Prismatic FMS expanded with third HMC

HPC Precision Engineering has added a third Makino HMC to an existing two-machine flexible manufacturing system - part of the company's GBP 2.3 million investment.

Sub-contract machinist, HPC Precision Engineering, has added a Makino A100 twin-pallet, horizontal machining centre (HMC) to join two similar machines in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) at its Burgess Hill factory in the UK.

The HMC has a capacity of of 1700 x 1350 x 1400mm, a 50kW, 18,000 rev/min BIG Plus spindle and vacuum clamping facility on both pallets.

It will be producing structural components for aircraft, 24h/day, said HPC.

The third Makino HMC was part of a GBP 2.3 million investment in prismatic machining capability made by HPC during 2007.

Three quarters of the investment went on the Makino A100 for the FMS as well as four smaller, stand-alone, twin-pallet Makino machining centres; all were supplied by sole UK Makino agent, NCMT.

The four stand-alone, 4-axis Makino HMCs were installed to cope with increased demand from the high end of the automotive sector and to machine smaller components formerly handled by the FMS.

Much of the work involves 3D machining of gear shift surrounds, centre consoles, utility trays and other trim parts that are subsequently polished to a high cosmetic finish.

* Aircraft work - until now, HPC had produced very few aircraft parts, as it lacked AS9100 which is a prerequisite for gaining aircraft work contracts.

The subcontractor has since achieved full AS9100 approval.

HPC's sales manager, Chris Pellett, said that the company had already begun quoting the civil aviation sector even before AS9100 approval had been gained.

Work included monolithic machining of solid aluminium fuselage components such as frame supports, door sills and bulkheads.

Pellett added: "We are also actively seeking contracts for machining wing components and other types of aerospace parts".

Most aircraft work will go onto the Makino A100 in the FMS, while the FMS' two 12,000 rev/min A100s will continue machining an increased variety of parts for luxury cars, medical equipment, diesel generators and, most recently, off-road vehicles.

NCMT told manufacturingtalk that it added the third Makino to the FMS with minimum disruption to the operation of the other two machining centres.

Ten extra 1000mm square machine pallets were bought to supplement the 17 already handled by the Finnish-built Fastems store that now links and serves all three machines.

There has been no change to the 48 one-tonne-capacity euro pallets in the system that carry raw material or machined parts.

The pallets enter the FMS by two conveyors, one located between the two stations where machine pallets are loaded and unloaded.

The other conveyor is adjacent to nearby vertical machining centres (VMC) that perform operations on some components prior to their entering the FMS.

The VMCs are not linked physically into the system but the Fastems control software does provide material management covering the VMC operation.

* FMS operation - when the FMS entered service at the beginning of 2005, the FMS reduced economical batch size from between 10- and 40-off down to between one- and five-off, greatly enhancing the level of service HPC was able to provide.

Schedules tend to be changed frequently by customers, sometimes every day, so small batch manufacture and the facility to prioritise work allows the subcontractor to be far more responsive.

The FMS has been designed with load/unload stations that lower the pallets from shoulder to knee height so that they may be removed ergonomically.

Tool capacity is 188 tools/machine providing considerable flexibility for any job to be routed from within the pallet store to any of the three machines.

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 palletised work 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.

The FMS has been configured such that it will accommodate a fourth Makino A100 should this be merited by future production demands.

Overall store dimensions are 39.3m long by 6m high, and depth including the length of the integrated A100s is 14.3m.

Makino equipment has been used by HPC for over 20 years.

There are two A77 machining centres, installed during the mid to late 90s, housed in temperature controlled rooms for very high precision machining applications.

* Choosing machining centres - when investing in machining centres, HPC said it looks for reliability, high speeds and feeds to maximise productivity, rapid data processing of the sometimes very long programs, accuracy of machined form and good surface finish to minimise polishing.

Chief engineer at HPC, Ken Holt, said: "We regard Makino machines as being 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".

He said that HPC has a good relationship with the UK supplier, NCMT, which is always accommodating if a specification alters while a new project is in progress.

He added: "Their engineers are willing to tailor and modify a system as things develop.

The company's management of the latest FMS expansion was no exception".

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