Case brief

Forged alloy wheel production:

delivering high-precision parts through
in-process gauging

Reduce cycle time

Eliminate scrap

Improve accuracy
Overview

SuperAlloy Industrial Company Ltd. (SAI) is an international company specialising in

engineering and manufacturing lightweight metal products.
Company The company is headquartered in Taiwan, with sales and support offices in United States of
information America, United Kingdom, Germany, China and Australia.
Tier-one supplier to the following automotive brands: Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chrysler, Ducati,
Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Toyota.
Products and services Engineers and manufactures lightweight metal products for automotive and aviation industries.
Industry TUV TS 16949 TUV OHSAS 18001 AS 7003 NADCAP Material testing
accreditation BV AS 9100C TUV ISO 14001 JWTC VIA-JWLT-20191019
Deliver customer value by producing high-quality products that are competitively priced.
Company
Provide all customers with expert management services to build and sustain relationships.
objectives
Maintain growth through continuous development and refinement of products.

Process
High-quality, forged aluminium wheels are manufactured to strict industry standards. Over 200 types are produced, resulting
in a highly complex – low-volume, high-diversity – production environment. Six hundred CNC machine tools (150 Victory
Taichung lathes and 450 YCM mills) are engaged in a three-shift pattern, five days per week.

Challenges

1 Increase product quality

Automotive manufacturers have extremely high expectations when it comes to the quality, dimensional stability and accuracy
of their alloy wheels. SAI was able to meet the volume requirements placed on them, but the quality of their finished product
needed to improve.

2 Reduce cycle times and rework

In recent years, wheel styling has moved from flatter 2D designs towards more complex 3D styles. The tighter tolerance
requirements associated with these 3D designs has gradually increased cycle times. In order to achieve the necessary
accuracy, SAI was stopping the machining process at various stages to manually measure key dimensions. This was
a time-consuming and error-prone practice. Manually calculating and updating tool offsets, combined with remachining,
meant that processing a complete wheel took up to 240 minutes, with the final 3D appearance process taking 27 minutes.

1. Machine feature 2. Manually measure feature 3. Manually record dimensions 4. Manually update
and calculate toolpath offsets
Process considerations

Renishaw engineers considered key elements within

SAI’s process and production stages of manufacturing
Informative controls Post-
using Renishaw’s Productive Process Pyramid™. applied after machining is complete process
This framework is used to identify and control monitoring
the variations that can occur at key stages of the
Active controls
machining process. applied during metal cutting In-process control

Predictive controls
applied just before cutting Process setting
For more information, please visit the When do I
probe? section of the Renishaw website: Preventative controls
applied in advance Process foundation
www.renishaw.com/en/whendoiprobe

Productive Process Pyramid

Solutions Renishaw tools in use

Manufacturing process focus: process setting and
in-process control

Focusing on process setting and in-process control,

Renishaw engineers introduced measures which have
dramatically improved product quality and reduced the
overall cycle time.

The introduction of the Renishaw RMP60 probing

system has significantly increased finished component
accuracy, as the position of each part can now be
checked before any machining takes place.

The ability to automatically measure key features

during the cutting process has resulted in a 48%
reduction in the 3D appearance processing time.
The real-time size/position of key features can now
be fed back to the CNC control automatically, allowing
RMP60 measuring the alloy wheel mounting surface
toolpath offsets to be updated if necessary.

As a result, the manual, time-consuming and

error-prone methods previously used to control
the process are no longer required.

1. Machine feature 2. Automatically measure feature 3. Automatically feed back 4. Automatically update
size/position to toolpath offsets
CNC control
Typical results

These charts provide a typical illustration for this industry application where probing has been introduced.

