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Kajal Bharat Padwal pauses briefly to pose with an ANCA FX5 Linear. She’s otherwise sourcing carbide, designing tools, programming machines, solving problems, and more…

Kajal Bharat Padwal, a finalist in ANCA’s inaugural Female Machinist of the Year 2023 competition, is definitely a champ at Hrithik Tools in Pune, India. Hrithik is an ISO certified company serving the automobile, engineering, and textile sectors with a wide variety of special tools, and as the senior production engineer, Padwal is an essential part of their success. Likewise, she relishes the fact that their small size (two ANCA FX5 Linear tool grinders plus support equipment) gives her the opportunity to contribute to virtually every facet of the business.

Padwal’s formal education is in mechanical engineering, and she started in entry-level manufacturing positions, learning tool grinding from the bottom up. She combines inquisitiveness with a firm understanding of the fundamentals to both solve customer problems and optimize Hrithik’s production. For example, when a customer required a specific radius on a profile tool, Padwal designed a special wheel to achieve the required geometry with a plunge grind, minimizing cycle time. Likewise, she employs a mix of roughing and finishing wheels to maximize throughput at lowest cost for both high speed steel and carbide tooling. And she works directly with wheel vendors to optimize the abrasives for their range of tool materials.

Padwal’s multi-faceted role actually begins before the grind, by gathering customer requirements and then designing the appropriate tool in AutoCAD, including tolerances and material specifications. (Padwal is even involved in sourcing the raw material.) From there she programs the tool in ANCA’s iGrind software and puts it into production. Here she uses her understanding of how wheel is used for each grinding operation to improve tool quality and reduce cycle time, thereby also reducing costs. In addition to the major work done on the ANCAs, Padwal says virtually all their tools are polished off-line, and they also add an edge hone when needed, using a manually operated brush. Padwal also handles measuring to maintain and document quality.

When a customer reports a problem, Padwal analyzes video and other evidence to figure out what’s occurring and then devises logical solutions. For example, one customer experienced drill breakage upon entry into a blind hole. Padwal eliminated the problem by adding a corner chamfer and an edge hone to the tool. In another case, she was able to increase tool life in a profiling operation from 400 parts to 500 (a 25% improvement), by replacing the customer’s tool with her own design. Besides her design improvements, she explained that polishing the tool improved both throughput and the surface finish on the part.

What’s next? Padwal sees a long career in tool grinding, augmented with more formal training in engineering. But wherever she goes, she’ll never accept a limited role. Her energy and experience make her closer to a one woman production team.

26 February 2024