The grand opening of Kitamura Machinery’s new U.S. corporate headquarters on June 7, 2022, was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony officiated by Dr. Akihiro Kitamura, Ph.D., Eng., president & C.E.O. of Kitamura Machinery Co., Ltd., Mayor Paul Hoefert from the Village of Mt. Prospect, and Hiroshi TAJIMA, consul-general of Japan in Chicago. Distributor partners and vendors were on hand to tour the new facility and participate in the festivities along with additional members from the Village of Mt. Prospect and the Mt. Prospect Chamber of commerce.
The new facility offers a state-of-the art showroom with various machines under power for customer demonstrations, dedicated training spaces, expanded warehouse space for over $13 million worth of parts inventory and increased office and conference room space all designed to provide additional sales and service capabilities to meet the growing customer demand for the expanding line-up of Kitamura Machining Centers throughout the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and South America.
“As the US office celebrates its 40-year anniversary this year, this investment is about meeting the growing demand for the Kitamura product from our customers and dealers, and I am very proud of the Kitamura USA team” Kitamura said in remarks during the opening. “This new location will facilitate an increase in customer services and a larger on-site support staff to support future growth of Kitamura machining center sales.”
Kitamura Machinery’s new U.S. corporate headquarters is located at 451 Kingston Court, Mt. Prospect, IL 60056.
Smart Technology Systems with Caron Engineering
GIE Media’s Manufacturing Group
IMTS 2022 Conference: Smart Technology Systems – The New Eyes and Ears of Manufacturing
Learn how smart technology such as RFID tool management and adaptive tool monitoring is changing the world of manufacturing.
About the presentation For this presentation, we’ll discuss the innovative technology and collective solutions changing the face of manufacturing. From RFID tool management to adaptive tool monitoring to automated tool compensation and offset adjustment, we’ll discuss the data-driven solutions available to optimize and automate each step of the manufacturing process. Some of the immediate benefits from implementing the technologies for discussion include process automation and unmanned operations, error elimination, setup and cycle time reduction, real-time monitoring of all tools, data analysis, and shop floor connectivity.
Registration Powered by AMT and managed by GIE Media, The IMTS 2022 Conference features 69 different sessions you won’t want to miss so register today. Focused on a range of topics that include process innovation, plant operations, quality/inspection, and automation, The IMTS 2022 Conference addresses improving productivity; improving part quality; and developing a stable, competent workforce to lower the cost of manufacturing in the United States and create new levels of market demand.
Meet your presenter In 1986, after working in the CNC machining industry for many years, President Rob Caron, (P.E.), identified a gap in the CNC tool monitoring and machine control market. He started his own company in the basement of his home to pursue the development of these conceptual technologies. Caron Engineering has a 12,000ft2 facility with more than 35 employees, and a dynamic product line of smart manufacturing solutions that are unmatched in the industry.
About the company At Caron Engineering, our mission is to transcend the industry standard by developing advanced sensor and monitoring technology to optimize performance, productivity, and profitability. As an employee-owned entity (ESOP), we work together to bring the best possible service and quality to our customers. It’s our goal to provide leading smart manufacturing solutions to reduce cycle times, promote unattended operation, drive down tooling costs, and minimize expensive damage to machines and work-holding. Our people are in the business of developing “Adaptive Solutions for the Future of Manufacturing” through strong leadership, foresight, and diligence. At Caron Engineering, innovation is what drives us.
https://www.mazakusa.com/
Mazak
New Mazak distributors in the US
Key distribution changes reflects commitment to excellence and increased pace of business.
Mazak officials announced new distribution in Northern Ohio, Virginia, Southern West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. As of June 1, 2022, HEH Group subsidiary Motch & Eichele will provide sales and service support for Mazak customers in Northern Ohio, while HEH Group subsidiary Crotts & Saunders will be responsible for the Carolinas, Southern West Virginia, and Virginia. Long-time distributors Premier Engineering and Pinnacle Machine Tools will continue to serve customers in the Southeast Region, with Premier providing support to customers in Georgia and Pinnacle providing support to customers in both Alabama and Tennessee.
With these changes, Mazak continues its commitment to maintaining a balanced model of direct sales and distribution in North America. In doing so, the company partners with only the best distributors, reflecting its stead-fast commitment to continuous improvement, ongoing excellence, and dedication to customers.
According to company President Dan Janka, Mazak’s balanced approach matches the pace of Mazak innovation in terms of production requirements and increased customer demand. This strategic approach also optimizes core competencies in various areas, ensuring customers have access to the resources they need to succeed.
