Strippit vs Amada
Advice, Facts, History, Gossip, Rants & Raves,
and CNC Punch Machine Brand Comparisons.
As an Aside, I have been hearing more & more Complaints about Machines built with Hydraulic Rams
from All Manufactures. All Manufactures have been going to Hydraulic Rams, and Phasing-Out making the Mechanical (Clutch / Brake / Crankshaft) Type. The reasons are Manufactures Think its Easier & Cheaper to Build them (I Don't Think it's Really True), and Marketing & Sales can use all the Theoretical Great New Features to Sell New Machines (The "Sizzle", The Real Reason). Features like Controlling the Ram-Stroke Position for Die Penetration, Louver Adjustments, Marking & Stamping, Shear & Rib Tools, Low Tool Hover-Height for even Faster Punching, Etc. It Does Sound Great!
The Problem is, there are Questions about it Working Correctly & As Advertised, and much Worse, it may Not Even Be Technically Possible to Work Correctly at All! Hydraulics work just fine in Press Brakes at only 10 Strokes a Minute or so. But CNC Punch Press Manufactures Proudly Advertise 400 to 600 Hits per Minute and Even Faster! At Full Speed, it seems they Can Not Accurately Control the Hydraulic-Ram Position, which Negates just about All its Advantages over a Mechanical Ram.
Do the Math. Some Manufactures are Advertising 500 Hit Per Minute and More. So they are making a X & Y Axis Move AND a Full Power Punch Down-Stroke AND a Up-Stroke in 120 Milliseconds!
Finn-Power Says some of their Machines Nibble at 1100 Hits a Minute, that's Only 54 Milliseconds for the Short-Nibble X & Y Axis Move AND the Down Punch Stroke AND the Up Nibble Punch Stroke!
So, How much Time is Actually Spent in the Punch Stroke? Do You Think it's "Under Control" ?
In My (and Other's) Opinion, it's Laughable to Think you can Really Read Position-Data off the Ram Encoder, Send & Process that Data in Your CNC Control, Have the CNC Adjust your Electro-Mechanical Hydraulic Valves, and Maintain Position-Control on that Fast-Moving Punch-Ram (Some Pesky Little Laws of Physics are Involved) to a Accuracy of a Thousands of a Inch, Over & Over Again,
All in Real Time While it's Actually Moving Up & Down and Punching Metal at that Hi-Speed.
The Result is the Ram, and therefore Your Punch Tool, Is Not Where it "Should Be" & Where the CNC Control "Thinks" It Is. Sometimes, these Position Errors seem to Accumulate until something Bad Happens. The result is --- Poor Hole Position Accuracy, Poor Hole Quality, Broken Punch & Die Tools,
Ripped & Crumpled Sheet Metal Parts, Machine Breakage, Lots of Machine "Down Time", Etc.
The Manufacture's Popular Scapegoats are to Blame it on the Customer's "Bad Tooling" (Very Popular), Poor Tool Maintenance (Also Very Popular), Poor Machine Maintenance, Poor Operators,
Poor Programming Practices, Etc., --- Anything but Their Machine.
These Types of Rams also seem to Wear-Out Quickly, Blow-Out Seals, and Leak Hydraulic Oil all the time. They are also Usually Quite Difficult and Very Expensive to Repair.
Manufactures "Get Away" with this because:
--- Most Shops don't use the Special Features & Special Tools that were used to Sell the Machine.
--- Most Shops don't even Recognize where the Problems are Really Coming from.
--- Most Shops think these are just Standard Problems & Just Tolerate it as "Normal".
--- Manufactures "Help-Out" by Advising their Customer's to "Slow Down The Ram Speed", and
Various Programming Tricks like Dwelling at Top or Bottom of Punch Stroke, Dwelling Before &
After the Punch Stroke, Slowing Down the X & Y Axis Move Speed, and even Doing a Full-Upstroke
(from the Low Hover-Height) every Few Hits "Just To Re-Calibrate the Ram".
Why the Hell do you have to "Recalibrate" if the CNC Control "Knows" Where the Punch-Ram is?
There is at least 1 Law Suit Pending over these Problems & the Losses they May have Caused.
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Early 2007, Update on the Law Suit.
I've followed this Suit for Several Years, Here's the Story as I know it. You can Believe What You Wish.
Customer Said there was Machine Defect & Sued Strippit. Strippit Said there was No Machine Defect.
The Suit Centered on Whether or Not the Strippit Machines in Question, the Late 1990's Vintage Hydraulic Ram Machines with P.C. Computer Controls, could in Fact Control their Punch-Ram, and there for,
it's Punching Tools. It was Alleged that Machine & Control Could Not Control the Ram Position.
