Partnership for Target to Cost Design

Quality is reflected in the details and Michelins knows this - by displaying the same care for quality in the rubber and structure to the extensive details on the sidewall of the tires. This goes so far as to make it feel like a ‘velvet touch’ on some tires.

The tires are baked inside a mold. This one is made of several adjacent elements for the tread and two toric-looking flanks for the sidewalls. It is the engraving of these two pieces that interests us today.

Even though the tools are only a few millimeters in diameter, the quality of the engraving and the machined material require rigorous design, high rigidity and efficient control. The initial machine, of purely Michelin design, was already controlled by a NUM 1060 control system. Over the years, various improvements have been made. For the current version (CN5S) Michelin has reviewed the design in partnership with the company RGI France located in St Cere in the Mecanic Valley. This 100% French-owned company produces both standard machines and machines adapted to the specific needs of its customers. RGI France succeeds RGI, which had already established a long and fruitful cooperation with Michelin for retrofits or supplies of machines used to produce electrodes or inserts for snow tires. The study was carried out with a view to Design to Cost, which made it possible to optimize cost while further improving performance. NUM was of course involved in this process and the system quickly proved to be the right solution to manage the whole process. This study also included a comparative section with a standard machine and it quickly turned out that the solution chosen was the most efficient.

This is of course not the only reason for this partnership with NUM. Both RGI France and Michelin appreciate the proximity and quality of the relationships that make it possible to make the best use of Flexium+’s own functions. Mr. Lachat, Director of RGI France, said on this occasion that he had never encountered a challenge that the various NUM equipment failed to solve. “This latest evolution of the Flexium+ system has made it possible to implement an advanced lubrication function that will reduce environmental pollution while improving the service life of guides and bearings. We also note the quality of the drives and an excellent support from NUM for optimizing performance and eliminating parasitic resonances, which is another point for achieving a higher productivity.” Finally, in order to maintain this performance throughout the life of the machine, a performance monitoring function during this life cycle, described elsewhere in this issue of NUMinformation, will be implemented to detect potential mechanical problems before they have any adverse impact.