Headquartered in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the HEH Group is a family of four companies formed to provide leading manufacturing solutions to the industry. With the combined strengths and resources of each of its subsidiary companies, the HEH Group offers a variety of products and services that’ll keep Mazak customers competitive in their markets.
In business since 1985, Motch & Eichele brings with it a team of dedicated field sales professionals and application engineers and automation specialists. The company will work closely with Mazak customers to deliver productive and cost-effective manufacturing solutions.
Established in 1956, Crotts & Saunders provides complete machining, automation, and inspection solutions. Its experienced team will ensure Mazak customers are equipped with solutions that improve the speed and quality of their processes while reducing overall production costs.
The HEH Group has formed a Technical Team to support Mazak users with rapid service and repair deployed from each distributor's territory. Their technicians are Mazak trained and certified to deliver dependable service.
“The addition of the HEH Group to our network of distributors will not only enhance service and support, but most importantly their application experience and expertise will play a key role in the support of Mazak’s recently launched SYNCREX Swiss-style machine line,” Janka says. “Mazak customers will also benefit greatly from the group’s strong aftermarket service, automation integration capabilities and from their technology centers that are second to none.”
Motch & Eichele and Crotts & Saunders both maintain fully staffed full-service state-of-art technical centers for training and engineering support. These facilities also feature technology demonstration areas for customers to experience the latest manufacturing innovations from Mazak in action and processing real-world components.
These new and existing Mazak distributors are keenly focused on excellence, growth and providing outstanding service. In addition to the facilities of its distributors, Mazak maintains a network of Technology Centers and Technical Centers across North America to ensure customers receive the industry’s best service and support. Among those centers is Mazak’s Southeast Technology Center and its Florida Technical Center, both of which provide customers in the region with component machining demonstrations, experienced applications engineers, and comprehensive training.
Solving Additive Manufacturing Challenges: Advanced 3D Scanning with Capture 3D
GIE Media’s Manufacturing Group
IMTS 2022 Conference: Solving Additive Manufacturing Challenges with Advanced 3D Scanning
Learn how to use advanced 3D scanning techniques to solve additive manufacturing challenges.
About the presentation Companies are rapidly developing additive manufacturing (AM) capabilities within their digital transformation strategies because it helps make better parts faster while optimizing processes and keeping costs down. From aerospace and automotive, to consumer goods and medical, companies use 3D printing to increase production efficiencies, deliver greater customization, and achieve an overall shorter time-to-market. However, implementing industrial 3D printing comes with challenges such as transitioning from low volume to high volume production, increasing part complexity, and maintaining product quality when scaling a project to meet the industry’s growing requirements. This session reveals how advanced 3D scanning technologies resolve challenges and facilitate the development of strong digital manufacturing strategies to support AM. Audience members will learn how to perform efficient dimensional verification on the complex and free-form shapes 3D printing enables, including GD&T analysis and material thickness. Attendees will also understand how to achieve near-net-shape optimization using warpage and shrinkage compensation to create an accurate model for 3D printing, how to use 3D scanning technologies for 3D printer calibration, and how to leverage PMI/MBD within digital engineering tasks to streamline manufacturing workflow. In addition, this session explores 3D scan data use throughout all AM stages, from design and 3D printing, to post-processing and the final part. It also shows how to use accurate data to perform trend analysis and move from low and high-volume inspection requirements.
Registration Powered by AMT and managed by GIE Media, The IMTS 2022 Conference features 69 different sessions you won’t want to miss so register today. Focused on a range of topics that include process innovation, plant operations, quality/inspection, and automation, The IMTS 2022 Conference addresses improving productivity; improving part quality; and developing a stable, competent workforce to lower the cost of manufacturing in the United States and create new levels of market demand.
Meet your presenter Steve DeRemer is an application specialist at CAPTURE 3D, a ZEISS Company. Since joining CAPTURE 3D in 2010, he has helped diverse manufacturers, including automotive companies, aerospace companies, and additive manufacturers, solve critical challenges with 3D metrology solutions. With more than 25 years of industry experience, he understands his customers' unique needs in order to deliver the optimal tools to achieve a faster time to market.?He holds an MBA from Walsh College and a Bachelor of Science in Computer-Aided Design from Eastern Michigan University.
About the company We want to change the way you think about and experience measurement by providing high-tech 3D measurement solutions that deliver meaningful data to drive our customers’ success. We envision our technology in every area that develops, engineers, and manufactures products.
