A recent effort by the Norton Advanced Applications Engineering Group demonstrates that for difficult-to-machine materials, grinding can be an economical alternative to other machining processes.
Investing in factory automation for the first time is a big decision for many CNC machine shops. For Loveridge Machine (Salt Lake City, UT), owner Dennis Loveridge thoroughly researched his options before making a decision for his high tech job shop.
Process improvement encompasses a wide range of tools, techniques and strategies. When properly deployed, shop-floor data collection and monitoring systems can help factory-floor managers leverage key data metrics including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total effective equipment performance (TEEP) that measure machine uptime and pinpoint bottlenecks or other problems in order to improve machining performance.
Not all threaded connections serve similar purposes.The load-carrying needs of an aerospace engine support bolt in a tension assembly greatly exceed those of a simple screw that fastens a cover plate to an electrical wall socket. International thread-acceptance documents and standards recognize this basic engineering fact, and incorporate different thread-inspection requirements into their verification standards.
Taiichi Ohno is often quoted as declaring: “Without a standard, there can be no improvement.” The principles of lean do not work well when everyone is allowed to choose their own work method or work sequence in which to do a job: the outcome is unpredictable; flow and pull are impossible. This reduces throughput and the carefully crafted process develops unanticipated outcomes.
If there is a primary goal for what companies in this sector want to deliver to their customers it is quality. But throughput comes in a fairly close second.
When additive manufacturing first hit the market, some said it would eventually be the death of traditional, or subtractive, CNC machining. More than 30 years later, new machines are showing additive manufacturing as it really is—a complementary technology.
When a growing backlog in the inspection room began to slow production and delay deliveries, Voisard Tool Service Inc. (Russia, OH), a division of Arch Global Precision, found a solution in a new advanced tool measurement system and software from United Grinding (Miamisburg, OH).
United Grinding North America Inc. will officially open the doors of its new 110,000-sq.ft. headquarters in Miamisburg, (OH) on Nov. 3. The new ultramodern facility brings together under one roof the company’s cylindrical, surface, and profile grinding business units as well as its automation and rebuilding departments with the staff from its tool and cutter grinding machines and measurement systems sectors which were formerly located in Fredericksburg, (VA).
Machine tool orders rose in May as the industry recovers from a two-year slump, the Association for Manufacturing Technology (McLean, VA) said in a monthly report.