This Caused Both Long Punch-Strokes and Short Punch-Strokes with No Consistency at all.
Those of you who Know Anything about Punching, can Imagine the Many Problems this would Cause.
Long-Strokes could "Blow-Up" Punch Tool as it Bottoms-Out, and of course would Jam & Ruin Piece-Part Sheet, and maybe Damage Sensors & Workclamps. Imagine what it would do to a $3000 Louver Tool, Wilson-Wheel Tools, Stamp-Tools, or other Special-Tooling where Depth Must Be Controlled.
Short-Strokes would leave the Punch Slug Half in the Die, and Half in the Partially Punched Hole.
X & Y & T Axis would then make the Next Move, Ripping & Jamming & Ruining Piece-Part Sheet,
Breaking Various Sensors and Workclamps, depending on the Direction of the next Axis Move.
Story Continues as Strippit Drags-Out the Suit for Years, Hoping that their Customer would Go Bankrupt or Give-Up Suit from the Huge Legal Fees Incurred. This Didn't Happen. Eventually, Before the Trial, Strippit Employees were Deposed, and Admitted that there was Indeed a Problem with Ram-Control on these Machines. At this Point, The Game is Over for Strippit. Strippit Settled with the Customer. In This Settlement, In Our Unique American "Justice" System, Nobody Admits any Guilt or Fault or Fraud or Problems, Money Changed Hands, Secrecy & Non-Disclosure Agreements were Signed, All Suit Documents were Shredded, Now Nobody "Knows Nothing", and The Suit "Never Existed".
My Opinion is there were some Problems with Hydraulic Rams of That Era (1996-2001) that May or May-Not have been as Bad as Alleged. Strippit has Changed Venders and Improved Hydraulics & Rams & Controls since then. I also think that Strippit was Certainly Not the only Manufacture with Hydraulic Ram Problems.
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Some Manufactures, Like Trumpf, have Always-Used Hydraulic Press Drives, and Theirs seem to Work Well. Others Like Strippit, Have been on a Learning-Curve the Last 15 Years, and have Gone-Through about 3 Generations of Hydraulics Figuring it all out. Strippit's Latest Machines (about 2002 & Up) seem to Work Well, but there were Reports of Ram-Problems on their Earlier (Pre-2002) Hydraulic Machines.
I Obviously Prefer Mechanical Press Drives, but You Need to Investigate & Form Your Own Opinion!
Another Dirty Secret that All Manufactures Forget to Tell You About, is the Very High Electricity Usage of their Hydraulic Machines. They use about 3 to 5 Times the Electricity of a Mechanical Press Drive, and all that Expensive Wasted Electricity is Spewed-Out of the Heat-Exchanger into your Shop.
Where did you Think The Energy came from, for All that Heat?
A Typical Classic Mechanical Press Drive used a 3 to 8 HP Motor that Turned a Flywheel. Once the Flywheel was up to Proper Speed, the Motor just Coasts-Along, and only draws Minimum Power to keep it that Speed. When you Punch, Stored Energy is used from Flywheel, the Motor Briefly Draws a Burst of Electrical Power to get Flywheel back up to Speed, then it Coasts at Minimum Power again, until you Punch again.
If Machine is On, but Not Punching, it Draws Very Little Power. Very Efficient!
Hydraulic Press Machines Typically have a Huge 25 to 40 HP Power-Pack sitting next to Machine.
These Hydraulic Power-Packs Run Wide-Open All The Time (No Coasting) as they Must have Full Hydraulic Pressure Available All the Time as they wait for a Punch Request from Machine. Even if you are Not Punching, if the Machine is On, the Hydraulic Pack is Running Wide Open, and Drawing Full Electrical Power All The Time. All that Wasted Electricity is Turned to Heat, and if the Manufacture Cut-Corners and put Too-Small of a Radiator on the Power Pack (Very Common), Hydraulics Will eventually Overheat, and Cause Odd Intermittent Punching Problems, or even Shut-Down Machine. Very Very Inefficient!
Recently a couple of Manufacturers (Muratec, Amada, Finn-Power) have come out with a Interesting New Concept. They are taking a Large Servo Drive (Which Can be Very Accurately Controlled) similar to the Large Y-Axis Drive on your CNC Machine, and Coupling it with a Toggle-Linkage or a Crankshaft to the Punch Ram. No Pneumatic or Hydraulic Problems, Saves Lots of Electricity, and lets them Gain Complete Position Control over the Ram's Speed-Profile & Position Accuracy. I have No Experience with this, but it Sounds Good. It will be Interesting to see how it Develops, and if it Solves some of the above mentioned Hydraulic Ram Control Problems. Check Them Out!
