Case Study
GWS Reduces Tool Costs By 75% With Custom PCD Tipped Insert
Customer
An Automotive Manufacturer
Part and Material
Aluminum Casting Transmission Housing

The Situation
A large automotive manufacturer had challenges with their desired tool life while using a standard PCD tipped insert. Their existing insert could only produce 8,000 parts per tool, costing $63 per insert and requiring 525 inserts annually—resulting in a total tool cost of $33,000. This, alongside their extended tool change time of 25 minutes, was impacting production efficiency. Seeking a way to boost productivity and reduce costs, they turned to GWS for a custom solution.
Current Process Results
- PCD Tipped Insert
- Tool change time of 25 minutes
- 8,000 parts per tool
- 525 inserts annually
- $63 per insert
- Annual tool costs of $33,000
New GWS Solution
- PCD Tipped Insert
- Reduced tool change time by 5 minutes
- 22,000 parts per tool
- 190 inserts per year
- $44 per insert
- Reduced tool cost by 75%
- Annual tool costs of $8,350
- Total Costs Savings of $24,650

Conclusion
After reviewing the challenges and desired outcomes from the customer’s application, we designed a custom PCD-tipped insert that achieved exceptional performance, producing 22,000 parts per tool—an increase of 64% compared to the previous competitor’s insert. This improvement not only reduced the frequency of tool changes but also streamlined the tool change process, cutting the time required from 25 minutes to just 20 minutes. The enhanced efficiency translated into significant cost savings for the manufacturer. Annual tool costs dropped from $33,000 for 525 inserts to $8,350 for just 190 inserts—a total savings of $24,650. The customer was thrilled with these outstanding results and began exploring additional opportunities to find cost savings on their other cutting tool applications with the aid of our Application Specialists and engineering teams.
Facing a challenging application? Reach out to GWS Tool Group and discover how our customized solutions can elevate your production efficiency. For inquiries, email us at sales@gwstoolgroup.com.


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