Facing Fierce Competition with Multi-tasking Machining
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technologyspotlight MULTI-TASKING Reaching the Promised Land Parts machined in ESPRIT by Central Utah Tool. Facing the Competition with Multitasking Machining for Quality Parts in Less Time - and at a Lower Cost. Vytas Cijunelis, Midwest Operations Manager for DP Technology Manufacturing is no island. Business is global. These last few years have definitely taught us that. With manufacturers facing fierce competition, producing a quality part in a shorter time frame, all at a lesser cost, is the promised- land we’re all trying to reach. So how do you get there? To some, it is like a remote island hidden somewhere across a turbulent ocean with only a broken paddle to help. To others, it is in plain sight — an achievable feat — albeit with some assistance from new technology. Multi-tasking is one technology that has been around for a while, but has only recently become the hot topic as more shops discover its uses. In fact, many companies that Next Page previously never thought about getting a multi-tasking machine have done so, or are thinking about doing so, for the gains in productivity they offer. “We wanted to reduce and, or, eliminate fixturing as much as possible,” said Tom Moore, co-founder of Single Source Precision Machining in Indiana, whose machine also comes with an optional indexing sub-spindle. “We also wanted to produce parts with better accuracy. These were the main reasons we decided to get the Mori Seiki NT-series machine.” Additionally, once a new technology has been acquired, new benefits are discovered. Phil Martin of ETBO Tool and dptechnology.com

The last few years have been challenging, and the parts have not gotten any easier. In fact, parts seem to be getting more and more challenging these days, perhaps due to the overwhelming use of 3D solid model design systems allowing engineers to render, virtually test, assemble and visualize parts prior to manufacturing. Issues like design changes, aesthetics and manufacturability are all coming into play more than ever before, a combination that changes processes downstream, including manufacturing. We now see lathe parts with features requiring mold-making processes, and molds or parts...

Whether the multi-task machine is a milling machine with turning capability or a multi-spindle, multi-turret lathe, the machines are getting more complex and solutions need to support these and future machines. We are seeing machines with sub-spindles that index and move, four turrets, multiple gang-slides and even indexing B-axis milling heads on lathes now as common. Taking all these machines into account, a programming system is going to directly relate to the productivity you receive from your machines. In the case of ETBO, Mr. Martin says, “we looked for a CAM solution that has a...