AMADA’S PHILOSOPHY – THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER
By Barry Page, Sales Manager, Amada Johannesburg
Back in 1946, when a Japanese gentleman by the name of Mr. Iasmu Amada had a vision of building quality and reliable machinery that would change the way people would look at and use their machinery, nobody was aware of the future technological advances his company -called “Amada”- would make.
While offering a different approach to the market than the competitors, nobody would have guessed back then that Amada would become a world leading machine manufacturer so fast.
Amada’s humble beginnings started with the manufacturing of bandsaws and soon thereafter expanded into various different sheet metal machines. Marketing of these machines was done by physically taking the machine to the customer site and performing live demonstrations with potential customers, all the time, listening to the customer’s needs.
Fast-Forward 80 years to 2026 and Amada has grown into a market leading manufacturer of not only bandsaws, but shears, turret punch presses, press brakes, laser cutting machinery, laser welding equipment, robotics, automation and all associated software & tooling. Eight decades of never forgetting their roots or “DNA” and by utilizing the “Voice of the customer” philosophy, Amada has managed to become a market leader producing solutions to meet even the toughest demands in the manufacturing industry.
Today, the bandsaws still uphold a massive part of Amada’s reputation through their reliability, quality and accuracy. This, coupled with the bandsaw blades offered, has been the basis of many users’ success stories and has made others envious of Amada’s reputation, thanks to their longevity and cutting accuracy.
The eight decades of Amada’s ongoing growth and success can be dedicated to the important philosophy of – “The voice of the customer”! This philosophy has taken Amada into avenues that are highly specialized, requiring extensive R&D together with massive investment in both personnel and associated resources.
This is where the basis of any machine designs or improvements has begun. Through working closely with customers, Amada has not only built unique relationships, but also a unique product range that not only meets but exceeds customer’s expectations, while pushing the boundaries of technology.
As a publicly listed company in Japan and with over 90 subsidiaries around the world, Amada prides itself on innovation and technology through their global foot-print of professional sales and after-sales support offices. Through the “One Voice” philosophy, Amada has managed to offer global support that is efficient and professional in almost every corner of the world. The DNA has remained “Amada” which shows that there is no compromise on quality when producing machinery or backing them up. If it doesn’t carry the Amada name, then it isn’t an Amada.
Over the 80 years of Amada’s existence, technology has changed drastically through the product range. The world’s emphasis has focussed of late on the environment and how the planet can be protected from harmful machinery emissions and waste.
Earlier models of machinery relied heavily on large quantities of oils in their drive systems. These were good machines, but environmentally, they were harmful in many ways.
Today, oils are still used in some models, but in far less quantities, while AC servo drives also offer an oil free option in some machines.
The same applied to the older Co2 lasers which were heavily gas dependant in order to run. Today, this has also changed drastically, reducing not only the carbon footprint, but the overall running cost and maintenance costs, too.
With the re-invention of the laser market when fibre technology was revealed, Amada took a leading role in ensuring a self-sufficient after-sales service by developing their own power sources, thus controlling the quality during the infancy stages. Later, once the technology had been “perfected”, Amada partnered with some of the top oscillator manufacturers to offer different options to the market, depending on customers’ requirements and needs. These systems still undergo Amada’s stringent quality checks and are adjusted or tuned according to Amada’s needs and expectations, further setting themselves apart.
Today, these different oscillator models are used on a variety of Amada laser cutting machines, namely, the ENSIS, VENTIS, REGIUS, BREVIS and the latest addition, the ORSUS. Different machine models offer different power options as well as different features, beam delivery options, automated operation options and drive systems.
Fibre laser technology quickly evolved into welding, too, which has now become quite the norm in the manufacturing industry. Here Amada has also taken a slightly different view of the market requirements and has firstly ensured that safety is the most important factor, together with quality. With fibre technology having the potential of being extremely dangerous, Amada has not compromised in any way and will only offer a solution that fully meets all safety standards not only for the operator but for anyone in the near vicinity during operation.
Amada’s fibre technology has been ground-breaking in many aspects, such as the production of highly specialized items in the transport, communications, rail, automotive, electrical, communications and medical industries, to name but a few.
The medical industry has been one of the intriguing industries, where the attention to the finest detail and quality has resulted in machines being produced to manufacture items, such as pace-makers and different prostheses, too.
