Armo Tool started as a precision grinding and coating shop so tooling is in our roots. From the very beginning our tools were designed and built to tight tolerances and are still built to last.
Armo Tool is fully equipped to deliver on all your tooling requirements, backed by over 50 years of Tool & Die experience. We collaborate with you on design, materials, coatings and applications.
What is Tooling?
At Armo when we are asked “What actually is a tool?”, our tooling specialists will tell you that tooling is something that touches a part or interacts with a part. Others in our company will say that anything that moves is a part.
We use a lot of words to describe tooling: jigs, grippers, punches, cutters, end-of-arm tools (or EOATs), clamps, formings and end formers. The details of the specific tool are what sets it apart. The material, required coating, heat treating, alignment specifications and the life expectancy.
We have areas of speciality at Armo which include:
- Tube End Form Tooling
- Laser Trim Fixtures for Hot Stamped Parts
- Shear Blades and Knives
- One Off or Small Volume CNC Turning or Milling
- Precision Surface Grinding to 24 x 48″
- Assembly, Weld, Pierce, Shear and Saw Fixtures
What Makes an Armo Tool Different?
At Armo we do the research and due diligence. We talk to your employees, your machine tending staff and maintenance department to understand your unique challenges and concerns. Once we secure drawings, either yours or ones we can create, we provide a detailed quotation document for your acceptance.
The challenge of part design and build is what sets Armo apart. We take great pride and care into our tools. The first part of building a replacement or spare part is to find out the root of the reason for the inquiry. It could be premature wear, maybe the part is not the problem and the root of the problem is the robot or the slide, the cutter, the cylinder or automation component where the tool is mounted. Perhaps it is not the tool and it is the tool mount.
Service and Tooling: A perfect combination.
If the machine in question has experienced a crash, or multiple crashes it may be another component, a misaligned sensor, or perhaps it’s a programming issue. In this case a service visit or a specific system such as a robot may need its points re-taught.
Our service group experts and tooling professionals can work with your engineers, organize a site visit, Zoom call or phone to determine the root cause of the manufacturing delay and will offer suggestions to get up and running and to reduce the occurrence of the fault.
Armo Understands Today’s Tooling Needs
It used to be that manufacturing was high volume. Today’s packager and manufacturer is now building lot sizes of 100, 10,000 or 100,000. That high mix, medium or small volume environment means that tool builders, automation integrators and manufactures have to work together to create tools that can work within this new paradigm.
At Armo Tool we have clients across North America that are experiencing this reality and we can help with upfront engineering, unique tool approaches and designs that don’t break the bank while helping you create parts on spec and on time. We’re staying on top of the trends with the latest in technology developments in tooling.
Laser marking: We often will laser mark tools with critical information or inscribe QR codes to simplify the loading, sorting and make identification error proof.
Visualization boards: Our customers want tools visible and discernible from far away. We use colors, lamacoids, lighting and features to make them simpler to pick and insert in a machine and easily see from a distance.
Standard tool holders: Manufacturers want to create standard tool holders across multiple machines. One tool should be able to be used in multiple machines or on multiple programs.
Commonization: When your tools come from manufacturers all over the globe you run the risk of over-complexifying your tool crib, your purchasing department and your maintenance department. That is where Armo’s 50 years of toolmaking can help you homogenize your tooling and simplify your process.
Reverse engineering: At Armo Tool we have the technology to reverse engineer. We can scan a tool, create a point cloud and create the tool from your existing or replacement tool inventory.
3D printing / Additive Manufacturing: If we need a special tool that we cannot create with subtractive technologies, Armo can work with your maintenance or tooling department to create tools using the latest additive manufacturing materials and techniques.
Redesign efforts: We often will work with clients to optimize their tooling needs. There may be a number of ways to reduce the number of tools that a manufacturer is using depending on the end part-family configuration.
Poka Yoke. Mistake proofing (poke yoke) is part of Armo’s design process. The attention to detail increases quality and therefore reduces costly errors, tooling crashes while improving worker safety.
Vendor Managed Part Inventory. Larger customers may require tool builders to create vendor-managed inventory. “Vendor managed” means that we take responsibility and ownership to manage the tool crib on an ongoing basis. Vendor management of tooling is one of the creative methods to lower costs, increase reliability and tool turnover.
