Smoothing the edges at Moyer Diebel

This photo shows the black infeed conveyor of the Lissmac SBM-L 1500 as it moves parts towards the top side grinding belt for initial burr removal followed by the top two green sanding block belts, which provide secondary burr removal and edge rounding. Everything you see in this photo is mirrored on the bottom of the machine as well. This allows for simultaneous processing of the top and bottom of parts in a single pass.

Industry: Industrial food service equipment

Company: Moyer Diebel Ltd.

Profile: Moyer Diebel is a manufacturer of glass washing and dishwashing machine. It is a subsidiary of Ali Group North America, based in Vernon Hills, Ill., which operates 20 brands in the North American market: Aladdin Temp-Rite, ACP, Belshaw Adamatic, Beverage-Air, Bi-Line, Burlodge, Carpigiani, Champion, CMA, Edlund, Egro, Electro Freeze, Eloma, Ice-O-Matic, Metro, Moffat, Moyer Diebel, Rancilio, Scotsman, and Victory. Its worldwide portfolio includes 76 brands and 58 manufacturing sites in 14 different countries.

Objectives: Replace a legacy automatic deburring machine as part of a shop-wide effort to streamline fabricating and welding processes.

Solution: Introduce a Lissmac SBM-L 1500, capable of grinding, deburring, and edge rounding.

Any shop that is around long enough reaches a point at which it has to renew its fabricating equipment and determine how it wants to thrive in the future. Jordan Station, Ont.-based Moyer Diebel, a builder of glasswashing and dishwashing machines, reached that point about four years ago. With a strong management team in place and a few key customers that were also ready for growth, it was a perfect time for the manufacturer to revisit many of its processes. This led to a complete revamp of its metal forming, finishing, and welding practices.

Moyer Diebel added Manufacturing Engineering Technologist Michael Holderney to the team to assist with the needed changes.

“What I saw here was the opportunity to work on special projects that would lead to further investment and growth,” Holderney said. “The company needed a different perspective on processes, they needed new equipment, they needed automation.”

Deburring is a critical production step for Moyer Diebel.

“With dishwashers, our biggest concern all the time is touch points with hands,” said Holderney. “When you’re doing dishes a lot and your hands are wet and soft, any edge can cut or nick you, and that becomes a health and safety concern. Pretty much every part we make goes through our deburring station, and more than 80 per cent goes through our deburring machine.”

The old automatic deburring machine was a one-belt system that only deburred one side of a part at a time. It also couldn’t do any edge rounding and was breaking down regularly.

The company replaced it with a Lissmac SBM-L 1500. Equipped with a 1.5 metre-wide belt, it performs grinding, deburring, and edge rounding on both sides of a part in a single pass.

“Depending on the part, sometimes we don’t do the edge rounding, or sometimes we only do the edge rounding,” said Holderney. “That’s all configurable on the machine. We can do just the top if we want to. Some parts have a finish on one side that we don’t want to touch and this machine allows us to do that.”

Holderney estimates that the team saves around four hours in a 16-hour day in the finishing department with the new machine.

“We had four or five guys in that department on one shift before and now we have only two or three at a time,” he said. “We’re happy with the performance but we know we can do even better. We’re changing the configuration of some of our parts so that they can fit on the machine. For instance, our dishwashing tank wrap is about 2 feet by 6 ft. long with some impressions in it, and we’ve figured out a method where we just use the sanding blocks of the machine on the impressions. That innovation alone is saving four hours on a job. Normally something with an impression, depending on its height, can be an issue for a machine like this.”

The only parts that don’t go through the deburring machine are galvanized parts (about 5 per cent of Moyer Diebel’s output) and some brackets that are too small to process that way.

Because it is configurable, the new machine requires a new approach to part flow to take full advantage of its capabilities. Holderney said after eight months with the machine, the company feels there is still yet more untapped efficiencies and opportunities.

Moyer Diebel, www.championindustries.com/1canada

Ali Group North America www.aligroupna.com/

Lissmac, www.lissmac.com