Metal Stamping

Metal stamping is a fundamental manufacturing process that transforms metal into vital components for various industries. Whether it's harnessing the power of the sun with alternative energy systems, creating life-saving medical devices, producing robust industrial machinery, or building reliable automotive parts, metal stamping is at the core of these technologies.

Here at Mursix, we’re proud to be a leader in the metal stamping industry, bringing a rich history of innovation and precision to every project. Our expertise supports a diverse range of sectors, ensuring that the stamped components meet the highest standards of quality and performance. We’ve compiled this guide to metal stamping to help you understand the ins-and-outs of this essential manufacturing process. Let’s get started!

What Is Metal Stamping?

Metal stamping is a versatile and essential manufacturing process used to convert flat metal sheets into specific shapes and designs. This method involves placing the metal sheet, known as a blank, into a stamping press where a tool and die surface forms the metal into the desired shape. Metal stamping can include a variety of processes such as blanking, punching, bending, coining, embossing, and flanging, each contributing to the final form of the metal component.

The metal stamping process begins with feeding a flat sheet of metal into a stamping press. The press, equipped with custom-designed dies, applies substantial force to the metal, shaping it into the required configuration. This method is known for its high precision and efficiency, making it ideal for producing complex parts with tight tolerances.

One of the key advantages of metal stamping is its ability to produce high volumes of identical parts with consistent quality. This consistency is critical in industries such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, and medical devices, where precision and reliability are paramount. Additionally, metal stamping allows for the use of various metals, including steel, aluminum, copper, and stainless steel, each offering unique properties suited to different applications.

Metal stamping is not only efficient but also cost-effective, as it minimizes waste and reduces labor costs compared to other manufacturing methods. It is an integral part of the production process for components ranging from small electronic connectors to large automotive body panels. At Mursix Corporation, we utilize advanced stamping technology and decades of expertise to deliver high-quality, custom-engineered components that meet the stringent demands of our clients across diverse industries​.

What Is a Blank in Metal Stamping?

A blank in metal stamping refers to the raw piece of metal that will be formed into a specific shape through the stamping process. Metal stamping blanks are typically cut from larger sheets of metal and then fed into a stamping press where various operations are performed to create the final product.

What Is the Best Metal for Metal Stamping?

The best metal for metal stamping depends on the application and the required properties of the final product. Commonly used metals include:

• Aluminum: Known for its lightweight and corrosion resistance, aluminum is often used in automotive and aerospace applications.
• Steel: Offering high strength and durability, steel is ideal for automotive and industrial parts.
• Copper: Valued for its excellent electrical conductivity, copper is used in electrical and electronic components.
• Stainless Steel: With its resistance to corrosion and high temperatures, stainless steel is suitable for medical and food industry applications.

What Are the Three Types of Metal Stamping?

The three types of metal stamping are progressive, four-slide (multi-slide), and deep-draw.

1. Progressive Stamping: This method involves multiple operations performed in a sequence using a series of stations within a single die. It is ideal for producing complex parts with tight tolerances.
2. Four-Slide (Multi-Slide) Stamping: This technique uses four tools, or slides, that move horizontally to shape the metal. It is perfect for intricate designs and allows for multiple bends and twists in a single process.
3. Deep-Draw Stamping: In this process, the metal blank is radially drawn into a forming die by the mechanical action of a punch. It is used to create deep, hollow shapes and is commonly employed in manufacturing components like automotive fuel tanks and kitchen sinks.

Mursix Corporation excels in all three types of metal stamping, leveraging decades of experience and state-of-the-art machinery to meet the diverse needs of our customers.​

What Is a Metal Stamping Company?

A metal stamping company specializes in transforming flat metal sheets into precise components through various stamping processes. These companies use advanced machinery and technology to manufacture parts that meet specifications and industry standards.

Mursix Corporation is a prime example of a leading metal stamping company. Established in 1945, Mursix has grown into a renowned provider of high-quality, custom-engineered metal stamping products. Headquartered in Yorktown, Indiana, Mursix serves a diverse range of industries including automotive, medical, security, and industrial sectors. The company's comprehensive capabilities encompass everything from design and engineering to prototyping, tooling, and full-scale production.

Mursix's success is attributed to its focus on innovation, precision, and customer collaboration. By integrating multiple processes under one roof, including stamping, machining, molding, welding, and finishing, Mursix offers a seamless and efficient production pipeline. This integration enhances the quality of metal stamping products and reduces costs and lead times for their clients.

The metal stamping industry as a whole plays a crucial role in modern manufacturing, providing essential components for various applications. Companies in this sector must continuously evolve, adopting new technologies and methodologies to maintain competitiveness and meet the ever-increasing demands for precision and efficiency​

What Is the Metal Stamping Process?

Metal stamping includes many different types of stamping processes, each with its own application.

