Coil End Point

Scrap is a dirty word…

…especially when pennies count. If you have post-cut roll former, and you want to eliminate as much scrap as possible, your line probably requires the operator to manually cut the material before finishing a run in order to facilitate a coil change. The point where that cut needs to be made can be somewhat elusive. It needs to be made before the job is finished, yet not so far back that a lot of material is wasted. Knowing just when that point has been reached can save many feet of scrap at every coil change. On panel lines, where colors are changed often, this can result in significant savings.

The AMS XL200 controller provides a way to notify the operator when a manual cut should be made in order to help reduce scrap. The feature is called Coil End Point. The Coil End Point is defined as “the distance from the back of the shear blade to the point where the material is typically manually cut in order to change coils.” When setup correctly, the controller will halt the line early so the operator can manually cut the material, then finish the run. The coil end point should be long enough to ensure the cut point does not coast into the roll former and become inaccessible. This will prevent the material that is not needed for the current job from entering the roll former or to stop at the appropriate time in order to change tooling. The general formula is:

Coil End Point = Shear to Roll Former Entrance Distance + Machine Coast Distance

When used correctly, the Coil End Point feature can greatly reduce scrap by preventing a machine full of scrap at each coil change as well as providing feedback to the operator regarding an upcoming coil change.