Engineering and tool room
ENCO's engineers look at your drawing before the quote, design the tools that make it, and keep those tools running.
Feasibility before the quote
Each new part gets a manufacturability review: can it be pressed as drawn, which process route fits the volume, and which tolerances drive cost.
Tool design and build
Press dies, progressive tools, weld fixtures and checking gauges are designed and built in ENCO's own tool room.
Fixtures, gauges and machines
ENCO also builds its own robotic welding fixtures, checking gauges and special-purpose machines - about 50 tools, jigs, fixtures and machines a month.
Team and tools
About 100 people work in engineering and R&D.
Parts, dies and fixtures are designed in UG NX, SolidWorks, Solid Edge and AutoCAD. Forming is simulated in Altair HyperWorks: cracks, wrinkles, thinning and springback are predicted before the tool is cut, and the die and punch are compensated - for high-tensile and complex-phase steels too. Parts are scanned and compared with PolyWorks.
The tool room runs a die-spotting press, wire-cut, surface grinding, milling, lathe and radial drilling. Prototypes are made with 2D and 3D laser cutting, quick forming tools and quick jigs, and checked by FARO arm.
See also tool, die and fixture making.
From drawing to SOP
How a new part runs at ENCO
ENCO starts before the quote. In a pre-engineering review, senior engineers from pressing, welding, forming and machining check your part for manufacture; where it helps, they make micro-samples. Then:
- You send drawings, volumes and timing.
- ENCO sends DFM feedback and a quote.
- ENCO makes prototypes or samples.
- ENCO builds the tools, fixtures and gauges.
- Trials and PPAP.
- Mass production.
- Engineering changes, end of production and spares.
Every launch is tracked in ENCO's Obeya room with Critical Chain project management.
Questions buyers ask at each step are in the buyer FAQ.
Seen in practice
Engineering on real jobs
When Buying a Transfer Press Wasn't an Option, We Built One.
A customer wanted transfer stamping at a manual-line price. ENCO's mechatronics team rebuilt a tandem press as a robot transfer press.
For: Purchase
Read the story →When Missing Milestones Wasn't an Option, We Reinvented Project Management.
A customer told ENCO it was missing project milestones. ENCO changed how it plans and tracks every tool, fixture and machine project.
For: Programme / new model
Read the story →A part that cracks, a die that wears, a supplier that slips?
Ask an ENCO engineer. You get an answer from a person who runs presses every day, within one working day.