Easy Operator Programming… Yes, I Said Easy!

Less time needed for operators to program at the machine means more uptime on the machine.

Before the e-mails start flying out from every programmer in the audience, please allow me to explain.

I recently visited a machine shop doing steel work for an international mining machine builder. They were using large turning centers with a mid-range CNC onboard. Helping them get started was a relatively simple task, as the operators had some G-code knowledge, had worked with the machine brand and control brand in the past, and were very solid in their approach to their workday.

The new machine took only about half a day to get up and running, but then something very interesting happened. The programmer in their department had to leave on a business trip and he asked if the operators could be trained to do some programming at the machine, primarily making minor modifications to an existing file. The file was on a memory stick, the normal way programs get delivered to the machines at this particular shop within the organization.

Both operators I was visiting were very receptive to the idea and, in fact, had previously asked me about doing some programming at the machine, just to keep the work flowing. This particular shop builds many machines to order, so the workload often changes day to day, with minor tweaks needed to the programs in the queue.

Because of three factors on the CNC, this task proved to be very easy for the operators. First, because of the control’s ability to interpret the geometry and display the cutting path onscreen with animated elements, comparing the requested modification to a preset standard, the command was simple. Secondly, the rough and finish passes could likewise be simulated onscreen with minimal difficulty and in real time, so the cycle calculation could be made immediately and quite close to actual conditions. This helps the operators better organize their work, as well. Lastly, once the details of the modified program were resolved, the onboard memory stored every command for later recall and further changes, as needed for the job at hand.

This entire sequence, which would normally have taken the operators two to three hours, took less than 30 minutes, owing to the control’s ability to offer simple options, basic questions and quick resolution of the program content, based on the available tooling in the carousel, blank dimensions, fixturing and offsets. In this particular case, the parts were quite large with less stringent tolerances, but the same scenario could be applied in most any production environment, in my opinion, given the right operators and the required output conditions.

Deciding when to allow such work to occur is always a judgment for shop or production department management, of course, but when the CNC has that flexibility to make it happen, such scenarios represent a new level of productivity for most any operation. In this case, it actually took longer to load the large blanks into the turning center than it took to make the program modifications.

As a side note, while the use of USB sticks to transmit programs onto the machine has become the norm (and I wrote about that “new” concept just a couple years ago), I strongly recommend you never leave the memory stick in the slot to run the program. Go ahead and load it into the memory, as most programs are quite small in size. Even the sturdiest machining center can vibrate a stick out of the slot, whereupon a lot of work and raw material can be wasted. Also, on the latest generation of even mid-range CNCs, you can name a program with a simple term or customer ID, making search and recognition much easier.

If you want more details on this particular case, or you want to discuss how your shop’s operators can be doing more at the machine to do more on the machine, just call or write to me. I’m more than happy to help. I have “support” in my job title and I take that role pretty seriously. If you’re planning to attend IMTS this year, I’ll be there, too.