American Bronze

Ever since American Bronze revamped their tapping operation they have seen a significant increase in production and a decrease in product rejection rate.

American Bronze's President Bob Lowe had a problem with one aspect of their operation. The company was having difficulty affixing bronze decorative handles to their popular line of faucets. "In the past we were using adhesives to attach the bronze animals to the faucets," Lowe explained. "The adhesive was not only time-consuming, but we also had a 5% rejection rate."

Standing behind the company's money-back guarantee, American Bronze was having nearly 50 faucets out of every 1,000 returned to its plant for rework. It was becoming apparent that a more efficient attachment method was needed. "Those returns were costing our company a lot in terms of money and reputation. We had to find a better way of manufacturing," Lowe said. "We looked into tapping the faucet fixtures. However using a conventional mill, or drill press and tapping head, would require fixturing each part," he continued. "The time consumed in fixturing and machining made this process even more costly than using adhesives."

The right tool for the right job

Lowe was looking for a low dollar tapping machine that wouldn't require fixtured parts, and discovered that Lite Specialty Metal Works, Inc. of Tualain, OR made exactly the machine they needed. Now, after about 45,000 holes, Lowe says, "We are producing 1,000 faucet animals per week, and in each run of 1,000 we've cut 26 hours of production time using the Accu-Tapper instead of adhesives. And [we've cut] even more than that compared to the more conventional methods."

In addition to the productivity improvements, Lowe is even more excited about increased quality. He says, "We have lowered our rejection rate by ten-fold. Compared to the 5% we were running at in the past, we've now got a reject rate of just 1/2%. We are seeing improved customer satisfaction." Lowe assuredly added that the Accu-Tapper has paid for itself many times over.

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Once the machine had proven itself by tapping decorative handles, and die threading the 3/8-24 external threads on the faucet system, Lowe began sending other projects to the machine. "We also use the machine for chamfering, deburring, reaming, and chasing threads." Lowe explained. "These operations can be performed faster and more easily with the Accu-Tapper than with a tapping head / drill press setup." Because the machine's design is so versatile, Lowe envisions more applications for it. "I know of other jobs we'll be throwing at it in the future, including tapping a 6-32 hole in steel, and 1/8" threads on an aluminum shaft," Lowe said. Lite Specialty Metal Works recommends using the machine for 0-80 to 1/4-20 steel, 5/16-18 aluminum when tapping, and 0-80 to 3/8-24 aluminum when O.D. threading.

Along with the portable tapping machine's low price, Lowe gave the Accu-Tapper high marks for being user-friendly. "Anyone can run it," he said. "Most of our parts are run by individuals with limited machining experience. After we bought the Accu-Tapper, more and more jobs began fading away from the drill presses and making their way to the tappers. They are definitely favored by the employees... as well as the President," Lowe concluded.