• Bending: This process deforms or bends the material along a straight line, creating a V-shape, U-shape, or other angular forms.
• Flanging: Similar to bending, flanging involves bending the material along a curved line, often used for creating edges and rims.
• Embossing: This technique stretches the material into a shallow depression to add decorative patterns or textures. It is commonly used in decorative applications and for enhancing surface details.
• Blanking: In blanking, a piece is cut out from a sheet of material, usually to create a blank that will undergo further processing in another metal stamping machine.
• Coining: This method involves compressing or squeezing a pattern into the material. It is traditionally used for minting coins and creating intricate designs on the surface of the metal.
• Drawing: The surface area of a blank is stretched into an alternate shape through controlled material flow. Deep drawing is a variation where the metal is drawn into a deep recess, often used for making items like cups and kitchen sinks.
• Stretching: This process increases the surface area of a blank by tension, without inward movement of the edges, commonly used for producing smooth auto body parts.
• Ironing: Material is squeezed and reduced in thickness along a vertical wall, often used in the production of beverage cans and ammunition cartridge cases.
• Reducing/Necking: This technique gradually reduces the diameter of the open end of a vessel or tube, often used in the production of containers and tubing.
• Curling: The material is deformed into a tubular profile, commonly seen in door hinges and cylindrical components.
• Hemming: An edge of the material is folded over onto itself to add thickness, typically used in the edges of automobile doors.
• Piercing and Cutting: These operations involve creating holes or cuts in the material and can be performed in stamping presses.
• Progressive Stamping: This combines several of the above methods using a series of dies in a row. The material strip passes through each die station step by step, progressively forming the final shape.

Each of these processes is essential in the metal stamping industry, allowing manufacturers to produce a wide range of metal stamping products with precision and efficiency​

What Are the Steps in Stamping With Mursix?

At Mursix, our stamping process is meticulously designed to cater to our clients' needs, ensuring precision and quality at every stage. Here's a detailed look at our stamping process, step by step:

1. Award & Kickoff: This phase is a celebration of our new partnership. Our dedicated team, which includes sales, tooling, engineering, and a program launch team, immediately starts by reviewing the design, discussing cost-saving ideas, and planning the project comprehensively.
2. Design: Our in-house design team takes the lead, utilizing the latest CAD technology to create highly manufacturable, accurate, and efficient designs. This stage involves selecting the right team members and leveraging standardized work steps to ensure the best possible outcomes.
3. Build: The seamless transition from design to build is facilitated by our multidisciplinary approach. Our experienced tooling experts and design team collaborate using state-of-the-art equipment to construct the most precise tooling.
4. Approval & Launch: Our goal is a flawless production launch, achieved through a Zero Defects process. This includes multiple, clearly defined gates like the Mursix Validation Process (MVP), which keeps customers informed and ensures complete internal readiness before full-scale production begins.

At Mursix, our proven process is designed around you, solving problems methodically and building long-term trust through our dedication to excellence​

How Long Does Metal Stamping Take?

Metal stamping manufacturing lead times vary significantly based on factors like the complexity of the design, the type of metal being used, and the specific stamping process employed. Typically, simpler parts can be produced in a matter of seconds, while more complex components may take longer due to the additional steps required. While the exact duration of metal stamping varies, partnering with a seasoned manufacturer like Mursix guarantees a swift and reliable turnaround, tailored to meet the specific needs of each project​.

At Mursix, we streamline the metal stamping process to maximize efficiency and minimize lead times. Our state-of-the-art equipment and experienced team enable us to handle both high-volume and custom orders with precision and speed. The initial stages like design and prototyping often take the longest amount of time, but once the tooling is set up, production runs can be completed rapidly.

For high-volume production runs, our advanced stamping presses can produce thousands of parts per hour. The key to reducing production time lies in our integrated approach, which combines multiple processes under one roof, ensuring seamless transitions and minimal delays. Our commitment to quality and efficiency ensures that we meet our clients' timelines without compromising on precision or performance.

Is Metal Stamping Expensive?

The cost of metal stamping is also variable due to the many factors that go into creating a final product. Factors that influence the cost of metal stamping include:

• Material Selection: The type of metal used, such as aluminum, steel, copper, or stainless steel, impacts the cost. Materials with special properties or higher quality grades tend to be more expensive.
• Complexity of Design: Intricate and complex designs require more sophisticated tooling and longer production times, increasing the overall cost. The more detailed the design, the more precision and care are needed.
• Tooling Costs: Custom metal stamp tooling is a significant investment. The creation of dies and other tools necessary for the stamping process involves considerable expense, especially for custom designs.
• Production Volume: Higher production volumes can reduce the per-unit cost due to economies of scale. Large runs are typically more cost-effective than small batches.
• Labor and Overhead: Skilled labor, machine operation, and facility overhead contribute to the overall expense. Advanced stamping presses and highly trained personnel are essential for high-quality output.
• Additional Processes: Secondary operations such as plating, welding, or assembly add to the total cost. Mursix, with our integrated approach, can perform many of these processes in-house, which can lead to cost savings.
• Lead Time: Urgent projects requiring expedited production may incur higher costs due to the need for overtime labor and expedited shipping.

