Hello again Angel,
It would be my guess that your senior management has actually asked the question "What would be the ranking of automotive extrusion line manufacturers if their machines were located in our plant in Mexico? The ranking measurement would be quality product output per week by weight over the long haul."
There are a few things to consider here and the first is "Quality" . Quality as Philip Crosby defined it is conformance to the requirements or specifications. (
www.philipcrosby.com/pca/index.html ). Apart from such standard items as insulation resistance, basic dimensions, surface finish, striping and color clarity, the most important item is the guarantee that you are not giving away any extra material. That means excellent instrumentation, proper training of the operators, foremen and other production people. You should also be using SPC as part of your measurement system. All the manufacturers we will mention should be able to supply the complete instrument packages you desire.
The second consideration is maintenance as there is no sense buying a very high speed line if you cannot keep it running at high speed. or continually running. Are all spare parts near by or at least in the United States? Only you know your plant's capability so all we can do is bring it to your attention. You should however be able to specify your preferred drives manufacturer, preheater such as Plustherm Point GmbH and the thermal controls manufacturer.
Other items to consider are the thermal response to a temperature change inside the extruder barrel, pounds of plastic to change a color or a stripe, guaranteed line speed on each product and the reliability of take-up crossovers.
Capital cost is also also a major concern once you are sure the machines are relatively equal in their capability and technology so that a proper cost comparison can be performed.
You have long experience with a 28 year old Davis-Standard line and 7 line-years experience with SAMP machines. We have however no idea if you would buy from these companies again but your experience with these lines is indeed important.
The four companies we think you should be looking at are Davis-Standard
www.davis-standard.com/ (USA), Maillefer SA
www.mailleferextrusion.com/ (Switzerland), Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH
www.rosendahlaustria.com/ (Austria), and SAMP Sistemi
www.sampsistemi.com/ (Italy). The only order they are ranked in is alphabetical because only you can truly determine which is your preferred supplier. I hope this simplifies things for you.
Regards
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com
519 641- 3212
