Increased Production Output through Automation
Company Name: a unit of Mitsubishi Materials USA
Situation: In 2000, as the world began the new millennium, RFM, a unit of Mitsubishi Materials USA, began its transition from a special order job shop to a high-volume manufacturer of indexable, multi-pocketed milling cutters, end mills and drills.
Result: Eight years later, the Brighton, Michigan facility has quadrupled its annual sales and increased production output 25% by judiciously applying automation technologies to its machining processes.
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Improved Cycle Times
Company Name: Accurate Grinding and Manufacturing Corporation
Situation: Accurate began as a small machine shop in 1950 and developed into a successful precision operation catering to the aerospace industry. Expansion into a patented line of TwinDrag fishing reels they developed and other equipment for the serious big game fisherman required automation to control production costs.
Result: What was once a five-step process that involved a lot of hands-on attention is now a continuous process that can run unattended. Cycle time has been decreased by about two-thirds waiting time between the previous five operations has been eliminated and an overall reduction in loading and unloading time has been realized.
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Doubled Productivity, Reduced Operator Time
Company Name: Fulton Precision Industries
Situation: When Fulton Precision considered adding two new L 470 Okuma lathes to their shop, Gosiger, proposed automating the process by adding a Fanuc 165F robot to load and unload parts. Gosiger Automation worked closely with Fulton Precision to make sure the system would not only increase productivity, but would deliver the accuracy and repeatability required.
Result: Although Fulton Precision’s goal was to increase productivity by 30% - 40%, the automated cell has actually delivered much greater efficiencies. Because the cell runs unattended and greatly reduces operator time, productivity has more than doubled. The cell can run any of the 94 parts in one machine while simultaneously running any other part in the opposite machine, without any tooling changeover or adjustment.
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433% Productivity Improvement, New to Okuma Products and Gosiger Service
Company Name: Morbark Inc.
Situation: “We had thirteen machine tools in our plant from another builder who made a good machine, but we were disappointed in their service and support.” Joe tells us. “When we were ready to add some new machines we looked at all of the options and were most impressed with the Gosiger organization’s thorough knowledge of manufacturing and the capabilities of the Okuma machines. Equally important, the Gosiger people were extremely responsive whenever we had a question.”
Result: As Joe Faber tells it, ”We used to have one operator program each machine – each using his own method. With Gosiger’s assistance, we now have one operator in charge of multiple machines, we’ve standardized programs, and are addressing tooling and tool life management, crash avoidance and other issues." Morbark also took advantage of Gosiger’s training classes that helped them learn new methods for programming and more. For example, one part they make has over 1400 holes. By improving the programming and taking advantage of the machine’s greater speed, production time has been slashed dramatically. According to Joe Faber, the company has reduced some processes from 8 to 1.5 work-hours.
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