A family tool is a tool which produces two or more different parts in one cycle of the machine.

An example is an injection moulding tool which produces a left hand and right hand automotive component in the same shot.

Another example is a press tool which produces a rotor and a stator for an electric motor in the same blow.

Another example is a slitter which slits a reel of web into strands of different widths.

The Rhombus Factory Information System has full support for family tools.

• You can specify any number of family members.
• A family can contain the same part more than once.
• You can control the position of each part in a family.  This allows you to track the position across the web of slitting operations.
• It supports tools which cleat parts in the tool so that it takes many blows to make one part.  An example of this is a press tool making rotors and stators which cleats the rotor laminations into a stack in the tool.  In this case the rotors are counted in stacks, but the stators as individual laminations.