ABSTRACT
Producing small and medium-size, close-tolerance blanks in large quantities is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. Frequently, these blanks are produced manually by hand shearing larger precut master sheets into smaller sizes (Fig. 1 ). Although hand shearing is still one of the most cost-effective means to produce blanks in low volumes, as volumes increase, the process becomes cost-prohibitive. In another approach, a full-width coil is processed on a coil-to-coil slitting line. The slitter breaks the coil into multiple narrow coils (Fig. 2). After being slit, each individual coil is then processed one at a time on a cut-to-length line, where it is cut to a finished blank size. Although this method eliminates manual hand shearing, it too can be cost-prohibitive. Because each coil must be run individually, the cut-to-length line is tied up processing narrow coils. Consequently, poor equipment utilization results.
