Production Machining

NOV 2013

Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.

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High Tech Turning scrap yards. The only new machine in the shop was a Bridgeport. By 1984 the company had shop-built a lot of singlepurpose machines, and the castings were being walked through a sort of poor man's transfer line. It actually made sense to do it that way because the castings were magnesium, and cutting magnesium in an enclosed machining center with water-based coolant is a well-known fre hazard. However, operators had to continually sweep up and dispose of the magnesium chips, and that alone became a huge time waste. During the next several years, the company added many new products—mostly turned workpieces—to its line of steering components, becoming even more dependent on manual machines and experienced machinists. Woodward was attached to the old processes, but it began to struggle because the labor-intensive technology of 1935 had its limits. In 1991, the company purchased a used Ikegai FX20N turning center, which contributed on round parts. Mr. Woodward spent months learning CNC programming from the Fanuc manuals, but fnally reached a The company's defning moment one adoption of CNC evening while eating takeout with his wife eventually led to Gloria while the machine acquiring a stable of made parts all by itself. Hyundai WIA turning "We knew that from machines. then on we would be transitioning the company to CNC," Mr. Woodward says. "Initially through used machines, but ultimately through the newest technology applicable to our products." Eventually the company's adoption of CNC led to abandoning magnesium castings in favor of aluminum, and later acquiring a stable of Hyundai WIA turning machines. The Shop Te facility is 15,000 square feet, 12,000 of which are used as production foor. It has been expanded several times :: The company supplies steering racks for Formula Le Mans race cars. The European racing market is a fastgrowing segment of the business. productionmachining.com :: 33

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