Product category:
Horizontal machining centres (HMC)
News Release from: NCMT | Subject: Makino A100 2APC horizontal machining centre,
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 23 August 2005
HMCs linked with pallet handling to form
FMS
To raise output and reduce costs, a UK subcontractor has invested GBP 1.5million in a new HMC, upgrading existing HPC and applying a pallet handling system to form a FMS.
Burgess Hill subcontractor, HPC Engineering plc, has invested GBP 1.5 million to purchase a new Makino A100 2APC horizontal machining centre, upgrade an existing, similar machine on site, and link both with a Fastems automated storage and retrieval system for machine pallets and raw materials The resulting flexible manufacturing system (FMS), which entered service at the beginning of 2005, is being used for the production of an increasing number of parts for a leading sports car manufacturer as well as for Cummins diesel generator components and oncology couches for Varian Medical Systems
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The supply and installation of the full system has been managed by Makino's UK agent, NCMT, which has provided first tier support to HPC from initial specification through to final sign-off of this substantial manufacturing cell.
The new facility has made a big impact on production efficiency across a wide range of large components, some of which are up to 1.5m long.
The original A100 twin-pallet machine had been equipped with a number of spare pallets that allowed some fixtures to remain pre-set, ready to be craned into position when required.
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This policy, together with the use of universal fixtures, provided a viable solution to the demands imposed by the variety of parts being processed during that period, demonstrating a significant improvement over resetting for every application.
Even so, the storage of 1000mm pallets and the handling of them on and off the machine was a demanding and laborious exercise.
When the requirement for machining capacity of this size increased, in particular with the advent of a contract for machining aluminium torque tubes for sports cars, HPC recognised that it was faced with a choice.
Potentially the requirement was for more than one further machine, based on the known efficiency of the current machine, or alternatively a more productive solution was necessary.
Of significance in this consideration was the fact that the variety of parts to be processed was also increasing.
It was as a result of this review that the decision was made to link two machines into a system and thereby gain the improved efficiency created by the handling and management capability provided.
Said Ken Holt, chief engineer at HPC, "It was clear that not only was a second spindle necessary to cope with the workload, but that a change in production practice was needed to reduce our economical batch size from between 10- and 40-off down to between one- and five-off".
"This is what we have achieved with the FMS and in so doing, we have greatly enhanced the service we provide".
"Schedules tend to be changed frequently by customers, sometimes every day, so small batch manufacture and the ability to prioritise work easily allows us to be far more responsive to their requirements." A further problem with the pre-FMS scenario was that, as the Makino A100 is a big machine with 1700 x 1350 x 1400mm travels, its pallet load position is around shoulder height unless the machine is sunk into the floor, which HPC wanted to avoid.
Large parts and heavy fixtures therefore had to be handled in an unergonomic way.
The FMS has been designed to avoid this problem by incorporating lowering-type load/unload stations so that pallets emerge at knee height from the store.
NCMT upgraded the original A100's tool magazine from 90 to 130 pockets and supplied the second machining centre with an identical number of tool positions, giving considerable flexibility for any job to be routed from within the pallet store to either machine.
Linking with the machine tools, the Fastems MMS control software includes a module that creates an electronic copy of the tool magazines, including data on the lifetime and condition of all tools.
It is possible to check whether or not any of the pallets in the production queue can be machined with the existing tools and to determine which extra cutters are required to manufacture the loaded jobs.
Tool management is extended to so-called passive tools that are pre-set and held outside the machines.
When using tool simulation, the system software also considers these tools.
In addition to the two A100 machines, the Fastems cell installed at HPC includes two load stations where components are loaded to fixtures for onward processing onto the machines; and two material conveyors where standard euro pallets loaded with raw or machined parts are handled in and out of the storage areas provided.
The FMS provides storage and handling facility for both machine pallets and material pallets, with the Fastems management software ensuring continuous control once the pallets are entered into the system.
The FMS has been configured such that it will accommodate a further two Makino A100s should this be merited by future production demands.
For now, it is used in conjunction with two pre-existing vertical machining centres (VMCs) which perform operations prior to those carried out on the A100s.
The VMCs are not linked physically into the system but the FMS control software does provide material management encompassing the operations.
A material conveyor is located adjacent to this equipment such that castings pre-machined on the VMCs are loaded onto timber pallets and transferred into the system ready for subsequent operations on the A100s.
A second material conveyor is positioned between the work loading stations where component parts are assembled onto fixtures ready for feeding into the system.
Using this facility, material from the VMCs is delivered simultaneously with the machine pallet, ready for mounting onto the Makino fixtures.
With the diverse mixture of work being processed, HPC is unable to store all materials within the available space and for this reason it also delivers parts directly to the load stations for those products where no preparatory operations are necessary.
There are 24 positions for machining centre pallets loaded to a height of 1.2m and a further four that accept larger work to 1.9m high.
Material pallet locations number 48, although these could be reconfigured to suit machine pallets if a third and fourth A100 were to be added.
The material stations each accept a load of up to one tonne in an area of 800 x 1200mm (although parts can be 1550mm long), 36 to a height of 750mm and 12 to a height of 950mm.
Overall store dimensions are 39.3m long by six metres high, and depth including the length of the integrated A100s is 14.3m.
Makino equipment has been used by HPC for over 20 years and there are currently four machines at Burgess Hill from this Japanese manufacturer.
The other two, installed during the mid to late 90s, are smaller A77s housed in temperature controlled rooms for very high precision machining applications.
Concluded Holt, "Makino machines are in the top accuracy bracket and are fast for their size - the A100, for example - can cut and rapid-traverse at 50m/min and accelerate at 0.4G.
They provide us with very productive, highly capable solutions".
"We have a good relationship with the UK supplier, NCMT, which is always accommodating if a specification alters while a new project is in progress".
"Their engineers are willing to tailor and modify a system as things develop". Request a free brochure from NCMT ...
"The company's management of the latest FMS project was no exception.".
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