Accuracy and on time delivery of projects are key requirements for the tooling industry. Godrej Tooling Division (Godrej) relies on Renishaw solutions to save time, money, reduce scrap and achieve a high level of accuracy.

Company background
Godrej is a household name in the Indian market, with international presence in The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Founded in 1935 as a captive tool room, the Godrej Tooling Division commenced commercial operations in 1993 and manufactures press tools, die casts and special-purpose machines, jigs and fixtures. With revenues exceeding INR 1.2 billion, the company caters to the tooling needs of Toyota, TATA, Honda, GM, Maruti Suzuki and Siemens, amongst others.

Godrej, India’s largest tooling solution provider, has unsurpassed capabilities in the manufacture of complex dies, with 15-20% of its products being exported around the world. As part of its Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) initiative Godrej follows PQCDSM (Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety, and Morale) and Kaizen guidelines. The main objectives of its TPM initiative are to reduce down time to zero and ensure on time deliveries. Therefore, maintaining the accuracy of its equipment, including CNC and EDM machines, with high precision calibration equipment is essential.

Experience with Renishaw’s precision
In the early days, Godrej’s evaluation of accuracy was difficult to obtain. National Aerospace Standard NAS979 tests (standardised cutting tests for CNC milling machines) were performed by a highly skilled expert as part of machine commissioning. These tests were problematic and time-consuming to carry out. In 1996 Godrej purchased Renishaw’s ML10 laser system after hearing about the quality of the product and was impressed with its accuracy and reliability. Furthermore, Godrej was surprised how simple it was to use and avoided expensive errors common in the NAS test.

Although the ML10 only measured 9 parameters, as compared to 13 in NAS tests, the improvement in results quality was more important than the parameters left undiagnosed. The data reading was instant and easy to analyse. Godrej soon realised that the Renishaw laser system would save time, money and reduce scrap. Its accuracy prompted Godrej customers to specifically request ML10 certification. Mr S M Nayak, Senior General Manager at Godrej, explained, “The product is rugged and stable, we only call Renishaw for upgrades. There has never been an instance of product failure.”

Godrej has since upgraded to Renishaw’s XL-80 laser system designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind, reducing the need for a highly skilled expert. Mr Nayak says, “Renishaw’s service is second to none, and they have an immediate response time. We requested training and were delighted that in a week the training was complete.” The XL-80 laser measurement system offers high performance calibration for motion systems, including CMMs and machine tools.

The journey continues
As part of its expansion, Godrej Machine Tools purchased multiple CNC machines in its tooling division. This posed new challenges as the machines needed to be tested for additional parameters like circular interpolation and drive tuning. Once again Godrej turned to Renishaw and found a solution in the QC20-W telescoping ballbar system which identifies machine errors easily with a high degree of accuracy. It directly determines servo mismatch, geometric accuracy, squareness, positional errors and reversal spikes in all 3 planes (xy-yz-zx). Since the adoption of QC20-W ballbar testing Godrej’s down time and rejection rates have reduced to 5%.

Delivering results
In the tooling industry quality parameters are critical and customers expect a product life span of 10 years. Through its adherence to the highest quality and accuracy standards, Godrej has been able to deliver products with a life span of 125,000 cycles, far ahead of the industry norm of 50,000 cycles.

Godrej’s customers in defence, aerospace and nuclear application industries request audits during the manufacturing process to ensure quality measures are being maintained, and will insist on seeing ballbar certificates for the machines. Mr Nayak explains, “Renishaw has helped Godrej to redefine quality norms, boost in-house capabilities, competence and confidence and help reduce costs.”

Beyond savings to revenue generation
Die and mould customers choose Godrej because of the long life span of its dies resulting from tightly controlled quality parameters. The customer demand for high quality and precision measurement prompted the company to provide laser and ballbar certifications. Now Godrej offers calibration services to others, generating an additional revenue stream. Godrej’s manufacturing facility is equipped with state of the art CNC, EDMs and jig boring machines. Mr Nayak states, “High precision calibration of these machines with a Renishaw laser or ballbar is key to quality and reliable performance.”

Since its beginning in 1897, the Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems, a unit of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd, has set several benchmarks in the locks industry – from the first spring-less lock in 1907 to the iconic ‘NavTal’ in 1954 to the Ultra range in 1995 to the revolutionary 3KS in 2007. From a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in a suburb of Mumbai, the company provides locking solutions that reach homes, offices, industries and the hearts of millions of people in India and around the world for whom ‘locks’ means Godrej.

A symbol of trust and security for 118 years, lock on almost every Indian home’s front door is of Godrej. It goes to show how the customers have placed their trust and confidence in the company. Since the first lock was manufactured in 1897, it has been Godrej’s endeavor to constantly evolve and design products and services that exceed the expectations of individual and institutional customers. Over the years, the locks have changed in form, function and scope of application, but one thing remains constant – the solid stamp of trust and reliability. The company adheres to global quality norms and hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications.

“Initially, we were carrying out manufacturing process on conventional lathe and special purpose machines (SPMs). Since our style of manufacturing is quite flexible, we designed some special fixtures also that matched our machining process. However, later we shifted to vertical machining centres (VMCs) and turning centres as they give us opportunity to machine various designs of locks on a single machine,” the Associate General Manager (Manufacturing) of the company, Mr. MHM Shaikh said.

“We serve all types of customers and customize locks as per demands of the consumer. This is the reason why one can see Godrej lock on almost every Indian door. This trust of customers on us has transformed us into a company that provides locking solutions,” Mr. Shaikh said. Explaining the manufacturing process, the official said they carry out forming, die casting, plating and then machining (that includes milling, drilling, turning, boring etc.) of the products. “In fact we do all the processes that a VMC has been designed to do,” he added.

As on today, the company has over 50 machines of which 20 are Haas machines. “We carry out machining on VMCs, turning centres and turnmill centres. We purchased first Haas machine in 2006 and by 2010 we had 6 Haas machines. After that, we are adding one machine in our kitty almost every year,” the Senior Manager (Manufacturing) of the company, Mr. D N Kharat said.

The methodology adopted by Godrej for selecting any machine tool is that they first prepare an exhaustive list of parameters and features as per the end application. After preliminary round of discussions with various vendors, a comparative analysis is done and 5-7 vendors are selected who match at least 80% of their requirement.

Explaining the rationale behind selecting Haas machines, the officials said that when the company decided to go for CNC machines, it categorized the supplier on the basis of power required to run the machine, operational safety, environment friendliness, end application and above all whether it gives the best productivity in terms of optimized cycle time. “We found everything in Haas and decided to go with them. Besides this, we were satisfied with the maintenance aspect of Haas machines as it involves minimum wear and tear that reduces operational cost. Also, the service support from Haas is excellent and their engineers respond to your call within no time. This adds value to our trust on Haas and its machines,” the officials said.

“The installation of ST10Y turnmill centre from Haas did magic for us. It reduced the cycle time beyond our expectations as it gives us advantage of two machines in one. We plan to add many more from this series,” Mr Shaikh quipped.

“Ever since we installed first Haas machine, the company has helped us a lot in the process that included service and application support. We were able to lessen the machine downtime and increase our productivity. Our end component accuracies are in the range of 20 microns and we are able to meet the same with Haas machines,” Mr Shaikh said and added that Haas machines are true value for money.

“And with continual improvement in terms of precision deliverables and responsiveness to their customers, Haas is worth recommending to the industry. I am sure that with Haas’ support, Godrej Locking Solutions will continue to reap rich dividends in the years to come. It’s a partnership built on trust, support and continual engagement which will certainly go very far,” Mr Shaikh concluded.