AUTOMATING YOUR MILLING OPERATION IS NOT ONLY PICK AND PLACE
By Paul Savides, Managing Director, PBS Machine Tools
Bankers are lucky, through interest they can make money even while they sleep. Yet, manufacturing challenges are increasing on a daily basis, so what about your engineering operation?
There are three methods to improve your efficiency:
- Production Automation: Wages and salary increases without improvements in efficiency and the decline in young people wanting to work in a difficult work environment that is our industry.
Therefore, production automation reduces labour costs, while increasing value gained through predictable quality and reduced operational errors.
- Information Automation: Constant working hours allows for errors due to fatigue and the loss of data when job/shift handover from one employee to another.
Therefore, information automation will provide transparent information and production status datalization with on time delivery and monitoring of product line from anywhere.
- Management Automation: Information misinterpretation across shift changes and too much time spent on data capturing and report writing.
Therefore, data collection by the system reduces human error and digitization management builds up product traceability.
Depending on the variety of products you are manufacturing, it is sometimes difficult finding the right, suitable automation solution.
Mass production of a single product workpiece can be achieved through pairing an individual machine with a robot.
Increased production and quality rates can be achieved by integrating more than two machines that share the process, fixtures and tools.
High-Mix Medium-Volume production can be economically achieved by using a multiple pallet pool or flexible manufacturing systems that enable high frequency exchange of the production line through high accuracy fixture transfer.
High-Mix Low-Volume production means enabling production lines requiring high variety of products to be restructured with high frequency, making it a highly flexible manufacturing system.
The problems when implementing the various levels of required automation are mostly discovered after implementation and can include:
- Production rates that are lower than expected due to poor utilization rates including robotic idle time.
- Automation process errors requiring constant stopping, modification and testing due to unattainable targets.
- Complex data exchange and communication errors when connecting to other systems make integration difficult.
- Problems with monitoring and management of automation lines that suddenly stop due to equipment or system failures.
- Lack of quality management that ensures no defective parts are processed and eliminated from the system in time.
The above is where the Tongtai Group of Companies comes into play by using Analysis and Evaluation, Hardware and Software Integration and Datalization Management to assist users to predict and solve potential issues.
The simplest manufacturing can be achieved through using Multi-Tasking machines where you can integrate different processes into a single machine which reduces labour, thus saving money, saving floor space, while increasing production space utilization and reducing the number of operations required. Stability and accuracy is maximized and productivity improved.
What we have learnt working with our customers
In mass production environments change-overs occur least often, if at all. Whereas in jobbing environments change-overs are far more frequent and can cause loss of entire shifts.
One of the biggest losses of time during milling operations occurs during change-over. Changing over from one job to the next involves tooling, fixture, programs and operations. Having a 5-axis milling machine for example with multiple pallets can eliminate this loss of time completely.
APEC CNC, a member of the Tongtai group recently introduced their new high-speed, heavy-duty model HS-700 Horizontal 5 axis machining centre with multi pallet system at Timtos in Taiwan. This type of machinery can be used as a full 5 axis machine that is capable of machining 5 sides of a workpiece in one set up with an X-axis of 710mm, Y-Axis 910mm and Z-axis 810mm complete with 32, 60 or 120 tools ATC that provides flexibility and variety. In this case a good choice is to fill the ATC with pre-set tooling that can be used in a variety of different jobs and set up multiple pallets that can accomplish increased productivity and allow the machine to work unattended.
We are just a phone call away for a free consultation to discuss your application – and production needs.
For more information please contact PBS Machine Tools – Tel: 011 914-3360.
