The “Super Saw”

Last year Granco Clark introduced its Precision Finish Saw to the industry. J.V. Products Co. in Arcanum, Ohio, became the first customer to install the new saw in November of 2001. A supplier to the automotive industry, J.V. Products manufacturers nearly 6 million components a year—almost all of which begin with a saw cut. J. Neiland Pennington of Modern Metals magazine recently visited the company’s plant. Here are a few highlights of what Jerrie Smith, president and chief executive officer of J.V. Products, and Clay Smith, plant manager, told Modern Metals about how the precision finish saw has impacted their operation:

On Speed

Jerrie Smith: “We currently run two shifts and were sawing on both, but we could barely keep up with demand. For one part, an air conditioning manifold, we used three saws and were still hard-pressed.”

Now, he says, “We are cutting two other jobs in addition to the manifold on the new saw, and we need to run it only one shift for all three part numbers.”

On Benefits

Clay Smith: “A big advantage of GC’s precision saw is that it cuts extremely square. A problem we’ve had with our single-cut saws is not getting a perpendicular cut.

“We haven’t eliminated any machining operations, but the saw has reduced the amount of metal we have to remove. We previously cut our parts with some additional length to compensate for parts being out of square. With the Granco Clark saw, we can reduce the machining allowance and cut parts closer to the finished dimension. We’re still machining, but we’re taking off less metal.”

On Training

Clay Smith: “We have three people trained on the saw, and they had absolutely no problem adapting to its operation. They picked up most of the functions in one afternoon.”

The Verdict

Jerrie Smith: “It’s going to save us money; no question about that. It’s going to allow us to transfer people who were running saws to other areas, and it’s going to eliminate a lot of scheduling problems. Granco Clark calls it the precision finish saw, but everyone here calls it the super saw.”

For the complete article, see “Extrusion Fabricator Speeds Finish Sawing” by J. Neiland Pennington, Modern Metals, April 2002, p. 53–57