Mazak continues to provide the most advanced and highly productive manufacturing technologies available through strategic collaborations with other key OEMs. As the result of such a collaborative effort with Murata Machinery Ltd. (Muratec), Mazak developed its new MAZATEC SMS (smart manufacturing system) that provides unmanned, lights-out manufacturing and high output, as well as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity.

The MAZATEC SMS combines Mazak’s machining, automation, and Smart technologies with Muratec’s automated high-density storage and retrieval system. The MAZATEC SMS pairs multiple Mazak horizontal machining centers and/or multi-tasking machines with a Muratec vertically orientated, space-saving stocker-type system that has pallets, a material bucket and high-speed stocker crane. To match each manufacturer’s specific production and floor space needs, the modular system can have up to 150 stockers (in different sizes) in a six-level configuration that increases space efficiency by as much as 67%.

As key components of the MAZATEC SMS, Mazak’s SmartBox IIoT technology and Smooth PMC production management software along with Muratec’s automated system control all interconnect/synchronize with a customer’s enterprise resource planning ERP/MRP host and MES execution systems. These highly advanced digital innovations and complete connectivity make the MAZATEC SMS a smart factory solution for process control, monitoring and optimization to produce a variety of workpieces – even in small lot sizes – with extremely high efficiency.

The MAZATEC SMS can incorporate various sizes and types of machine tools into the same automated manufacturing system. Such flexibility is possible because the stocker system sets up faster and easier as well as accommodates different size machine tool pallets, as does the system’s single stocker crane. This capability also allows manufacturers to apply the MAZATEC SMS across a more expansive spectrum of part numbers/types for cost effectiveness and increased ROI.

Peripheral equipment for the MAZATEC SMS includes individual stations for loading and centering, tilt loading, raise and lower loading, work set up and part washing. In addition to keeping the machine tools supplied with work, the system’s stocker crane handles the MAZATEC SMS overall input of raw parts and the output of finished ones.

“With the combined technologies of Mazak and Muratec, the MAZATEC SMS advanced manufacturing system will significantly increase the competitiveness of manufacturers in today's IIoT environment,” states Brian Papke, chairman of Mazak. “We at Mazak believe that such collaborations with other innovators in the manufacturing industry effectively foster new ideas and ways to combine processes and apply new technologies to improve the manufacturing performance of customers.”

For its part of the collaboration, Muratec contributes AS/RS durability and reliability. The company and its systems are well entrenched in the automotive and other industrial manufacturing environments. Unlike other comparable systems that tend to be standard in nature, Muratec’s base units are much more customizable and configurable for a wider range of applications.

Mazak has a long history in the production of factory automation systems, such as its earliest one the MAZATROL FMS (flexible manufacturing system) developed in 1984 and its current systems that include PALLETECH and the single machine MPP (multiple pallet pool). Similarly, Murata Machinery has extensive experience as a provider of material handling systems to manufacturing facilities worldwide.

Researchers at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a novel method for interim, in situ dimensional inspection of additively manufactured parts. Additive manufacturing processes currently have limited monitoring capabilities, offering users little to no options in mitigating the high levels of product and process failures. This technology uses both infrared (IR) and visual cameras that allow users to monitor the build in real-time and correct the process as needed to reduce the time and material wasted in parts that will not meet quality specifications. The technology is especially useful for the in-process inspection of a parts internal features (e.g., fluid channels and passages), which cannot be easily inspected once the print is complete. The technology has the potential to enable the implementation of a closed-loop feedback system, allowing systems for automatic real-time corrections.

Benefits

• Robust: leverages processing techniques to reduce false positive readings
• Flexible: can be implemented in existing systems
• Cost-saving: reduces time, energy, and material wasted in nonconforming parts
• Accurate: uses both IR and visual cameras for thermal and spatial accuracy

Applications

• Medical: orthopedic implants
• Aerospace: complex injectors, internal coolant passage components, heat exchangers
• Automotive: exhaust system components

The Technology
The in situ inspection technology for additive manufacturing combines different types of cameras strategically placed around the part to monitor its properties during construction. The IR cameras collect accurate temperature data to validate thermal math models, while the visual cameras obtain highly detailed data at the exact location of the laser to build accurate, as-built geometric models. Furthermore, certain adopted techniques (e.g., single to grouped pixels comparison to avoid bad/biased pixels) reduce false positive readings.

NASA has developed and tested prototypes in both laser-sintered plastic and metal processes. The technology detected errors due to stray powder sparking and material layer lifts. Furthermore, the technology has the potential to detect anomalies in the property profile that are caused by errors due to stress, power density issues, incomplete melting, voids, incomplete fill, and layer lift-up. Three-dimensional models of the printed parts were reconstructed using only the collected data, which demonstrates the success and potential of the technology to provide a deeper understanding of the laser-metal interactions. By monitoring the print, layer by layer, in real-time, users can pause the process and make corrections to the build as needed, reducing material, energy, and time wasted in nonconforming parts.

