Modern Machine Shop is focused on all aspects of metalworking technology - Providing the new product technologies; process solutions; supplier listings; business management; networking; and event information that companies need to be competitive.
Issue link: https://mms.epubxp.com/i/155490
feature All of the bar feeders in the shop are from one builder, Iemca. Using the same company's product throughout the shop simplifies employee cross training, Mr. Hogge says. He also believes giving all of his bar-feed business to one source makes his company more important to that supplier. feeder to turning center was a real and recurring problem. This was not the fault of the equipment, Mr. Hogge says. Rather, he accepts the blame himself. During the period following the crash, the shop grew lax about maintenance, particularly when imperfections in the equipment seemed so easy to manage. Today, because consistent operation is critical, the company has dramatically changed the way it thinks about maintenance. If the performance of any machine component declines, the shop flags the problem so it can be fixed before it impedes unattended production. 2. Coolant quality must remain consistent PROCESS CHANGES as well. When this begins to degrade, tool life and During that time, here are just some of the ways the shop's equipment and processes changed: part quality suffer. Various machines have now 1. Switches and sensors were common been given individual coolant separators from points of pain. The unreliable handoff from bar CoolantGuy.com. as they presented themselves. What made this time tr ying was that the way for ward was so unpredictable. Success always seemed to have been won until the next problem reared up. When the shop finally did achieve reliable unattended production, the employees didn't know it. They couldn't know until they were able to look back on several weeks without a new hang-up having revealed itself. Now, they can report that the journey to realizing effective lights-out machining took them about six months to complete. 94 MMS September 2013 mmsonline.com