At Mursix, we strive to balance these factors to provide high-quality solutions for our clients that fit within your budget. Our extensive experience and comprehensive capabilities allow us to optimize the metal stamping manufacturing process, delivering custom metal stamp products that meet your needs.

What Are the Advantages of Metal Stamping?

The metal stamping process offers several advantages that make it a preferred method for manufacturing high-precision components across industries like alternative energy, automotive, industrial, medical, and more. Key benefits of metal stamping include:

• Cost-Effectiveness: Metal stamping is highly efficient for large-scale production, reducing labor costs and material waste. The automation and high-speed capabilities of stamping presses enable manufacturers to produce large volumes of parts at a lower cost per unit.
• Precision and Consistency: Metal stamping provides exceptional accuracy and repeatability, with consistent quality across all parts. This precision is crucial for industries like alternative energy, automotive, aerospace, and medical, where exact specifications can literally be the difference between life and death.
• Versatility: The process can handle a wide range of metals, including aluminum, steel, copper, and stainless steel. Metal stamping can produce complex shapes and intricate designs that would be challenging or impossible to create with other manufacturing methods.
• High Production Speed: Stamping presses can produce thousands of parts per hour, making it an ideal choice for high-volume production runs. This speed helps manufacturers meet tight deadlines and maintain efficient production schedules.
• Strength and Durability: Stamped metal parts often exhibit enhanced strength and durability due to the work-hardening effect of the stamping process. This makes the components more resistant to wear and deformation, extending their lifespan.

What Are the Disadvantages of Metal Stamping?

While metal stamping offers numerous advantages, it also has some disadvantages. However, with the right partner, these can be effectively mitigated:

• Initial Tooling Costs: The creation of custom dies and tooling can be expensive, especially for complex designs. However, these costs are often offset by the efficiency and cost savings in large production runs.
• Material Limitations: Not all metals are suitable for stamping. Brittle materials may crack or break during the process. Choosing the right material and working with an experienced partner like Mursix can help navigate these challenges.
• Design Restrictions: Some intricate designs may be challenging to achieve with stamping alone. Combining metal stamping with other processes, such as machining or welding, can overcome these limitations.

Partnering with a skilled manufacturer like Mursix can help you maximize the advantages of metal stamping while potential disadvantages are minimized. Our comprehensive capabilities, advanced technology, and experienced team make us a reliable partner for high-quality, efficient metal stamping solutions​.

What Is a Metal Stamping Example?

A prime example of the metal stamping process in action can be found in the automotive industry. In automobile manufacturing, metal stamping is used to create safety-critical parts such as seat belt channels, latches, steering components, engine components, and braking components. These parts must meet stringent quality standards, as any defect can have severe consequences. The stamping process in car manufacturing involves forming and shaping flat sheets of metal into precise components essential for vehicle safety and performance. This process demands high precision and a superior quality management system to ensure that each component is manufactured to exact specifications.

• Seat Belt Channels and Latches: These components are critical for passenger safety. The stamping process forms metal into robust and accurate shapes that can withstand significant forces during collisions.
• Steering Components: Precision is vital for steering parts to ensure reliable vehicle control. Stamped metal parts provide the necessary strength and durability for these crucial elements.
• Engine Components: Engine parts require high precision to function correctly. Metal stamping creates components that fit perfectly and perform reliably under high stress and temperature conditions.
• Braking Components: The reliability of braking systems depends on accurately stamped metal parts. These components must endure constant use and high pressure without failure.

At Mursix, our expertise in metal stamping means we can manufacture automotive components with the highest level of precision and quality, meeting the stringent demands of the industry.

Mursix: Your Experienced Metal Stamping Partner

Take a moment and look around you. Odds are, you’re probably within a few feet of a product that uses a metal stamping process. Metal stamping plays a vital role in creating the components that power various industries and touch our everyday lives—from car parts to medical devices, security systems, industrial machinery, and beyond.

At Mursix, we take pride in being a trusted partner in these industries. Our commitment to quality, precision, and innovation sets us apart. We understand the unique challenges and demands of each sector, and we are dedicated to providing tailored solutions that meet and exceed expectations.

Our extensive capabilities include everything from design and engineering to prototyping, tooling, and full-scale production. With our state-of-the-art technology and experienced team, we deliver metal stamping products that are integral to everyday life, ensuring safety, reliability, and performance.

Ready to elevate your manufacturing with high-quality metal stamping? Connect with us today to discover how Mursix can help you achieve your project goals with precision and efficiency. Whether you need automotive components, medical device parts, alternative energy elements, or industrial machinery pieces, Mursix is your go-to partner for all your metal stamping needs. Let us bring our expertise and dedication to your next project and make more possible together.