Industry: Appliance Metal Forming
Material: Stainless Steel (0.031–0.035 mm thickness)
Product: TechDraw™ FT300 – Advanced Forming Lubricant
Challenge
Manufacturers faced a trade-off between process quality and operational economics that conventional lubricants could not resolve.
Working with stainless steel inherently risks galling and scoring on the finished part surface. This required lubricants with extremely high film strength. However, the existing products either failed to maintain film strength or left behind heavy residues.
Conventional lubricants caused significant residue buildup on the expensive tooling. This necessitated constant stoppages for cleaning and reapplication, directly increasing non-productive downtime, requiring additional maintenance labor, and shortening tool life. This drove up the overall Total Cost of Operation.
Solution
Fortech introduced a direct material change focused on optimizing performance at the point of contact while reducing consumption.
TechDraw™ FT300 was specifically engineered for high-strength steel. Its optimized chemistry provided superior boundary lubrication and exceptional film strength, effectively separating the
tool and the workpiece, even under high-pressure and low film weight applications.
A rigorous trial was implemented to provide verifiable data. By directly substituting TechDraw™ FT300 for the standard industry lubricant on the same equipment and with the same material specifications, the study isolated the variable performance and cost differences attributable solely to the lubricant change.
Results
The evaluation yielded decisive performance and financial metrics supporting the switch.
Superior Technical Performance
- Draw Quality: Achieved smoother, more uniform surfaces, demonstrating that the high film strength successfully eliminated galling and scoring, leading to higher acceptance rates and reduced scrap.
- Reduced Tool Maintenance: The clean-running formulation left minimal residue. This translates to an increased Mean Time Between Failure for the lubricant and an extended Mean Time Between Cleaning for the tooling, enhancing tool longevity.
Optimized Operational Economics
- Improved Efficiency: Less downtime for cleaning and reapplication meant higher
machine utilization and increased Overall Equipment Effectiveness. - Cost Advantage and Usage: Savings were driven by two factors:
1. The lubricant’s favorable price point.
2. The ability to use a lower film weight or a higher dilution ratio while maintaining, or improving, part quality. This significantly reduced the lubricant cost per part. - Overall Savings: The realized savings, exceeding 15%, were a compound effect of reduced maintenance labor, decreased downtime, and lower material consumption.
Impact
The success demonstrated a clear value proposition that extended beyond the initial trial.
The proven strong performance and economic value led the customer to integrate TechDraw™ FT300 across multiple additional production lines. This signals the lubricant’s capability to generalize across similar forming applications within the customer’s facility.
TechDraw™ FT300 established itself as a preferred solution by offering a unique combination of qualities: clean-running characteristics, high lubricity, and outstanding cost efficiency. It effectively shifted the manufacturer’s focus from the purchase price of a consumable to its impact on the entire production line’s profitability.
For more information on how TechDraw™ FT300 can enhance your projects, please contact us today.