RoboDrill automation cell from Methods Machine Tools Inc.
Methods Machine Tools
Reducing part cycle time, increasing repeatability
Small-batch medical shop embraces automation to capture market share, triple throughput.
The operations group at Ultradent Products Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-tech dental materials and devices sought to increase production of its Valo curing light, used by dental clinicians to cure dental composites, sealants, and various other chemistries.
Valo curing lights are complex pieces of equipment, requiring numerous holes, finishes, and various geometries. In 2017, Ultradent required 45 minutes and three complex machining operations to produce one curing light housing.
Its original manufacturing process involved hand-loading raw materials and finished parts; a cumbersome process for a company with only three employees on the shop floor per shift. The manufacturing setup resulted in the occasional spindle crash, hindering operations and output.
“We needed more reliability and faster cycle times,” says Ryan Umpleby, Sr. CAD/CAM programmer at Ultradent.
Additionally, the company occasionally had to subcontract to other machine shops to meet rising demand, resulting in additional cost and Ultradent still had to perform additional operations to remove imperfections left by the subcontractor.
“We never end up fully outsourcing the part because their costs are too high, or they can’t match our quality,” Umpleby adds.
Realizing the need to reduce the part’s cycle time while increasing repeatability, Ultradent reached out to Methods Machine Tools’ sales engineer David Snow. After exchanging project requirements, the decision was to move forward with two custom automation cells, each comprising of an advanced RoboDrill, a FANUC robotic arm, and raw stock storage. Methods designed the system to hold 60 blanks – uniform pieces of raw material ready for machining.
Embracing automation At first, implementing a custom automation cell was a hard sell. Not everyone at Ultradent believed a smaller machine could outperform a larger horizontal machining center, one of the other options the company was considering.
“This small RoboDrill with a robot arm was a little intimidating,” Umpleby says. “It’s smaller than a horizontal, it’s automated, and it’s got a robot.”
“Anytime you introduce something new, people can be hesitant,” adds Kevin Marett, an engineering manager at Ultradent.
There was also some concern about possible steep learning curve associated with robotics and automation. Umpleby was tasked with programming the first automation cell and being relatively new to CNC machining at that time, he accessed Methods’ support network of experts – application, automation integration, installation – who helped him get the cell up and running.
“That was kind of an intimating task for me,” Umpleby says. “Between the help of a couple key people at Ultradent and all the support I needed from Methods, we were able to pull together a fantastic automated machining cell.”
The cell provided actionable data points, precise results, and reduced cycle time for a curing light housing more than half – 45 minutes to a 21-minute average. With only three employees on the shop floor per shift, automating the cumbersome process of loading/unloading material significantly improved the workflow.
Support on speed dial With 24/7 operations underway, Ultradent increased its throughput almost threefold while reducing machining costs associated with third-party processing.
While the second RoboDrill automation cell was getting the job done on time and under budget, Ultradent needed to expand the system, so they worked with Methods on designing a larger, third cell that boosted the blank capacity from 60 to 200.
Within a few weeks, Umpleby says they had a working concept, and after executing the idea, the company could automate an entire production run of 200 curing light housings.
“That was a pretty cool milestone for me, to see Methods pull through that quickly on such a huge change to the cell,” he adds.
Soon after, Methods added a fourth 200-capacity automation cell, bringing their total to four RoboDrills and four robotic components.
Repeatability in action The cells run unattended for 16 hours a day and lights-out on the weekends. In addition to increased throughput and machine uptime, the company has gained the desired repeatability thanks to the RoboDrill's rigid construction and precision.
Since implementing the RoboDrill and automation cell, Ultradent's quality assurance team has noticed a significant improvement in the machining accuracy of the curing light housing with perfectly threaded, 12mm blind holes.
“As we go through inspection data for thousands of units, we find that features don’t move within a half a thousandth of an inch. Part of that is tooling, part of that is how the tooling is held and how the machine is built so it’ll repeat from position to position,” Marett says.
Using automation to achieve growth Ultradent did more than just increase throughput machine uptime and improve repeatability – they captured more market share.
During the most tumultuous period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the automation cell, combined with Ultradent’s ability to secure raw materials, allowed the company to continue machining. This enabled the company to capture additional market share while competitors lost production time to sick leave or suspended operations.
“We’ve almost doubled our capacity since we came out of COVID, and we couldn’t have done that without our third and fourth RoboDrill cells for sure,” Marett concludes.
Posted by Elizabeth Engler Modic