Here is a Rare Copy of Strippit's Brochure on their
Bridge-Frame FM48/60 Machine Dated April 3, 1967!
This is 7 years before Amada's Machine, & 4 Years before Amada even Incorporated their U.S. division!
But Strippit Management was Too Short-Sighted to embrace the Bridge-Frame Machine Concept,
"Too Expensive" they said,
and only a couple of these Machines were build.
To their Credit, Amada did Embrace this Superior Frame Concept, and was one of their Advantages for many years. Dandy Don (The Service Manager) & Other-Sources told me that the Strippit Engineer who Designed the Bridge-Frame, went to work for Amada, and took the Concept there when Strippit would not use his Design anymore.
How Ironic that
Strippit Designed Amada's Bridge Frame.
I saw this Machine Still Running in N.Y. City in the early 1980's, in its 3rd Decade! It's a Shame that it took Strippit 30 years to Finally Re-Incorporate the Bridge-Frame Concept (Which They Invented!)
into their Machines in the late 1990's.
Another example is Amada's Claim to be "First" in Sheet Metal Laser Machines. Certainly Not True!
Above is a picture of Strippit's First, and I think the Industry's First, Sheet Metal Laser Cutting Machine.
This Punch & Laser Combination Machine was Shipped to the
Lyons Metal Products, Hamilton, Ontario Canada, way back in 1978, Many Years Before Anyone Else!
Some Faults & Pluses with Strippit;
But Again, Strippit & Houdaille Management Pulled Defeat Out of the Jaws of Victory!
This is Strippit's Chronic Problem, Good Engineering & Manufacturing, Clueless Top Management.
Though Strippit had Many Years Head-Start in the Laser Cutting Business, they Squandered their Huge Industry Lead. In the early 1980's, when the Industry moved toward easy to use Flat-Bed Lasers with more features, Strippit offered the Same Tired Old FC1230/30/1500 Punch Machine, 1st shipped in 1978, with the Punch-Hardware Removed, & a stock purchased Laser-Head just Bolted-On.
They called it the "Laser Center", and Wondered why they only Sold about 6 Machines.
The Reality-Was, The "Managers" of Houdaille Industries / Strippit-Div. / the KKR Buy-Out-Boys /
Idex Inc. / Strippit-Inc. / LVD Corp. / Etc. were all So-Busy Buying & Selling each other Back & Forth, Doing "Stock Buy-Outs", "Going-Private", "Going "Public", Re-Selling the Stock, Buying & Selling & Closing Companies, "Laying-Off" Long-Term Employees, Managing "Cash-Flow", Paying-Off Their
Buy-Out Loans, and Making Each-Other Millionaires, That they had No-Time or Inclination for Properly Investing-In & Running Their Pesky Little Cash-Cow Machine Tool Companies. And, They Certainly Didn't.
One Executive at Strippit Bragged "I have a MBA degree, I Can Run Any Company, I Don't Need to Know Anything about Machine Tools". I Think Car Companies Need to be run by Car Guys, and Machine Tool Companies Need to be run by Machine Tool Guys. Strippit was run by Houdaille & Idex Executives and their Bean-Counters, and when business was bad, they Blamed Japan, the Economy, US Congress, The Reagan Administration, Weather, Etc.. Everything & Everyone But Themselves!
The Results of their "Executive Decisions" are Quite Self-Evident.
Houdaille Industries & Ken Slawson Closed the Burgmaster CNC Machining-Center Plant in
Gardena, CA. where it had been for almost a Half-Century.
The DiAcro Saga. Houdaille Industries Closed the Venerable Di-Acro Facility in Lake City, MN., where it had been a Half-Century. Houdaille Palmed-Off the Di-Acro Lines on to Strippit where it was Quite Unwelcome.
Strippit was Forced to make the Crappy DiAcro CAP1000 & CAP1250 Punch Machines, and sell them as "Entry Level" Strippits. CAP Machines were Obsolete (based on Old 1970's Di-Acro VT-36 Machines) and were Very Light-Duty (will Break Rams & Bearings & Crankshafts if you Punch Heavy-Material) and were considered "Junk", especially compared to "Real" Strippits. Strippit Stopped making CAP's as soon as they could, and they are now "Orphans", with Little or No Parts & Service Available. Avoid CAP-Machines!
Strippit was also Forced to make the Di-Acro Press Brakes. Now, This could have been a Good Thing, as the Di-Acro Line of Hydra-Mechanical Brakes were Quite Popular and Had a Good Reputation as they were Very Accurate, Reliable, Easy to Use, and Relatively Inexpensive.
