Modern Machine Shop

APR 2017

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.

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20 MMS April 2017 mmsonline.com THE Z AXIS Commentary There was a time when the phrase "islands of automation" was frequently used to describe a challenge inherent to CNC machine tools. That is, these machines—powerful as they are—have traditionally run in isolation from one another and from the management systems in the shop. Such is still the case in most manufacturing facilities. However, we don't hear this phrase so much anymore, because it has become dated. In an ever-increasing number of shops, many or all of the CNC machine tools are networked into a common system providing data repor ting for real-time, shop-wide performance and capacity a n a l y s i s. N ow, t h e c i rc l e of w h a t we m i g h t recognize to be isolated has grown. It is these shops, net worked or other wise, that are the disconnected islands. In short, individual shops today largely remain "islands of production," without digital outreach to other facilities, including to their customers. Will the day come when this separation also comes to an end? Likely yes. However, the connection won't necessarily take the form of direct networking in the same way the machine tools in a shop are networked. I recently caught a glimpse of what the connection might look like. I had fun not long ago playing with Xometry. Or more specif ically, playing with Xometr y's website. The company is a manufacturing portal connecting buyers of manufacturing ser vices (machining, she et metal, 3D pr inting) with a community of currently more than 200 vendors providing one or more of these ser vices. For buyers, a neat feature of Xometry's site is imme- diate, automated quoting. The buyer uploads a CAD file and specifies material and quantity to get automatically generated pricing on that job. The site even quotes different prices for different proce sse s sele cted, enabling a comparison between 3D printing and machining, for example. I uploaded some part models Xometry gave me, and also the model of a much stranger par t I happened to have in hand, just to see what price the site would quote. The system is getting more accurate all the ti m e, s ay s C EO R a n d y A l ts c h u l e r. T h ro u g h machine learning, it relates similar jobs to one another according to par t features, then uses the similarities it finds to base quoted prices on quotes that have been accepted in the past, versus quotes that were not accepted because (presumably) the price was too high. An iterative process is thus drawing nearer and nearer to the true market price for every given type of part. And a similar process is at work in the somewhat lower prices offered to the vendors carrying out that work. The difference between buyer price and supplier price is what Xometr y earns for managing and standing by every job. The result- ing model—instantaneous pricing of manufactured par ts with no RFQ—promises to simplif y the s e a rc h p ro c e s s th at b r i n g s m a ny b u ye r s of machined parts together with suppliers. Indeed, if such a model can catch on and expand, then it will mean no such search process is needed More and Better Data A portal that reminds me of Uber today holds the promise to perform like eHarmony in the future, its CEO says. PETER ZELINSKI EDITOR–IN-CHIEF PZELINSKI@MMSONLINE.COM "Shops will begin to resemble the data-outputting machines in their own facilities."

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