Metal stamping guides and resources for designers, engineers and metal part buyers.  Valuable information for anyone considering metal stampings in their manufacturing process.  Start your metal stamping research here.  Developed by metal stamping experts.

Selecting a Metal Stampings Source

Metal stampings are an increasingly popular and cost effective solution for many design applications.  Since the advent of modern stamping methodologies in the early 1940's the number of companies providing metal stamping services has increased dramatically.  Likewise so too has the technology and capability of various techniques.   This means that selection of a metal stamper will be critical to the success of any item which will contain stampings.

Factors which are particularly critical in the selection process are:

• Years of experience and breadth of capability - You want a stamper who has seen thousands of different parts and who can apply that experience to your parts.  They also need to be able to draw on many different techniques rather than forcing the one or two they know for your part.
   
• In-house tooling and die production - This provides a critical level of control in the design phases allowing economies to be built in from the start.
   
• Ability to make prototypes - With the exception of moving long running parts to a new stamper any project will likely involve the need for low volume "design phase" parts prior to ramping up to full production levels.  The ability to rapidly create prototypes by blanking with Turret Presses or Lasers and then form parts with stock tooling and brake presses can drastically reduce developments costs.  This also develops specific knowledge of the part which can be carried to tool making for production stamping.
   
• Large inventory of stock tools - A supply of stock tooling can greatly reduce tool engineering charges in medium run stage tool applications.  Stampers with many years in the business tend to have larger selections.
   
• Secondary process management - Most stampings require some sort of secondary processing such as heat treating, plating or painting.  If a stamper does not have this capability in-house it means managing them as outside processes.  Not only does the stamper need to have access to these processes locally but they must also have strong strong relationships and vendor management procedures.
   
• Quality Systems - in addition to ISO or other certification your metal stamper must have excellent quality assurance systems and personnel in place.   Also necessary are quality tracking systems and measurement tools for assuring process capabilities.
   
• Wide selection of presses and equipment - It's one thing to have a particular capability but quite another to not have that capability be a bottleneck or single point of risk.  Larger stampers will have many alternative presses or equipment for flexible and non-stop production.
   
• ERP and other business systems - Integrated order processing, manufacturing and accounting functions make doing business with a well automated stamper far easier than with smaller stampers with inadequate systems.

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Last modified: June 01, 2006