But Strippit Management Struck Again! They had the Bright-Idea of having them Made In Taiwan, then they would Just Import & Re-Paint Them, and make Lots of Money! Except, the Quality was So-Bad when they Came-In, Strippit had to Completely Disassemble Each Machine, and Rebuild it from the Ground-Up before they could even Sell Them. So, they Sold-Off the Brake-Line to the Pacific Press Co., where they made them under the "Tri-Acro" Trade Name for a few years, before Pacific finally Killed-Off the
Great Old Di-Acro / Tri-Acro Hydra-Mechanical Brake Line for Good. Another Orphan.
I Keep Getting Calls for People Looking for The Di-Acro Co. There Is No Di-Acro Company! The Real
Di-Acro Factory Was Closed a Quarter Century Ago in 1983! There are No Di-Acro Repair Parts, No Di-Acro Repair Service, No Di-Acro Prints, Manuals, or Information. You Pretty-Much have to Figure Out the Problems Yourself, Make the Repair-Parts, & Fix it Yourself. Or Buy a New Replacement Machine.
The Di-Acro Manual Punch & Bender Lines were Sold-Off to a Small (Garage Shop) Private Company in Ohio,
that had the Rights to the Di-Acro Name. This Company has Now Closed.
Update Summer 2006. A Quarter-Century after Di-Acro was Closed, Things Go Full-Circle. The Company in Ohio had an Auction, and a Group from the Defunct Original Di-Acro Co. bought the Remnants of Di-Acro. They Restarted Some of the Di-Acro Manual (Hand) Machine Lines back in their Original Home in Lake City, MN. So, There have been 5-Di-Acro Companies! The Original in Lake City, Di-Acro at Strippit, Di-Acro (Tri-Acro) at Pacific, Di-Acro in Ohio, and now Di-Acro at Acrotech Co. I Wish them Well & Hope they Expand.
But There is No Parts or Service Support for Old Di-Acro CNC Turret-Punches & Power Press-Brake Lines.
If anyone Knows of Di-Acro CNC Turret & Brake Parts & Service, let me know.
Note, But if You have a Di-Acro CNC Turret or CNC Burgmaster that uses the General Electric Servos,
This page was last updated: April 20, 2008
I, as a Ex-Strippit Service & Tech-Support Escapee, Had a Very Positive Bias towards Strippit,
though I have Lost This Bias from some of Strippit's Attitude & "Staff-Policies".
The Fabrication Industry Is Full Of Ex-Strippit Alumni. The Standing Joke at Machine Tool Shows is
How Strippit Trains Good People for the Rest of the Machine Tool Industry to Hire & Use.
For Your Punching-Pleasure, Here are Some of the Manufactures of CNC Punch Presses.
Note, Some of these Companies No Longer Even Exist!
Amada, Behrens, Boschert, Comeq, Danobat, Di-Acro, Durma, Euromac,
Ermak, Ficep, Finn-Power, Gasparini, Haco, Hindustan Hydraulics, LVD, Muratec,
Nisshinbo, Pierce-All, Pivatic, Pullmax, Raskins, Rainer, Salvagnini, Shape, Strippit, Tailift, Technology Italiana, Trumpf, Wiedemann, Whitney, Yawei.
And, Since you can No Longer Buy "Strippit-Tooling" From Strippit,
Here are the U.S. Sources of "Strippit-Tooling", or as it is Now Becoming Known,
"Thin-Turret" Tooling.
Click-On The 5 Tooling Web-Links Below for More Information;
When Considering a Machine Purchase, Ask about the Service and Tech-Support that the Sellers & Manufactures provide. How Big is the Service Dept.? How many Machines and Territory do they have to Cover? What is their Response Time? Do they have a Factory-Trained Serviceman Local, or do You have to Pay to Fly-In a Guy Every Time you need Service? Do they have any Phone Support? What are their Hours? Do they Charge Extra for it? Is it Any Good? Even if its Free, if its not any Good, its Worthless! Do they Stock both Mechanical and Electronic Parts? Where? Do they Provide Complete Service, or does Another Party provide the CNC Control Service, which can lead to Finger-Pointing between the Machine Manufacturer and CNC Control Manufacturer. Ask for a Customer List you can Call to see how they like their New Machine Purchase, and the Service & Support Provided.
You are the One Writing the Big Check! Ask the Tough Questions Before You Buy, Not After!!!
And Move-On to Another Machine Brand if you Don't like the Answers you get!!!
