5 High-Volume Machining Trends at IMTS 2022

It’s one thing for a machine shop to make a few good parts for a given job, but it’s another to consistently and repeatedly make hundreds of thousands of the same good parts.Process control消除需要重新设计的废料或需要重新设计的零件成为更大的交易。接下来是我注意到的五个趋势，这些趋势是所有业主和经理生产机构的想法的趋势IMTSthis fall. Some of these reflect the notion that “machine shop” is no longer a valid description for manufacturers with machining capability:

High-production machines are becoming more flexible.

• Rotary transfer machines,多纺丝和Swiss-type lathesare common platforms for high-volume machining. While part-volume requirements for production shops remain high, flexibility to pivot to different jobs is becoming more important. Builders of high-production machining equipment have recognized this trend and are modifying machine designs accordingly to be more versatile.

Automation is more than robots.

• Robots现在更加灵活，易于编程，在某些情况下，可以重新部署各种设备。但是，商店也在寻找更多的设备，例如工具预设, on-machine part and tool probing, andautomatic toolchangersfor B-axis Swiss-types as a way to eliminate manual tasks (and the risk of error) from the machining process.

More efficient measurement/inspection processes are needed.

• Lights-out machining使商店获得最有价值的equipment and employees. But, that often means there are many parts in the queue to be inspected. Part measurement can become an early-morning bottleneck that soaks up shopfloor workers’ valuable time. This has shops looking to new测量技术that can speed and simplify part measurement (vision systems, for example).

焦点正在从硬件转移到软件。

• Basic physics means机械工具have effectively hit the ceiling in terms of how fast they can remove material, their spindles can rotate, their tables can move and so on. However, this has machine shops looking more to software to boost overall process efficiencies. More capable and intuitiveenterprise resource planning (ERP)is becoming a big a part of this. But, so is the ability to more easily pull data from machines, benefit from sensor technology to enable more adaptive machining, perform statistical process analysis and more.

More processes are being brought in house.

• 如今，生产制造商希望成为客户的一站式商店。这使他们目光投过程和设备可以使他们能够加工，完成，清洁，组装，包装甚至管理客户的库存。一个过程示例是钝化。对于不锈钢零件，通常需要钝化to remove any free iron from the part surface, while leaving behind a protective coating. In the past, this was often outsourced because the prevalent method used nitric acid, which is terribly corrosive. Shops didn’t want to jump through EPA hoops or bring such a toxic chemical inside their facility as it could corrode their equipment. Today, though, citric passivation is becoming more widely accepted, especially in themedical industry. This process is as corrosive as orange juice, making it more enticing to bring in house.

The International Manufacturing Technology Show runs September 12 - 17, 2022 at McCormick Place in Chicago.Register for IMTS today to start planning your show.