Reduced 3D appearance processing time* Without probing With probing Saving

14 min

Time/
27 min 14 min 13 min
component
27 min

* Including set-up and machining time

Eliminated scrap Without probing With probing Difference

Scrap rate 3% 0% -

705
Scrap parts/
0 705 0 -
annum

Increased savings Without probing With probing Saving

Cost/
component 275 143 132
NT$

Total cost of
scrap NT$/ 193,875 0 193,875
annum

Improved component tolerance Without probing With probing Improvement

Component ±0.05 mm to 0.03 mm to

±0.02 mm
tolerance ±0.1 mm 0.08 mm
Summary

The introduction of the RMP60 probing system has added new layers of control before and during the metal cutting process,
significantly improving manufacturing performance.

Before the Renishaw system was introduced, operator error meant that wheels typically needed to be machined twice in
order to achieve the necessary component tolerance of ±0.05 mm to ±0.10 mm. The 3D appearance machining process was
time-consuming and inefficient, with scrap rates of 2–3%. With the Renishaw system now fully embedded into the
manufacturing process, rework has been reduced by 80%, scrap has been eliminated, 3D appearance processing time has
been reduced by 48% and the component tolerance of less than ±0.02 mm is now achievable.

Additionally, the new capability has helped the company to:

• Increase automation and reduce human intervention

• Extract more throughput from their existing machinery
• Reduce delivery times and improve customer relations

Contact
To find out how you could benefit from our process control solutions, contact us today – find your local office at
www.renishaw.com/contacts

Customer comment

Through Renishaw, we discovered machine tool probe measurement solutions that

could deliver in-process measurement control and real-time data feedback on our
existing CNC machines, thereby providing effective precision manufacturing control.
This was a massive help in terms of increasing production efficiency and precision.

SuperAlloy Industrial Company Ltd. (Taiwan)

Best practice
Productive Process Patterns­™ from Renishaw provide
guidance on best practice and the implementation of a wide
range of probing solutions.

For more information regarding job set-up and other

applications, visit www.renishaw.com/processcontrol
Renishaw plc T +44 (0) 1453 524524
F +44 (0) 1453 524901
New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge
E uk@renishaw.com
Gloucestershire, GL12 8JR
United Kingdom www.renishaw.com

About Renishaw
Renishaw is an established world leader in engineering technologies, with a strong history of innovation in product development
and manufacturing. Since its formation in 1973, the company has supplied leading-edge products that increase process
productivity, improve product quality and deliver cost-effective automation solutions.
A worldwide network of subsidiary companies and distributors provides exceptional service and support for its customers.

Products include:
• Additive manufacturing and vacuum casting technologies for design, prototyping, and production applications
• Dental CAD/CAM scanning systems and supply of dental structures
• Encoder systems for high-accuracy linear, angle and rotary position feedback
• Fixturing for CMMs (co-ordinate measuring machines) and gauging systems
• Gauging systems for comparative measurement of machined parts
• High-speed laser measurement and surveying systems for use in extreme environments
• Laser and ballbar systems for performance measurement and calibration of machines
• Medical devices for neurosurgical applications
• Probe systems and software for job set-up, tool setting and inspection on CNC machine tools
• Raman spectroscopy systems for non-destructive material analysis
• Sensor systems and software for measurement on CMMs
• Styli for CMM and machine tool probe applications

For worldwide contact details, visit www.renishaw.com/contact

*H-2000-3805-01*
RENISHAW HAS MADE CONSIDERABLE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE CONTENT OF THIS DOCUMENT IS CORRECT AT THE DATE OF
PUBLICATION BUT MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE CONTENT. RENISHAW EXCLUDES LIABILITY,
HOWSOEVER ARISING, FOR ANY INACCURACIES IN THIS DOCUMENT.

© 2015 Renishaw plc. All rights reserved.

Renishaw reserves the right to change specifications without notice.
RENISHAW and the probe symbol used in the RENISHAW logo are registered trade marks of Renishaw plc in the United Kingdom and other countries.
apply innovation and names and designations of other Renishaw products and technologies are trade marks of Renishaw plc or its subsidiaries. Part no.: H-2000-3805-01-B
All other brand names and product names used in this document are trade names, trade marks or registered trade marks of their respective owners. Issued: 07.2016