The cost of energy may rise and fall, but it always has an impact on a CNC machine shop’s profitability. Additionally, conserving energy today helps keep overall costs more stable while insuring we’ll have the energy we need tomorrow. That’s why energy efficiency is one more factor to consider when buying your next machine tool.
Ever wonder what you’ll see if you visit the Okuma America headquarters in Charlotte North Carolina? This brief video lets you, literally, fly through the facility where you’ll see Okuma CNC machines, the expansive parts warehouse and other customer support areas.
Just like a car or truck, CNC machines require routine maintenance to keep them in top form. A well maintained machine tool will perform at peak efficiency and reduce costly breakdowns that interrupt production. Performing routine maintenance, as required, will also prolong the life of the machine.
IMTS 2016 will be filled with the latest advances in manufacturing technology. A particularly interesting example is an automated cell on display in the Okuma booth (S8500). The cell is a joint effort by Partners in THINC members Okuma, Gosiger Automation, Kitagawa, Fanuc and Schunk.
Recently a global supplier of compressors decided to rethink its process for making a series of bearing housings. According to the Production Manager, “After analyzing quality control and machine maintenance data we determined it was time to replace some of our machine tools. However, we didn’t want to simply buy new machines, we wanted to find a better way to make this part. At that time, we were performing two operations on a turning machine, manually moving the part to a horizontal milling machine for two more operations, removing the part to press a babbitt insert into place, and then taking the part to a grinder for two finishing operations.
In this video an Okuma GENOS M560-V Vertical Machining Center is put to the test by machining S7 56Rc steel for a die/mold application. The VMC is equipped with a 15K Big Plus spindle and Hi-Cut options.
Machining titanium and other exotic materials presents a number of challenges, and although there are many conventional techniques that help in this process, this video presents a unique, unconventional approach: Cryogenics.
Okuma’s Partners in THINC is a collaboration of industry leaders who work together to solve customer problems and develop new ways to improve manufacturing productivity and profits.
A collaboration between Gosiger Automation, Okuma, Fanuc and Kitagawa work holding produced this robotically automated machining cell that significantly reduces the time and labor associated with part-to-part changeovers.
In the early days of CNC machine controls, setting up programs could be a bit challenging. Okuma changed all of that with the Windows-based THINC OSP control that makes getting started quicker and easier than ever before.
