OSG EX-CELL-O spline rolling machine aids global drive system manufacturer with CV joint prototype development in Mexico
Omar Albarrán and Ana Karina Regalado | OSG Royco
Constant-velocity joints (CV joints) play an essential function in every automobile. They are responsible for providing a constant velocity of rotation, regardless of the angle at which the drive shaft is operating. Quality CV joints contribute to a smoother, quieter ride, and directly affect a vehicle’s performance as well as safety.
GKN Automotive’s manufacturing facility in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Initially founded in 1759 and headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom, GKN Automotive is a global leader in drive systems. It is the world’s first and largest producer of CV joints, which the company began manufacturing in the 1960s and diversified into the automotive industry. GKN Automotive’s technologies and innovations made front-wheel drive cars possible and all-wheel drive systems more efficient, paving the way for the development of its high-performance eDrive systems. According to GKN Automotive, the company develops, builds and supplies driveline systems and ePowertrain technologies for 90 percent of the world’s automotive companies. Its key products include sideshafts, CV joints, driveshaft boots, propshafts, suspension springs, steering components, eDrive systems, and more. GKN Automotive currently employs more than 25,000 staff worldwide, has 48 manufacturing sites and six technology centers in 21 countries to ensure customers benefit from local supply chains and world-class technical support.
CV Joints & Cold Forming
From left, two CV joint drive shafts and a half shaft. After rolling, splines are formed on the shaft.
GKN Automotive manufactures an array of CV joints, such as ball plunging joint, fixed ball joint, SX countertrack joint, tripod plunging joint, and more. All CV joints require a rolling process to produce splines on the shafts. The splines are produced by cold forming (also known as cold roll forming), which is a high-speed forging process that plastically deforms metal at near room temperatures. It is a fast, precise, and automated process that produces a large amount of metal components without removing any material. Cold forming requires heavy equipment and is ideal for large volume manufacturing.
GKN Automotive in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico
Recently, GKN Automotive’s prototype team in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico was seeking for rolling solutions for its prototype production involving CV joints. GKN Automotive’s Celaya plant was originally founded in 1979. The name of the plant was changed to GKN Driveline in 2005. GKN Automotive’s Celaya plant has an estimate production area of 4,500-square-meter and employs approximately 2,115 staff. CV joints are the main products at this site, which are produced by around 80 rolling machines at the plant. These rolling machines, however, are strictly used for manufacturing, not for making prototypes.
Assemblies of CV joints at GKN Automotive’s manufacturing facility in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico.
One of GKN Automotive’s goals is to activate the prototype market in Mexico. However, unable to use rolling machines at its own facility, GKN Automotive’s prototype team searched for a rolling supplier all over Mexico that would handle rolling processes outside of regular production.
An operator uses a machine to assemble CV joint components at GKN Automotive’s manufacturing facility in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico.
“We looked for companies who had machines, who sold machines, and we found OSG,” said GKN Automotive Prototype Manager Ricardo González.
OSG began the manufacturing and sales of rolling dies since 1956. Today, the company offers a broad lineup of dies and thread rolling products including cylindrical dies, flat dies, trim dies, planetary dies and rack dies. OSG is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of rolling dies, with more than 70,000 cold forming tools being produced annually through several production sites in Japan, the United States, Mexico, Germany, China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and India.
GKN Automotive’s first communication with OSG Royco in Mexico was about rack dies. Soon after, GKN Automotive presented its prototype project and OSG introduced its EX-CELL-O XK 8-Series spline rolling machine, which was newly installed at its Guanajuato Tech Center (GTO Tech Center) for demonstration purposes.
OSG EX-CELL-O
In 2019, OSG further expanded its product portfolio by acquiring EX-CELL-O Corporation, a German company that specializes in cold forming machines and tools that serviced the European market for over 65 years. OSG EX-CELL-O offers highly productive cold forming solutions of involute splines, threads, oil grooves, knurls or other similar shapes on rotationally symmetrical components.