Management Hates to spend Money on providing Really Good Service, and it's the First thing they Cut when times get bad. The Saying goes the "Sales Dept. Provides the 1st. Machine Sale at a Customer, but Service Sells the 2nd and 3rd", which is Actually Quite True! But Management Never puts their Money where there Mouth is, and Considers Service a "Cost", not a "Profit" Center at their Companies, and will cut it every change they get. This Very Directly Affects You & Your Business!
How Selling Field Service to Your Customer's at 2 to 3 Dollars A Minute can be a "Cost" is Beyond Me!!!
I would Expand Field Service & Provide Good Customer Tech-Support (Now, There's a Novelty), Which would also Help Boost Machine Sales, and Try Not to Laugh on the Way to the Bank. I Charge Much Less than the Manufactures (Yes, My Overhead is Lower Too), and Can Happily Embellish on This
"Service & Support Subject" At Length, at my Beach House on TopSail Island. You Bring The Margaritas!
And So, The Strippit & Houdaille & Idex MBA Rocket-Scientists In Management
Gave Up All Of Strippit's Market Leadership Positions In
CNC Punch-Machines
& S.A.F. Punch Machines
& F.M.S. Systems
& Laser-Machines
& "Strippit"-Tooling
& Unitized-Tooling
& CNC-Controls
& Press-Brakes
What The Hell Were They Thinking?
More Importantly, What Are They Thinking & And Where Are They Going Now?
Make No Mistake, Strippit STILL Makes Excellent Turret Punch Machines , which are Very Fast & Accurate (20 Year Old Strippit's are Still Faster than New Amada's).
But Strippit is Just Not the Dominant Industry Force that they Once Were,
and Still Could Be Today.
Any Corrections on Facts, History, and Opinions are Invited!
And I will Update this Page from Time to Time, as It's Really a Lot of Fun!
Machine Technologies Specialty Is The HECC80 CNC Control
Strippit Turret Machines Built in the 1975 to 1988 Era.
Much Has Been Said About
"Which Is Better, Strippit or Amada Punch Machines?"
The Fact-Is, Electronic & Mechanical Technologies have Advanced So-Much, that CNC Punch Machines are a Relatively Stable & Mature Technology, and All Manufactures make a Good Product.
What is Most Important, Is the Level of Factory Technical Support, Field Repair Service Availability &
Expertise Level, and Repair Parts Availability! Now, and a Year, 5 Years, and 10 Years After the Sale!
I have also seen Many Imports (And U.S.-Made Machines Too!) become "Orphans" after a Few Short Years with No Support at All! You Will have to Live with Your Decision for Many Years!
All Machines And Controls Break! If You Can Not Get It Fixed, It Is Not Worth Anything!
In this regard, it would seem that the Larger Players, such as Strippit, Amada, or Trumpf would be the way to go over some of the smaller players, that do not have a large enough customer base to maintain a proper Service & Parts Organization. This, of course, Varies Greatly by Country and Region.
You Need to find out what Parts & Service Support is Available where You Are, Before you Buy, Not After!
In my 30 Plus Years in the CNC Punch Industry, I have heard stories from Customer's on every Brand of Machine Tool. Every Manufacturer has Customer's that Love them, and Customer's that Hate them. And Problems are Not-Always caused by Manufactures. Many Shops are their Own Worse Enemy because They Don't Follow Manufacturers Recommended Practices & Procedures. Talk to as many people as you can, and beware of Salesmen's claims, if not Lying, they too often Stretch the Truth. Because to eat, they must Sell what they have, which is not necessarily what you need. One Used-Machinery Salesman told me "The Best Machine for a Customer is Whatever Machine I have in my Warehouse!". I Certainly Do Not Agree!
You Need To Do Your Own Homework!
Talk to as Many People as you can. Machine Operators, Shop Owners, Tool Salesmen, Machine Servicemen, Sales People, Visit Machine & Trade Shows, Visit other Shops, Read "The Fabricator", "MetalForming", and Other Trade Magazines, Then Form Your Own Opinion on Your Own Specific Needs. Click-On Web-Links Below, They are a Great Free Resource!
Hydraulic vs Mechanical Rams
Summation
As this Web-Page Rambles-On Way More than was Originally Intended,
Let me Try to Sum-Up the "What Machine To Buy" Question.
These are My (and Much Input from Fellow Servicemen & Salesmen & End-Users) Opinions Only,
But are Based on Over 3-Decades of Wide-Experience in the CNC Punch Business.
You Decide if I know what I am Talking About. Some of My Experience Credentials Are;
1 --- Strippit Factory Senior Serviceman
2 --- Started Strippit "Tech Support" Interfacing with Service & Engineering on Difficult Problems.
