LMT Tool Management: 100% teamwork for success
A great deal depends on effective tool management. It can increase the overall performance of the production process while also significantly reducing tool costs. However, improving or developing a brand new tool logistics system is a complex matter. That is why, if desired, LMT tool managers will accompany this process through a number of different phases and levels. The foundation and decisive prerequisite for the success of this work is a 100% partnership with the customer.
LMT tool experts organize and control the supply of tools in entirely different companies and industries. They include not only large car-making plants but also small and medium-sized firms where, for example, a kanban system can be deployed. Nevertheless, one thing all these businesses share is the fact that they profit in the end – for example, because all tools always remain available at the lowest possible cost and tool procurement is centralized. Larger purchasing volumes in turn make for better procurement terms.
It goes without saying that the different needs of different companies make very different demands. That is why we have organized the broad range of services that LMT tool management offers in five different levels. They all build on one another and can be adjusted depending on the situation or the customer’s wishes – from simply tool procurement to full service package:
• Level 1: Only tool procurement is provided.
• Level 2: Additionally, a tool manager provides guidance on tool logistics and use.
• Level 3: Tools are procured, supplied directly to the manufacturing location and administered by tool managers. They produce technical analyses and optimize the process.
• Level 4: Pre-assembled and pre-set tools are delivered directly to the machine. The tool management team assumes the tasks of tool administration and tool logistics including tool reconditioning and coating.
• Level 5 – Complete Care: A separate team of LMT tool managers remains on site and permanently takes care of process optimization, production processes, tool setup, tool maintenance and storage. This enables the team to improve process reliability. Payment is calculated on the basis of the number of workpieces produced (CPU).
Building the best solution together
LMT considers a 100% partnership with the customer the basic prerequisite for success. This service is characterized by openness, transparency and teamwork. Only by working together with users and production planners is it possible to optimize highly complex production systems and interdependent machining centres in which several hundred different tools are used. Achieving the best results means putting everything under scrutiny – from tool logistics to engineering and the optimization of tool deployment to the reconditioning of used tools.
LMT multiple specialists contribute their know-how
In addition to this team-based philosophy, customers also benefit from a second significant strength of the LMT Group: LMT’s various companies and alliance partners are all specialists who focus their efforts on research, development and production in the respective applications and machining processes in which they are technology leaders. The company is a multiple specialist. This enormous breadth of knowledge naturally also benefits the tool managers. When necessary, they can call upon the specialists within the company for guidance on practically all important tool applications – from tool clamping and gear-cutting to milling, threading, turning and drilling to the machining of composites or heavy-duty cutting.