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feature From Aggravation to Lights-Out Production Automated machining has transformed this South Carolina shop. However, achieving unattended production involved far more than just shutting off the lights. By Peter ZeLinski an Hogge says the key to implementing lights-out machining can be expressed in one simple word: Misery. You have to see that misery all the way through, he says. If a shop does not have the determination to keep advancing through a period of transition, not knowing when that period will end, then the shop will never fully shift from an operator-dependent process to one that achieves consistent, considerable and bankable lights-out production. His shop got there. Your shop can get there, too. However, his experience suggests that making this change is liable to be more difficult than you expect. "Be prepared to be aggravated," he says. D FrOM 70 tO 29 Photos on the facing page and above show some of the factors vital to successful unattended machining. One is workhandling. In the photo at left, the bar feeder at one end of the machine is matched at the other end by a carousel for removing and collecting completed parts. Another important factor is finishing the part entirely within the unattended cycle. In the turning center seen above, a deburring wheel in the turret overcomes the need for an additional deburring step. Mr. Hogge (pronounced "hog") is plant operations manager at Hogge Precision Parts in Hartsville, South Carolina. Founded as a screw machine shop by his father, Dan Hogge Sr., the contract machining business transitioned to CNC long ago and now specializes in bar-fed production on multitasking CNC turning centers. Most of its recent machine purchases have been CNC Swiss-types. The move to unattended production began with the crash of 2007-2008, he says. Hogge Precision Parts was hit hard because its biggest mmsonline.com September 2013 MMS 91