At the first general session of National Tooling & Machining Association’s (NTMA) annual meeting near Jacksonville, Florida, Chris Kaiser, president/CEO of BIG KAISER, presented a donation for $4,100 to benefit the NTMA’s National Robotics League (NRL).

The donation was the result of a year-end promotion by BIG KAISER, giving back to the association a percentage of every order by an NTMA member company. Manufacturers placed their orders for cutting tools, tool holders, and workholding products and were earning funds for the NRL at the same time.

“The promotion was a way for us to support our customers and members in the NTMA, and to promote workforce development and STEM programs through the National Robotics League,” Kaiser explains.

“The NRL is all about the community collaborating together to engage manufacturing's next generation. We truly appreciate BIG KAISER's generous contribution and their continued leadership in supporting initiatives to close the manufacturing skills gap,” says Bill Padnos, NTMA director of youth engagement. “We are also grateful to all of the NTMA members who participated in this program.” 

The NRL is a manufacturing workforce development program of the NTMA where students design and build remote controlled robots (Bots) to face-off in a gladiator-style competition. Through the manufacturing process of Bot building, students’ imaginations are captured as they design, build and compete with their own robotic creations. Through this hands-on effort along with industry partnerships, students gain practical knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) – all essential skills for manufacturing.

James “Jay” Campbell had no idea that when he and his brother Larry were paid pennies per unit to help their dad deburr injection-molded parts every evening during their high school years, the experience shaped their futures. With more than a decade of hands-on experience, Jay founded Campbell Engineering in Lake Forest, California, 19 years ago, but he still considers himself more machinist than CEO. He consults Larry for advice and is thrilled that his own daughters and son-in-law now work with him at Campbell Engineering.

Jay’s company has found its niche milling highly complex, low-volume components – primarily aluminum parts for medical laser instruments, developing a reputation for high quality and customer service standards while delivering parts on time. Recently, Campbell Engineering has been evolving from a job shop into more of a contract manufacturer, as current clients ramp up part quantities. Adding a Makino PS95 vertical machining center (VMC) and a51 horizontal machining center has allowed the company to expand its capacity as it shifts its business model.

“Both the PS95 and a51 have enabled us to accomplish our goal of expanding capacity beyond what was capable from previous conventional vertical machining centers,” Jay says. “Both machines are cutting 60% to 70% more aggressively than the other machines on our shop floor.”

Managing growth 

Campbell Engineering had used conventional VMCs for its operation, equipment that fulfilled Jay’s dream of starting his own shop and had served the company well for many years. But he knew that adding new technology would help the company grow.

“We didn’t seek new equipment because we were having problems,” Jay says. “We just needed to better manage our expansion. There were new opportunities we did not want to pass up. Customer needs have changed in the last 5-to-10 years, and we are going from prototypes to production. To meet this new business opportunity, we wanted to increase capacity, and that required a new strategy that would enable our business to thrive without adding additional labor.”

The company had already grown from a one-man shop to a two-shift operation, and had expanded from an 800ft2 to 11,500ft2 building. Recognizing growing pains similar to those his father’s business had once experienced, Jay spoke to his brother Larry about the Makino machining solutions they had put in place during their growth spurt.

“Larry told me that he was extremely impressed by the quality, service, and productive performance of the Makino machines they had acquired,” Jay says. “So our Campbell Engineering team scheduled a meeting with SST, our local Makino distributor, to learn more.”

Campbell Engineering purchased a PS95 VMC in late 2013.

“I was still hesitant to take a chance with a horizontal machining center, so I decided that my first Makino purchase would be a VMC,” Jay says. “I knew we couldn’t go wrong due to the production capability, product quality and pricing, which were all the main factors in my decision. SST had the machine installed and running at the shop within 48 hours of delivery and also brought in a Makino engineer for on-site training with three of the company’s operators.”

Faster operations

Campbell Engineering is already seeing big improvements as it expands its capacity.

“Our cutting performance has improved significantly,” says Steve Butner, machinist supervisor. “On both machines, we have increased spindle speeds and feed rates by 50% to 70%.”

The PS95 became the company’s number one workhorse for larger applications with limited operations that require high metal-removal rates (MRR) and precise true positioning.

 

“The PS95 is pretty impressive compared to our previous machines,” Steve adds. “We like the speed of the tool changes and the machine rigidity. We feel like it has the performance equivalent of two to three other machines in the shop. We used to run our commodity machine at 800rpm while feeding it at 8ipm. We run the spindle on the PS95 at 3,200rpm and feed it at 30ipm to 35ipm.”

