Fehrman Tool & Die
case study
Fehrman Delivers on Toughest Tooling Jobs
When the going gets tough, it's Fehrman Tool & Die that
customers turn to. "We have a reputation for excelling at jobs
URL:
www.ftdinc.com
Location:
Byesville, Ohio, USA
Industry:
Established in 1977, Fehrman Tool & Die designs
and manufactures plastic injection molds, die
cast dies, stamping dies, and custom parts and
fixtures. The company handles every aspect of
a job from the initial design and concept,
through all facets of manufacturing, down to
final fit and finish.
that are difficult to design and build," says Eric Fehrman, vicepresident of the Byesville, Ohio company.
Fehrman specializes in high quality production injection molds
for customers in such industries as automotive (Cadillac,
Honda), home appliances (Hoover), and the medical. "Some
of the medical products we work on require extremely high
precision," says Fehrman, "such as tiny parts that go into an
IV device."
Challenges
Fehrman, known for high precision work, must maintain
the toughest standards for quality while shortening
delivery times.
Maintaining Both Quality and Delivery Speed
Quality and customer service are top priority at Fehrman.
"Our customers know that if they need an extra set of drawings,
or to make product changes, we're here to help them out,”
Solutions
Fehrman uses Cimatron throughout all design and
production facets, to help automate repetitive tasks and
ease complicated ones, including core and cavity splitting,
electrode design, design change analysis/comparison,
and draft analysis.
says Fehrman. “Occasionally, customers are tempted to look
for a lower cost provider, but they come back to us for the
quality of our work."
However, there is no denying the pressure to get things done
faster. For Fehrman, quality and speed do not necessarily
contradict. "We make a better product when we can do things
Results
faster and have time to tr y out a number of different
With Cimatron, Fehrman has significantly reduced mold
design time and gained better control over job execution
on the shop floor.
approaches".
Innovative Solutions for Manufacturing
Fehrman Tool & Die
case study
CimatronE, Faster and Better
"One thing that clearly helps us do things faster and better
and on to the shop floor. "The users just love it," exclaims
is the Cimatron software," adds Fehrman. "I'm not new to
Fehrman, "the guy on the shop floor is not a CAD person but
the CAD/CAM software world. We have used other systems,
is really excited about using Cimatron because it gives him
but the most frustrating thing in mold design is to know what
more control over the process, things such as feed in and feed
you want, or have an idea, and not be able to do it because
out moves, where a surface starts, where it plunges, and how
your software doesn't have the ability or because it makes
it is cut."
you follow some arbitrary set of rules."
CimatronE – Geared for Tooling
Cimatron “Flat Out Works”
"I think the reason it works so well for us is that Cimatron is
"Prior to using Cimatron we had cases where we fell behind
really geared towards tooling, tool shops, and manufacturing,"
on delivery times. It was impossible to get the simplest mold
explains Fehrman. "Cimatron is not just a generic modeler. It
design done in less than two weeks. Now we can get a pretty
actually provides specific tools that help automate repetitive
good sketch in two days," says Fehrman. "We had a case
tasks specific to the tooling industry, such as core and cavity
when we needed some 15-20 electrodes done. In the past,
splitting, electrode design, design change analysis/comparison,
we might have outsourced the work to get it done faster, but
draft analysis, mold catalogs, etc."
it would still take 3 days to get done. Now we do it in 3-4
hours."
Fehrman summarizes: "In a nutshell, it flat out works. All
software looks cool in the demo, Cimatron works in REAL life,
Fehrman users take advantage of every module of the Cimatron
with REAL life problems and obstacles… Where the rubber
software, from reading in the data for quotes and initial
meets the road it always works and it helps me get a job done
sketches, to cleaning up the data, through all phases of design
quickly."
including split and parting line generation, toolpath creation,
"Cimatron actually provides specific tools that help automate repetitive
tasks specific to the tooling industry. Where the rubber meets the road,
Cimatron always helps me get a job done quickly."
“Why do we use Cimatron? Because it works! That’s it in a nutshell, it flat
out works. All software looks cool in the demo, but Cimatron works in
REAL life, with REAL problems and obstacles.”
Eric Fehrman, Fehrman Tool & Die
For more information, please visit our web site at:
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w w w . c i m a t r o n . c o m
Innovative Solutions for Manufacturing
This document is for informational purposes only and is subject to change. © Copyrights 2005 Cimatron Ltd. All rights reserved. Cimatron, Cimatron E and the C logo design are trademarks of Cimatron Ltd. and are registered
in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective holders. Cimatron Ltd. is not necessarily associated with any other products or vendors mentioned herein