Making the Most of Your Machine Tool Setup

“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.” This popular quote is often bought up when speaking about today’s fast-paced technological development. Industry 4.0 is paving the way for manufacturing transformation with ground-breaking innovations, which in turn brings opportunities for shops to develop and aim for higher revenues. 

When it comes to machine tool setup, investing in new technology is not the only way to optimize the process. Shop owners can make the most out of their machines through improved equipment utilization, quick-change tooling and modular solutions.

With recent technological advances, investing in forefront technologies can at first hand appear like a given strategy to conduct a successful business. However, markets are fluctuating. To continually strive for the latest, most high-tech solutions might not be the natural way to go forward in uncertain times. The ability to adapt production to current and future demands in a flexible way is crucial for surviving in today’s economy. Here, we take a closer look at flexible approaches to workshop machinery.

Make the Most out of Your Machine Tool Setup

Machine tool and cutting tool development is rapidly progressing. However, this can involve considerable investments, requiring time, capital and somewhat secure predictions for future demands. If the market situation and business forecasts are unsure, major investments might not be an option.

When your primary goal is to stay in cost reduction mode and to handle a temporary market downturn, a key consideration should be to investigate your current workshop and preferably make use of existing machines and existing capacity without dramatically increasing overhead costs.

Another consideration is productivity. Often, we put our focus on achieving maximum metal cutting efficiency. Metal removal rate is one way of measuring efficiency when producing parts. However, what can be an even more important aspect to consider is machine utilization. In an average machine shop, only 50% of a machine’s in-use time is used for machining. Breakdowns, changeovers and maintenance consume the remaining 50%.

Machine Utilization in Focus

Increasing machine utilization is a cost-effective way to boost productivity and make use of the capacity already available. This should be measured as a percentage of the time that the machine is actually producing components. Pushing up active machining time by only a few percentage points makes a big difference.

Increased machine utilization can be attained by working actively with typical time killers often appearing in a common workshop related to these areas: batch setup, measuring the component in the machine, tool setting, coolant pipe setting, changing worn tools, chip removal around tools and workpieces or blocked conveyors and component changeover.

Two key approaches to overcome this type of challenge are working with quick-change tooling and using modular systems. By applying quick-change and modular solutions, machine utilization can be greatly increased.

Quick-change Tooling Solutions

A quick-change tooling solution can reduce time spent on measuring, setup and tool change, allowing for drastically improved machine utilization. Through-coolant delivery helps to further maximize productivity. There are several benefits with quick-change that support keeping the green light on, including reducing batch changeover time. Changing time from one style of tool to another is dramatically reduced using quick-change. Up to 10 minutes can be saved in one typical turning operation.

Increasing the number of tool positions with double tool holders can also help. Turning centers with driven tool holders often have limited space. Using double clamping units allows either sister tooling or an increased variety of tools, thereby reducing the tool change requirement for a wider range of components. Double clamping units can be used when the machine has y-axis, half turret or subspindle.

There’s also potential to reduce downtime when changing worn-out tools. Every time a solid carbide tool with a driven tool holder is changed, the tool offset needs to be recalibrated. With indexable mills and drills, multiple inserts need to be changed. Using a sister tool and changing the cutter outside the machine are much quicker. For static tool holders, being able to remove the tool ensures improved maintenance of the tool, correct mounting and no unexpected stops due to needs for spare part purchases.

Eliminating coolant pipe setting can also prove to be a time-saving exercise. When operators are setting the coolant pipe direction, it normally takes two to three attempts to get it right. Poor chip control often knocks the pipe, which means setting is quite a regular occurrence.

Lastly is improving the speed of production start-up. By eliminating the “first-test component” or “measuring cuts,” scrap is reduced and the production rate increases. Over the course of a year, the use of quick-change will result in significantly higher component production and reduced scrap.

Besides a significant increase in machine utilization, the many benefits quick-change brings for the operator include user-friendliness and a more ergonomic working environment. For example, changing tools outside the machine reduces accidents, errors and searching for dropped parts.

Turn Flexible, Go Modular

Another strategy for keeping your machines running is modular solutions. A modular system offers a large variety of tool assemblies with different characteristics, decreasing the need for costly, customized tools with long delivery times. Modular tooling helps to avoid spending on separate tools for each machine, component and feature.

The benefits that modular tooling systems bring are flexibility, reduced tool inventory and multiple tooling combinations, all contributing to increased machine utilization. The ability to maintain continuous production for a long period provides the flexibility needed to make your workshop better equipped to handle changing market conditions.

Four applications where modularity has proven to be extra valuable include reaching difficult to access features, stability in vibration-prone operations, small or varying production and extra clearance when machining large components.

While it is certainly true that the “pace of change has never been this fast,” various strategic approaches emerge to ensure adaptability and bolster financial gains in a continuously evolving market landscape. Enhancing machine utilization, reducing changeover time and implementing modular systems all contribute significantly to increasing the flexibility of machine shops.