On a beam splitter used for medical devices, Steve says machinists were able to drop cycle times from 42 minutes on commodity VMCs to 25 minutes on the PS95. Repeatability also improved. He adds that higher horsepower and torque allowed Campbell machinists to be 60% to 70% more aggressive with cuts, even using smaller tools. Campbell Engineering also uses the PS95 to perform high-performance roughing operations and establish datum points on the first operation.

“We try to nail the first position perfectly, because all subsequent operations come off of it,” Steve says. “This strategy has enabled us to use the PS95’s strongest advantages across the widest number of applications.”

Hungry beast

A few months after installing the VMC, the company added the Makino a51 horizontal machining center (HMC).

“The HMC would help us combine operations and improve quality, since the products we are making require five-to-eight operations and a true position of 0.001",” Steve says.

SST provided the machine installations and related fixturing and consumable needs, even suggesting that Campbell add a Techni-Grip work-holding system to the a51.

“SST responded to all of our questions and stayed with us until we were completely up and running. The Makino service personnel were everything you would expect from a premium machine manufacturer. We received progress updates from their technicians throughout the day during the installation process,” Jay says. He adds that when Campbell Engineering encounters applications requiring three or more operations, the a51 is its go-to solution to machine the part complete.

 

“With the B-axis table, we are able to access more part features, consolidate operations, reduce setups, and use fewer tools – all of which maximize spindle utilization,” Butner says. “We came up with 50% faster cycle times without much effort.”

One Campbell Engineering operator describes the a51 machine as a beast that is always hungry.

“We continue to keep pushing the machine’s cutting parameters further and further, and it just keeps taking on more and more,” Steve explains. “We can’t get parts programmed fast enough to run through the machine. With the 14,000rpm spindle, we feel like the sky’s the limit on the feed rates. You can be as aggressive as you want when programming it. You just need the proper tools. And even with the increased machining speed, we do not see an increase in tool wear. We attribute this to both the rigidity of our Makino mills and our quality tool holders.”

Jay adds that about six months after the a51 was in place and employees were trained, “We knew that we made the right choice. Any worries about ROI went away as soon as we fired it up and saw what it could do. The machine has proved to be what we’ve hoped for, and more. Not only have cycle times been reduced, the equipment is much more repeatable and accuracy has improved. This means that we spend less time struggling with setups and first articles, saving time and money in our quality department.”

 

The machine enables the company to take existing jobs and complete them using more efficient solutions.

“It’s fun to find new ways of doing things,” Jay says. “That kind of creativity makes this job fun. I want to do things faster and more accurately than the competition. And the speed and rigidity of both of the machines allow us to accomplish that.”

Maximizing efficiency

Campbell Engineering operates each machine with its individual strengths in mind, maximizing value. Between the two, the company tries to run as many jobs as it can.

“Since we have been using Makino machines, we have not only seen a significant reduction in cycle times, but we have also been able to run additional volumes of certain parts,” Steve explains. “Moreover, from a programming standpoint, we are much more aggressive in the way we approach cutting material.”

Being more aggressive in the cut has improved Campbell’s throughput and profitability.

“We feel that this equipment is far superior compared to our previous equipment,” Steve adds. “At Campbell, we hold tight tolerances; ±0.0005" is not uncommon. We have already observed a decrease in setup time and in holding positional tolerances. We used to spend time trying to locate the sweet spot for the part. But the PS95 and a51 are so repeatable. This saves a lot of time, maintains quality, and eliminates scrap. We can produce high-quality parts in a fraction of the time than we did with our previous equipment.”

As the company continues to expand with more high-mix, low-volume work, it has already purchased another Makino HMC, the a51nx, as well as a Makino U6 wire EDM to give the company even more control over quality and scheduling.

“We currently outsource $8,000 to $10,000 per month in wire EDM work,” Jay notes. “And based on the user-friendly design of Makino’s U6, we believe we can quickly eliminate those expenses while obtaining additional flexibility for the future.”

Campbell Engineering knows that acquiring new technology can help it maintain its competitive edge.

“We know that the companies that are growing are the ones that have the nerve to invest in technology to obtain power, speed, and accuracy. As bidding for work remains competitive, we need this kind of advantage to stay ahead,” Jay says. “Because we have Makino equipment, our customers will know that we’re serious about making accurate parts. They are some of the most top-rated, cutting-edge tools out there. We enjoy showing them off when someone visits our shop. It makes them feel confident knowing that we have the capacity to handle their needs. We believe that quality breeds quality, and we look forward to growing our business as we acquire more Makino machines.”

Article originally appeared in the August 2017 issue of Today's Medical Developments magazine.