Toledo Machining Plant

They are making Torque Converters! Chris

OK Troy I'll bite....what are you talking about? If you referring to the lug weld station, that line has been moved. The "Control Plans" as we call them are kept in a document book in or close to the operators work station. BTW we do not have "machinist" at our plant. We have operators, CNC Techs and Team leaders for production. In our machine trades we have Tool & Die Technicians but again no machinist.

As far as QC of his parts he has a spider gage that checks the lug location in relationship to the pilot/hub. The operators chack all four stations at the start of the shift then again every 100 parts. They are also checked randomly by a floor inspector 4 times a shift and every finished skid is checked before it ships out.

Don

I was surprised that the machinist work station was missing his Technical Work Instruction and didn't even QC any of his parts.

At TMP we manufacture torque converters and steering columns. At min 51 in the video you see lugs being welded on the shell, then at 127 you see the Verson press stamping out covers. Note the size and thickness of the blanks we use. The last machine is a CNC grinder we use to grind the hubs for the TC. All but the Verson press are gone now to make way for the 235MM and 242MM converters.

For the most part the plant is kept clean, but there are areas that tend to be dirty. The screw machine dept for one and the press room. Both use a lot of coolant during manufacturing.

Don

Back then the Designers, Machinists, and Tool & Die makers were true craftsmen who knew how to make things using their hands, crude simple machines, using well nurtured brains and skills learned thru apprenticeships creating and working/learning for years with and from the older skilled and accompolished craftsmen and had REAL hands on training by doing.

How do you think the development of automobiles, trains, engines, airplains, mass production, the computer, and even the CNC machining centers of today were designed, prototyped, and first made and then quanity built anyway?

Don't forget the making of the ground weapons, ships, vehicles, aerial fighters, etc that were superior and so important in winning the many wars so you can still live in a free country reading and posting like you do!

CNC machining centers etc of today didn't just magically appear one day, they have a long history of real thinking and a hammer, a chisel, and a block of steel, and many other metals etc.

It all started with the early cave man's need to make their lives better and keep food in their tummy's. What we see today is only the present WOW and just the tip of one of the spokes in the wheel of what's yet to come! Guess who will be a big part of the future going forward also?

Edited to fix a couple typos.

ken56 wrote:
If any of you are in the Dearborn Detroit area go take a tour of Fords plant there. It is facinating to see the whole manufacturing process. The new CNC mills are pretty cool but when you think of what grandad did with the old fashioned ones, now those guys were good.

For sure. Back then their "CNC" consisting of a hammer, a chisel and block of steel.

If any of you are in the Dearborn Detroit area go take a tour of Fords plant there. It is facinating to see the whole manufacturing process. The new CNC mills are pretty cool but when you think of what grandad did with the old fashioned ones, now those guys were good.

T-10 Parabolic wrote:

Dog Folks wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Cool. It's a bit difficult to see exactly what's being made..

I've often thought about all those tools and machines used to make parts. Where do they come from? Some other factory with tools and machines to make them. Where to they come from..? and so on...

They are made a by specially trained person, usually called a tool and die maker at a separate factory.

It takes more than a tool&die maker,,it also takes an electrician, machine repair,millwright & pipefitter. All are needed to produce the necessary parts for the automobile industry.... T-10

Absolutely agree. But the tool and die man makes the parts of the machine in the first place, to start the process.

I am prejudiced because my granddad was one.

Cool video...is the plant always that clean or was it cleaned for the video? We have a problem keeping aisles painted and I see those were nice and neat.

I see the video was uploaded almost three years ago...just wondered what the condition is today. I always enjoy seeing different OEM and supplier plants to see how well they support 5S.

Looks like torque converters. Very interesting look inside. Thanks for posting!