feature
tablE 1—Machining StRatEgiES
top Shops
Other Shops
Cutting to zero stock (moldmaking)
22.6%
14.6%
Five-axis machining (full contouring)
32.3%
22.2%
Five-axis machining (positioning only)
25.8%
24.1%
Hard milling
35.5%
39.2%
Hard turning
41.9%
43.5%
high speed machining
61.3%
48.1%
29%
25.7%
41.9%
23.5%
9.7%
13%
54.8%
52.2%
Large-part machining
lights-out machining
Micromachining
Prototyping
Machining EquipMEnt
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of all
surveyed shops use VMCs. However, a
higher percentage of Top Shops have
costlier HMCs (61 percent versus 44 percent), and 42 percent take advantage of
multi-face tombstones. That can enable
one HMC to achieve the productivity of two
or more VMCs. HMCs also hold many more
tools than VMCs, enabling them to accommodate a higher number of jobs without
changing/adding tools. These benefits are
demonstrated in our February 2013 article
" Wor th T hre e Machine s," in which a
shop that closely tracks machining performance found that its new HMC delivered
tablE 2—cutting tOOl StRatEgiES
top Shops
Other Shops
carbide recycling program
71%
56.2%
Coolant management system
71%
47.3%
74.2%
50.3%
9.7%
10%
45.2%
34.1%
29%
26.8%
Tool inventory management/usage tracking
48.4%
33%
tool presetting
54.8%
33.2%
Tool regrinding
54.8%
42.4%
None of these
3.2%
11.6%
custom/specialty tooling
Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL)
On-machine probing for tool breakage/measurement
Shopfloor tool vending systems
10 MMS August 2013 mmsonline.com/topshops