3 --- Wrote In-House Service-Newsletters, Servo-Manuals, and Taught a Servo-Drive School at Strippit.
4 --- Independent Electronic & Mechanical Service Provider as Machine Technologies Co.
5 --- Independent Buyer & Seller of Used Strippit Machines at Machine Technologies Co.
6 --- Spent a week at LVD Factory in Belgium, a week with Trump Factories in Germany & Switzerland,
and Toured European Job-Shops to Gain some New Perspectives on Manufacturing.
7 --- Buyer & User of New CNC Punches as Half-Owner of 60-Man 8-Million a Year Sheetmetal Job Shop.
8 --- I Am Not a "Rocket-Scientist" but, Before My Strippit Days, I Did Work at Westinghouse Aerospace
(now Boeing) Troubleshooting E-3 AWACS Electronics Systems. Take a Look at;
For those of You who have Not-Yet had their 2nd Cup of Coffee,
The Subtitles Here Are,
"Yes, There Is Money In Parts & Service"
and Soooooooo.....
"Why Don't Manufactures Embrace It?"
Click-On Above Photo for More TopSail Island Info.
--- Some of my Customer's have Amada's with Fanuc Controls built in the mid-1980's,
and could Not Get Parts to Fix their Controls ( Parts & Service, Remember? ).
Amada Made them get a New Fanuc Control Retrofitted to their Machine at a Cost of over $80,000!
Strippit Service & Parts, while Certainly Not The Best on Older Machines, is still Sort-Of Available on Machines built in the 1980's & late 1970's. But, Their Knowledge on HECC80's is Fading Fast though.
--- Amada Top Turret Tool-Stations
Are Just Bored, Not Bushed.
When (Not If!) these Stations become Worn and Scarred,
That Tool Station Becomes Worthless.
There are some Service Companies that have offered Mickey-Mouse Repairs
(Plastic-Strip Liners, etc.), But,
Stations Can Not Really Be Fixed!
Up-Date; The API Co. now has a Good Steel Bushing Fix, using a 3rd Party
Sub-Contractor, but it is Expensive.
All Strippit Turrets have
Hardened-Bushings which can be
Easily Replaced to make that
Turret-Station like New again.
Some Faults & Pluses with Amada;
Amada has much to Admire. They make good solid & reliable Machines. They Used to have a large Service Organization, though it seems to have Shrunk Greatly from Many Service Lay-Offs, as Amada seems to have Also Fallen on Hard Financial Times and has Cut Back on their Service & Support Personal.
In their Heyday, Strippit had 450 Union Machine & Tool Workers. It has Since Dropped to as Low as 38!!!
A Fascinating Read on the Fall of Burgmaster, Strippit, Di-Acro and the other Houdaille
(Pronounced 'Who-Dye' ) Companies (And the Problems with the American Machine Tool Industry) is Featured in the Harvard Business School Press's Book "When the Machine Stopped" by Max Holland.
It's a Case-Study on How Not-To Run a Company. It Is Well Worth Reading !!!
Max Should Do A Up-Dated Edition! You Can See Strippit (And the Rest of The Machine Tool Industry) Repeating The Same Old Mistakes Again! (Just Substitute China for Japan in The Book)
It's That Old "Those Who Cannot Learn From History Are Doomed To Repeat It" Thing!
Maybe They Should Read The Book!
"Not Only the Wealth,
But the Independence
And
Security of a Country
Appear to be Materially Connected
With The
Prosperity of Manufactures"
Alexander Hamilton,
1791, The First U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Mr. Hamilton Understood, but Someone
Please Read It Slowly To Bush As
Mr. Education Brags "I Don't Read Books!"
Strippit Management Did However, Waste 2 Years of their Best Mechanical & Electronic Engineers Time (and about 2 Million Dollars) Developing in Secret the "Robot" back in the 1982 to 1984 era. The Industry Pundits of that time thought that "Robots" would be the Next "Big Thing". Pundits Are Always Wrong!
I Saw the Robot Run. It was Bigger, Faster, and Lifted More than Anything on the Market at that time.
Very Cool Toy. But the Market Never took off for Robots. The new Houdaille Division that would have been created, never happened. Strippit / Houdaille tried to sell the technology, but no takers. I believe it was eventually sold for a Dollar, so the Bean-Counters could make money on it as a tax deduction.
Few now Know it Ever Existed.
Next, Strippit Wasted More Millions of Dollars & Years Trying to Develop "FMS Systems" (Flexible Manufacturing Systems -- Load / Punch / Shear / Stacking Cells), which Also Never Took Off. Strippit was an Early Leader in FMS, but Shortsighted Management lost Interest, and let Others take the Lead on FMS's.
