Quick Die Change (QDC) System:
A Complete Game Changer

Improve plant safety, protect capital equipment and speed production by cutting die changeover time from hours to minutes with the quick die change system from RICO Manufacturing, Inc.

Instant Value

Ask yourself these questions to discover the value this system can offer:

• Want to protect your staff and avoid potential workers' comp claims?
• Dropped or damaged valuable dies lately that fell from a forklift?
• Are die changeovers taking hours at a time, slowing production?

The quick die change system from RICO Manufacturing supplies a solution that can eliminate or reduce these issues. Improve plant efficiencies by reducing changeover times, increasing precise positioning of dies to press, all while implementing an organizational system to streamline production. While RICO manufactures a variety of models, our Quick Die Change trucks are the industry’s most efficient, most versatile method of handling molds and dies.

Improve Safety

RICO’s Die & Mold Handling Series, Racking and Consulting reduces setup times and saves labor while also maintaining a safer work environment by the very nature of its engineered design.

The quick die change truck and system is designed to help avoid staff injury. A single operator positioned well behind the die lift operates the controls, without having to touch or try to manipulate the die manually. The machine does the entire job.

Plants often will try to employ a standard forklift to move dies. When using a fork lift, more labor is involved to lift and position the dies. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for four or five employees to try to lift, position and move a single die, which can weigh upwards of 4,000 lbs. The size, shape and sheer bulk of the dies can cause serious injury during die transfer from one section of the plant to another.

The QDC system and truck from RICO Equipment reduces the number of employees needed to changeover dies from four to one. This not only improves safety, it also helps preserve workflow as these extra employees can remain at their stations, continuing with their appointed tasks.

Process improvement/efficiency

Standard die changes might take four to five hours when employing a standard lift truck or fork lift. The quick die change truck and system from RICO Manufacturing supplies a drastic and immediate savings on time, slashing those four hours to as little as an hour or less.

Depending on the number of dies a given company changes daily, this time savings can translate into an immediate return on investment.

Avoid Equipment Damage

Dies in a steel mill or stamping operation represent a major capital investment. When a company tries to lift one of these dies with a forklift and the system fails, and the die crashes to the ground, this can represent a huge loss on more than one level.

Not only can the job not proceed forward that the die was intended to complete, the die might need to be repaired or replaced. This takes vital functions offline, digs into profit margins and can even shut down an entire line.

Organization and Efficiencies

RICO Manufacturing works with Lightning Time Savers, organizational and efficiency experts that specialize in promoting safety, efficiency, storage and organization in production plants. A company can purchase the truck alone. However, the organizational aspect truly maximizes the system’s effectiveness and the purchaser's return on investment.

Part of the organizational system involves racking and cataloging the dies. When the dies are centrally located in one section of the plant, they can be organized according to task, size, or frequency of use.

The racks often include rollers to allow for easy load and offload. View the system in action in this video.

Contact RICO Manufacturing to learn how our Quick Die Change system earns its reputation as the industry’s most efficient and versatile method for handling dies and molds. Improve plant efficiency, safety, storage and organization. Give us a call at 330-723-4050.