The emphasis on fibre welding has been the ease of use together with the quality of the weld. These factors are the main contributors to a profitable production shop. Amada ensures both, by offering different options of either handheld systems or robotic systems.
With hand-held being the most commonly used, the Amada FLW1500MT (1,5kW) fibre welder has proven that there is no compromise to quality. Even a semi-skilled operator is able to successfully weld using this system thanks to the pre-set welding conditions for different materials.
The bigger FLW – Le fibre welder is a 3kW welding system mounted on a 6axis robotic arm, designed for ease of use and the enhancement of most manufacturing environments. Again, safety is ensured through the employment of a full cabin enclosure and an off-line programming software system.
Various functions are offered, such as a slim nozzle for tight access points, a filler nozzle for filler wire when needed, beam weaving mechanism, Z axis indicator, cameras and a collimator adjustment mechanism. All of these features assist in making robotic welding simpler for the operator.
Beam Weaving System
This unique system rotates the actual laser beam using a weaving lens, rather than relying on the robot creating the rotational motion. This allows wider gaps to be cleanly welded and results in smoother, more consistent part production.
TAS (Teaching Assistant System)
In order to minimise setup requirements and increase production time, the FLW-Le is programmed offline. This eliminates the need to manually teach the robot all the welding positions and movements.
However, experience proves that there will always be a slight difference in programmed position and actual part position. This is where the TAS feature is employed. The operator can load a new program and quickly verify the weld positions via the CCD camera which is built into the welding head.
Focal Control System / Collimator Axis Adjustment
The FLW Le has a collimator axis adjustment mechanism which is able to change the beam diameter according to the welding application. A manual focal adjustment system for the focal lens is built into the welding head. This allows the operator to set the focal position before each job based on the part geometry being processed.
CCD Camera
The CCD camera, which is mounted in the welding head, is utilized to assist the operator when fine tuning the off-line generated program.
One touch – quick change welding torch system
The FLW Le is equipped, as standard, with 2 different nozzles – being one coaxial nozzle and one water cooled nozzle. These 2 different nozzles allow for a wide range of welding applications to be carried out with one machine.
The coaxial nozzle enables welds to be performed in very tight spaces, while the water-cooled nozzle is utilized for thicker material welding applications. The one touch – quick change welding torch system allows the nozzle to be changed in less than 1 minute without the need for any tools.
System Controller
The system controller divides and controls the laser welding robot and associated equipment. This unit enables automatic operation of the robot as programmed, as well as the manual operation of the robot from the AMNC 4ie control stand and teaching hand box. It also controls the associated equipment, such as the laser oscillator and chiller, as well as the safety enclosure for operator protection.
Z Axis Indicator
The Z axis indicator is used to save set-up time. By using this system, the operator can easily and precisely check the welding head position by means of the LED cross target, which is projected onto the part to be welded.
In staying with the idea of simple controller utilization, the numerical control of the FLW Le offers features, such as facial recognition, guidance mode, welding date library, built in bar code reader and ecology reports.
The AMNC 4ie control depicts the different factors of Amada’s philosophy:
Intelligent – Interactive – Integrated – Innovative
Easy – Efficiency – Environmental – Evolution
These 4ie factors play an important role throughout Amada’s technology. The simplistic method of doing things on the machinery, as well as in the software make it easy for operators to produce quality parts on time.
As an additional option in production planning and monitoring, Amada now offers additional features, such as “My V-Factory”. This factory monitoring system allows for the continuous monitoring of the production environment from a desktop or smart device in real time.
My V-Factory displays all current machinery states, as well as running and completed programs. In addition, it also provides information about the exact running and set-up times, including precise distinction between idle – and downtimes.
My V-Factory offers practical solutions to counter bottlenecks and downtimes in advance. This is ideal for machinery with the AMNC 4ie control and the use of VPSS4ie software.
Amada’s aim is to provide a total solution to your manufacturing needs. The systems offered are modular, so, as company growth allows, additions can be made to the manufacturing facility and its supporting software systems. Proto-typing can now be done virtually to reduce costs and wastage, while improving quality and speed of delivery.
With the next 80 years in sight, Amada is eager to continue leading the technological advances and producing machinery that exceeds market demands.
For more information, please contact Amada – Tel: 011 453-5459.