The OSG EX-CELL-O XK 851-6E is an advanced CNC spline rolling machine that is specially developed for high economic processing of passenger car components such as drive shafts, axle shafts, e-motor components or other similar parts.
Major energy consumption reduction is achieved by replacing hydraulic axis drives with electromechanical components, which also reduced carbon footprint and noise level significantly. With its ergonomically optimized machine guarding, the machine design is compact, while allowing for an approximate maximum profile diameter of 80 mm and workpiece length of 1,500 mm.
After numerous meetings and frequent communications, it was determined that GKN Automotive would perform the rolling process at OSG Royco’s GTO Tech Center for prototype development, which is located approximately one hour and twenty minutes away from GKN Automotive’s Celaya plant by car. Utilizing the EX-CELL-O XK 851-6E spline rolling machine, OSG helped GKN Automotive kickstart its prototype project from product validation, testing, to finalization.
“We require a rolling process on every component that comes into contact with the wheel, engine, transmission, as well as intermediate components,” said González.
“OSG Royco rolled everything for us to complete the assemblies,” González said.
With assistance from OSG Royco, GKN Automotive estimated that approximately 45 percent savings is made on total expenses in comparison to regular production. Factors such as machinery, tooling and labor have been considered in the calculation.
“With prototype, everything is ambiguous,” said González. “What we like most about OSG Royco is that they never say no and always accept our challenge,” González adds.
González elaborated that the strong points of OSG are its technical expertise and global network, which give assurance that expectation will be met with excellent product quality. Many of the prototypes made are already finalized and transferred to the factory for standard production.
The initial plan for GKN Automotive was to make 3,000 drive shafts, meaning that 6,000 CV joints were needed. Today, they have completed around 10,000 pieces, and still have about 1,000 pieces more to wrap up year 2024. GKN Automotive anticipated that production would increase by 30 percent more in the future. The change from gasoline to electric vehicles has prompted automotive makers from every brand to make modifications, which requires new prototypes. Everything being requested by GKN Automotive’s clients are in very large quantity. It is one of the company’s future agendas to further increase production capacity with OSG Royco.
From left, OSG Royco Applications Engineer Omar Albarrán, OSG Royco Sales Representative Ana Karina Regalado, GKN Automotive Prototype Engineer Juan Soledad and GKN Automotive Prototype Manager Ricardo González pose for a photograph at GKN Automotive’s manufacturing facility in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico.
“To date we have not found another supplier that has a machine to be able to perform outsource processing for what we do,” said González. “OSG Royco is our only supplier, and we are happy with their services.”
For more information on OSG Royco, OSG EX-CELL-O cold forming technologies, and GKN Automotive
About OSG Royco
OSG Royco was founded in 1994 to expand the cutting tool market in Latin America. With full support from the OSG Group, OSG Royco became an expert in the manufacturing and sales of taps right from the beginning. Today, with 30 years of experiences, OSG Royco supplies much more than just taps. With three manufacturing facilities in Toluca, Silao and Monterrey, OSG Royco offers a wide range of products and services such as taps, drills, end mills, rack dies, as well as tool reconditioning.
In 2016, OSG Royco’s Guanajuato Tech Center (GTO Tech Center) was completed to accelerate product development as well as to provide training for the local tooling community.
OSG Royco employees pose for a group photograph at the lobby of the GTO Tech Center in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico.
OSG Royco employees pose for a group photograph at the company headquarters in Toluca, Mexico in celebration of its 30th anniversary in 2024.
OSG Royco’s global experience allows the company to understand and appreciate different cultures, where its staff are encouraged to think outside of the box, and to reach out for support from the OSG global network in order to deliver the most optimum solution for its clients. Innovation, technology, commitment and integrity are the basic pillars of this organization and make OSG Royco one of the most reliable companies in the sector.
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