850,000 Phosphor Bronze Terminals a Year for Automotive Lighting, Kanban-Fed

An automotive lighting assembly plant runs a kanban card system with its stamping suppliers: a card goes out, a reel comes back, no forecasts, no warehousing. When one supplier's terminals failed a width check two lots in a row, the OEM moved the part and needed someone who could hit ±0.13 mm on the formed dimension from 0.36 mm coil, every kanban cycle, indefinitely.

We tooled the terminal from the customer's DWG print and ran reel-to-reel from ASTM-B103 #510 phosphor bronze, 100% checked on in-process vision before winding. Reel orientation matches the customer's applicator so nobody touches the terminals between our die and their line.

Outcome

• 850,000 terminals per year under kanban, unbroken since transfer
• Tightest tolerance ±0.005 mm on formed and cut features
• Zero width-check recalls logged on the transferred program
• Tooling designed in AutoCAD from customer print; die maintained on-site in our own tool room

Specifications

ASTM B103 #510 phosphor bronze · 0.36 mm · reel-to-reel · customer print + 2D DWG standard · MOQ 10,000