Swiss-style machine tools can be a good choice for making complex parts. On the downside, however, Swiss machining itself has a reputation of being complex—and, therefore, more difficult to master than standard machining.
Erik Anderson, president and CEO of Basin Precision Machining LLC, has determined that setups are the root of all evil when it comes to manufacturing productivity. They cause part variations, downtime, and high-percentage scrap rates.
In a perfect CNC world, the first part is always a good one. There’s no need for extra blanks or barstock. Setup times are only as long as is needed to swap out a few tools and load a new program. There’s never a crash, never the need to reprogram an inefficient bit of code. The operator just pushes the green button and out pops a finished workpiece minutes or hours later.
Drilling advancements have spurred the evolution of oil and gas operations from simplistic single-well pad fields to more complex multi-well pads. Today, many producers are using fracking and lateral drilling techniques to place 10 or more wells on one pad.
I just returned from IMTS in Chicago and my first thought was, “where will I be able to rack up all those bonus steps I got last week?” On the easiest day, I walked 7.9 miles, and I topped 10 miles on two other days. It’s easy to understand why.
Flexibility has come to automation, perhaps as never before. And for industries that require precision machining, assembly, and measurement, automation technologies have never been more available.
Industrial computed tomography is a cost-effective, reliable way to meet intensifying
requirements for qualifying both the design of aerospace parts and the materials needed for their construction.
Vollmer of America completed its move into a new 30,000-square-foot facility near Pittsburgh International Airport in June of 2020 and participated in the Las Vegas AWFS Fair in July this year.
Big things are happening in the aviation maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) market: the first industry-wide material allowables for metal additive manufacturing (AM) parts are anticipated to be released this autumn.
In the AI world, fear is driven by unfamiliarity with the process, the professional impact of failure and the daunting tasks of pulling together all of the people and perspectives required just to get started. Here are three key lessons learned from our work with Rolls-Royce and Gulfstream that will clear your AI project for takeoff.
