HAIMER MILL: A Game-changer Cutting Tool

In 1857, Klein Tools was established as a shop in Chicago, Illinois. Mathias Klein, the founder, started his legacy with "one-half pair of pliers." He first supplied to the telecommunications and electrical industries; then, as the United States expanded, the company developed better products for blue-collar professionals and prospered. As a result, the company's product line has broadened to include virtually every major type of hand tool, from the traditional Klein Pliers to the most modern Klein wireless speakers and Klein cooling safety hats.

As a family-owned and operated company, they are proud to manufacture and distribute all their products in North America and through partnerships from South Australia, Brazil, and the UK. The 160-year-old company has invested in multimillion-dollar facilities to substantially forged steel and have the flexibility to respond to customer demands while still manufacturing efficiently. In today's economic climate, many companies could not supply blue-collar professionals – but this was not the case with Klein Tools. When they faced the increasing demand for parts, Dale Remelis, the Senior Manufacturing Engineer of a Klein lineman manufacturing plant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, added a million-dollar new state-of-the-art machine to help increase their production. However, Dale realized that to increase his production, and he had to reduce the cycle time so that they could get more parts through per hour.

Dale, a veteran in the metal products industry, has partnered with Klein Tools for over a decade. As Dale remarks that at Klein Tools, they "like to run the best of everything," so he contacted his distributor, Suzanne Bach, from Engman-Taylor, who recommended HAIMER. Considering that Dale has tried multiple brands throughout the years, he was hesitant to test the HAIMER MILL endmill, even after hearing how well they perform from Suzanne. "What she was telling me, I couldn't believe it; I'm very much a realist," Dale says, but decided to test HAIMER endmills. 

Unlike most tooling manufacturers, HAIMER provides solutions differently. Dale explains that most manufacturers "just drop off" a couple of tools and let them "try them out." Meanwhile, Tod Petrik, Cutting Tool Applications Engineer at Haimer USA, closely monitored the machines to determine the best approach to assist Dale in manufacturing parts in the plant. He reports that in their in-depth exploration, they looked at and tested different milling strategies and cutting speeds until they arrived at the desired result.

One of the biggest challenges that Dale pointed out was "no matter how much we tried; we were never able to beat the 300 parts per cycle" however, after extensive research and trials, the innovative HAIMER MILL endmills successfully demonstrated a great production output. Likewise, Tod also collaborated with Dale in the program strategy on the machine to create parts at a faster speed. 

For instance, a unique solution to Klein's challenge was that the tool life increased 364% with the HAIMER MILL, allowing them to produce 1,392 parts per cycle instead of 300. In addition, the old cycle time took 50 minutes, and the new cycle with HAIMER now takes only 30 minutes per pallet. Also, the previous feed rate was 10.18 inches per minute, but HAIMER MILL increased the feed rate by 260% to 36.7 inches per minute. Dale asserts that previously to acquiring the endmill from HAIMER, he had heard other manufacturer's sales pitches before, and in his words, the tool was "always worse" than what they had been running before, but in the case of the HAIMER MILL, "it really is true, they can even be described as the perfect tool," Dale adds. 

Klein Tools got so successful in the production of this part that upper management was "tickled," Dale says, and wanted to try the HAIMER MILL in other machines. A total of four HAIMER endmills tools were key in achieving a 75% of the overall 40% cost reduction; a total of 444 new hours of cycles were created. "Clamping is of utmost importance for the performance of the tool itself," Dale says. "We can apply everything we learned to everything in the building." In addition, Klein Tools has HAIMER by their side, providing solutions by incrementing their overall production. Dale states that he is "delighted with the results" and believes that HAIMER endmills are "superior to anything out there." In the future, Dale is considering applying HAIMER's full tool management system for Klein Tools manufacturer in his plant, such as HAIMER presetting and shrink fit technology. 

One thing is just as important to HAIMER and Klein Tools - ensuring each brand maintains its identity and quality standards. HAIMER and Klein isn't just the company name – it's also their family's last name. So, to live up to their legacy, these brands have developed the reputation of thriving for excellence.

It only makes sense then that HAIMER continues to provide reliable products that allow machinists and engineers to complete jobs without fail. In addition, investing in the tooling technology developed by HAIMER ensures multiple long-term benefits, like the ones revealed in Klein Tools' production rates - proving Quality Does Win!