IE, we have a premium design team that will outline your stampings before the ideas are developed. Similar to our other work as gas spring manufacturers providing high-quality gas springs to many businesses globally, we understand that spring suppliers should always communicate with the clients they’re supplying; the same is true for our bespoke pressings services.  

Our team of engineers are committed to maintaining efficient communication with our clients. Working together to make decisions on design, material and surface treatment, we will ensure that you achieve the right product at an economical price.  

You can read more about our bespoke pressings service here. If you have an application that requires high-quality bespoke pressings or stampings or our design process, please don’t hesitate to fill in our enquiry form, and one of our expert engineers will answer all your questions.