Toyota Indiana July 2016 Shutdown

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Komatsu 3A Press Cushion Repair

In the kickoff meeting with Toyota and Komatsu, the day before the start of the July Shutdown, TMMI Stamping Manager, Bob Maher, looked directly at me and said, “If Atlas doesn’t have this press back together and running by next Sunday afternoon, the entire plant will not run on Monday morning”…..no pressure!

But, after assembling a select team headed by Atlas press specialist, Jeff Jinerson, we were ready for the challenge.

Our work entailed the disassembly, inspection, replacement of seals and re-assembly of two Press Cushion Assemblies. With Jeff on first shift and Rick Fink on second shift, we began removal and refurbishment of the cushions on Saturday morning.

The real challenge was the extent of the required repairs could not be assessed until the cushions were disassembled. After 11 years of operation, internal components could be damaged beyond repair or worse, seized and require cutting apart. Toyota had a contingency plan in place, just in case.

The conditions were most difficult; very tight quarters, oily surfaces everywhere and the disassembly required chainfalls and jacks exclusively.

Our Atlas guys were faultless throughout, special kudos to the Troy based crews…they deserve all the credit.

Fortunately, the cushions were disassembled without incident, seals and o-rings replaced as planned and re-assembled ahead of the planned start up.

On Saturday, our Komatsu technicians and the Toyota Stamping engineers re-started the press, ran parts on Sunday and began operation on schedule Monday morning.