Aluminum warm forming multi-opening oven and production line

A method of heating a plurality of blanks in a production line using an oven assembly, the oven assembly including a plurality of vertically aligned shelves providing a plurality of vertically aligned chambers, and comprising the steps of:

• conveying at least one first blank from an entry side platform to a first chamber of the oven assembly;
• heating the at least one first blank in the first chamber;
• moving the entry side platform vertically to a second chamber of the oven assembly while heating the at least one first blank;
• conveying at least one second blank from the entry side platform to the second chamber while heating the at least one first blank;
• heating the at least one second blank in the second chamber;
• conveying the at least one first blank from the first chamber to an exit side platform while heating the at least one second blank in the second chamber;
• moving the entry side platform vertically to the first chamber and conveying at least one third blank from the entry side platform to the first chamber during or after conveying the at least one first blank to the exit side platform;
• moving the exit side platform vertically to the second chamber and conveying the at least one second blank from the second chamber to the exit side platform while heating the at least one third blank;
• and
• the entry side platform and the exit side platform moving simultaneously, and wherein at least one of the shelves includes an upper platen, a lower platen, and a middle platen disposed between the upper platen and the lower platen, and the platens are spaced from one another to provide a pair of the chambers.