These Engineering & Money Drains Greatly Slowed Development on all the Main Products of Strippit.
If only Management had let Carbone, Stein, Marzullo, the "Shark", and the other Bright Engineering Boys & Girls, Design New & Innovative Stand-Alone Punch Machines, Laser Machines, and Tooling,
Which Is What Built The Strippit Co. In The First Place!
Amada Leapfrogged Strippit with the "Bridge-Frame", "Auto-Index" Tool Stations, and "Long Tooling".
The Door was Left-Open for Mazak & Cincinnati to take the Burgeoning Laser Market.
It's hard to believe (But it is True) that Strippit Shipped It's First Laser 7 Years Before Cincinnati!
Kenny Slawson (the CEO Du Jour) Always Wanted Strippit to be a "HI-Tech" Co., and Didn't Like
"Low-Tech" Tooling. This Allowed Wilson Tool to make Huge Inroads in to The Lucrative Tooling Market,
and Wilson eventually Bought All of Strippit's Tooling Division.
Strippit Doesn't Even Make "Strippit Tooling" Anymore! How Pathetic!
Wilson Tool is Now a Far Larger Company than Strippit! A Real Smooth Move Kenny.
Strippit also had the Unique Advantage of making their Own CNC Control Tailored just for their Own Machine Tools. This made them Very Easy To Use & Operator Friendly. But they were first shipped way back in 1978 when they were Not yet quite ready (didn't even have Program-Store Memory in a CNC Control, because Engineering was still working on the design), but the Management & Marketing Guys said "Ship Them" anyway. These Early HECC80 Controls had some problems.
Engineering Rapidly Improved these HECC80 Controls until they were Quite Good, but the damage to Strippit's & the HECC80 Control's Reputation had been done. To this day, the HECC80 Control has a Undeserved bad reputation in the industry, even though it is Certainly no worse (and Better than Most)
than anyone else's Control made in that Early Pre-IBM PC Computer Era of the Late 1970's.
And to Strippit's Credit, they Still, Sort Of, Support their old CNC Controls.
Try to get Support from Fanuc or Amada on your Old Fanuc 3000 Control!
See My Web-Page on the Various HECC80 Control Types, Problems, and Fixes, Our Specialty!
Eventually, the Houdaille Electronics Division Closed as Strippit decided to Get Out of the Control business (100% of it's output now went to Strippit, as Houdaille had already Killed-Off the Burgmaster and Di-Acro Companies). Strippit then Dabbled with Apple Mac & DOS & Windows PC Controls for a while, which are now becoming Very Hard to Support Nightmares. I Would Avoid All These PC Controls Machines!
Finally Strippit went with the Fanuc CNC Controls on all Machines.
This is not really a bad thing, as Fanuc makes good reliable Controls, there is World Wide Support, and Fanuc's have Finally become easier to operate & use.
Old Fanuc Controls had a Zillion Buttons, Knobs, Dials, Bells & Whistles, and Looked like Tokyo At Night.
The only Problem is, everyone uses Fanuc's, so your Punch becomes more like everyone else's. You have Lost the Selling-Point of having a Custom Control Crafted just for your Strippit Punch Machine. Also, HECC80 Strippit Controls were Famous for Good Schematics and Troubleshooting Guides, and you could Actually Fix them! Don't think so? Ask-For & Look at Any Other Manufacture's Manuals Before You Buy!!!
Fanuc Believes In Total Secrecy, They Won't Even Let Their Servicemen Have Schematic Drawings!
You Will Never Have Electrical Schematics Drawings For Any Fanuc Machine Controls!
It's said LVD had a Cash Flow Bind after they Bought Strippit. LVD Strippit Sold-Off Their Unitized Tooling
(BN-Units) to the Unipunch Co. For Unitized Tooling & Part Replacement, Click-On These 2 Hot-Links:
And for More on Those Rollicking
Fun-Loving
Company-Killing
Leverage Buy-Out
KKR-Boys,
"Merchants of Debt: KKR and the Mortgaging of American Business" by George Anders.
Another Odd Thing, Is How Manufactures Talk about How "Important Customer Service Is", But they Treat their Service Dept., Tech-Support, and Service Personnel as Bastard Children.
This, Of Course, Tends to Drive-Away your Best Service & Support People, and All the Valuable Experience they have.
And You, The Customer, will Pay for this Turnover Trend with
Incompetent, Slow, and Expensive Service & Tech Support.
Demand Better Service! Your Business Depends on it!
One Thing I Really Don't like about the Amada Company, is that they are Always Claiming & Bragging to be the "Best" and "First" in Everything they make. Common Sense Says this can Not Be True.
