"In certain chassis that we manu-facture," says Bert Santucci, vice president of operations, "75 pieces of hardware are installed in each unit. This high, constant volume led us to the conclusion that an automated press would best serve most of our needs."

The company currently uses more than a half-dozen of Penn Engineering (Danboro, PA) Pemserter Series 2000 automated presses, a Series 4 manual press and a Series P3 portable hand press. The automated presses are positioned in a row and run constantly during two shifts every day. Clinch nuts are automatically fed to the presses at rapid rates. Santucci notes that the press' 24-inch throat depth is more than enough to handle the workpieces, which are typically within standard industry dimensions of 30-inch cubes.