Case Study - 11196

 

ASI Provides Short Lead-Time

 "Open" Gear Excellence

Problem: A custom manufacturer of lift systems for the Medical Mobility Market was experiencing major quality and delivery issues affecting their reputation and customer satisfaction level.  Due to the poor quality, delivery and gear design from their current supplier, this manufacturer could not ship product on time or satisfy the performance requirements of their lift mechanism.  Under the terms of a long term contract, they could not shut down manufacturing long enough to qualify or source new gears....or so they thought.  Note: Lead-time for custom gears is usually 12 to 14 weeks depending on availability of blanks, hobs and gear cutting capacity.

Definition: "Open" Gearing - stand alone gears that are provided for an assembly that is completed by the customer and not the gear manufacturer.

Review: ASI met with the customer's quality and production personnel to determine the exact extent of the quality level and gear performance as it related to the assembly.  By determining the exact gear design that was required by this application, ASI was able to provide the customer with the suggested gear design changes that would meet the requirement of this application by utilizing existing gear blanks already in process and available to ASI.

Solution: ASI would secure the gear blanks and route them to our production facility.  There ASI would cut the new gear using the gear blanks provided by the customer, shortening the production cycle and ensuring that the correct gear design would be utilized.  Further, ASI expedited all inspection and cutting tools to ensure on time shipments as promised.

Results: ASI was able to provide on time deliveries of gears that met or exceeded the customer's specifications and production performance.  The lead-time for the first delivery of gears was reduced from 12 weeks to 6 weeks resulting in the continuing of production by the ASI customer and an uninterrupted supply to the Medical Mobility Market.