An Example is Amada's False Claim to having the
"First Bridge Frame Turret Punch Press in the U.S." in 1974. This is Absolutely Not True!
Notice to All Strippit Alumni;
If You Worked for Strippit or Any of the Other Houdaille Companies in the 1980's,
You May Have a Retirement Annuity Set-Up for You that You May Not Know About!
During Their Buy-Out Shenanigans, By Law, You Became Instantly "Vested" when
"Houdaille" was Magically Transformed into "Idex".
It Does Not Matter if you Later Quit, or if You worked Less than 10 Years with a Houdaille Co.
There also May be More of these "Instant Vesting's", From the Later "Idex" to "LVD" Buyout.
Call Strippit's "Human Resources" Dept. at 800-828-1527 for More Info, It's Your Money!!!
To Satisfy Legal Retirement Vesting,
Strippit / Houdaille / Idex Bought Annuity Contracts with the Travelers Insurance Co.
However, Strippit was Not the only Company in Stupid Buyout Shenanigans.
Citigroup Bought Travelers. Then Citigroup Sold Travelers. Now Metlife Bought Travelers.
So, Check-Out The New-Address at;
"Idex Corporation / Strippit / Di-Acro - Houdaille, Inc. Group Annuity Contract: GR-13111"
Metlife Insurance Company of Connecticut
One City Place
Hartford, Connecticut 06103 - 3415 Phone 800-521-3099
The Old-Address Was ( Travelers Life & Annuity Co.
( P.O. Box 990023
( Hartford, CT 06199-0023 Phone 800-521-3099
I'm Looking Forward to 120 Guaranteed Payments going into TopSail Beach "Extra-Sweet Margarita" Fund!
Note #1, The Thor Tooling Co. has Closed its Business.
Note #2, There Are Other Styles of Punch Tooling besides "Thin-Turret".
The Second-Most Prevalent Tooling-Type is Known by the Following 3 Names;
"Thick-Turret", "Long-Tooling", and "Amada-Tooling".
Other Tooling Types are;
"Salvagnini Type 1, 2, & 3 Tooling", Type 1 for Older, Type 2 & 3 are for Newer Salvagnini
"Trumpf-Tooling", Special Tooling Made for Rotating Punch-Head Trumpf Machines & the Many Imitators.
"28xx-Tooling", Heavy-Duty Tooling used in Old Whitney and Strippit FC1500/45 Machines.
"36TC & 44TC-Tooling", Heavy-Duty Tooling used in Newer Whitney Machines.
"Wiedemann-Tooling", Special Tooling used in Old Wiedemann & some DiAcro Machines.
And of Course, None of these Types of Tooling are Interchangeable!
It's a Short-List of Tooling Manufactures, if there are Others, Please Let Me Know!
It Seems that it would be Better to be in Tooling Sales, than in Machine Sales!
Note #3, People New to The Punching Business, Are Confused by the 4
"Strippit Thin-Turret" Punch Tooling Sizes. A Discussion on these 4 Types and How to Tell Them Apart
is on My "Super 30/30 & Other Strippit Single-Station Machines" Web-Page. Go Read it!
You have to Identify Your Shop's Needs (Not Wants). Identify the Table-Size Required, Tonnage Needed, is Auto-Index Needed & How Many A/I Stations, Flexibility & Features of the Hydraulic-Ram, Or the Proven Repeatability of a Mechanical Press, How many Turret-Stations, Tooling-Type, CNC Control Compatibility & Features, Programming-Code Types & Programming Software,
and The All Important Service & Tech-Support & Parts Availability, and it's Cost, Etc..
Where Most Customers make their Big Mistake, is that they get Hung-Up on a "Cheap-Price" or
The "Deal", and buy a Machine on Price, instead of the Best Machine for their Applications.
I see Shops every week that have 2, 3, or Even 4 Different Brands of Turret Punches Side by Side! I ask them about the 1st. Machine, The Story usually goes like this; "Well, We did Really Well with that First Machine for 10 Years, But Then, The Salesman from the XYZ Co. made us a Good-Deal, So We Thought We'd Try It".
Try It? This is Quite Juvenile & Unprofessional Thinking to be Betting Your Business On!!! Perhaps they saved Some Money on the Initial Purchase, but they Pay for it Every Day After, with the Hidden Costs of Incomparable Software & "Run" Programs, Different Tooling, Control & Machine Operation, Table Sizes, Electronic & Mechanical Spare Parts, Operator Retraining, Etc, Etc, Etc.
Do your Research, Pick a Brand, Stay with them unless they give you Good Cause to Switch!
Sm