Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.
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While the initial investment in HMCs versus VMCs is signifcant, the resulting production efciencies and cost savings ofset the price diferential. O nce upon a time, a shop that ran machining centers was distinctive. While many of these shops might have had some basic turning capability, manufacturing prismatic parts was generally such a shop's primary focus. However, operational specialization is changing. Shops are looking for ways to do more and diferent kinds of work for their customers. Tis often involves branching out by creating additional processing capability on the shop foor. It also means leaving one's comfort zone. Advance CNC Machining (Grove City, Ohio) is an example of a shop that has successfully recognized advan- tages from adding operational variety beyond its stable of horizontal and vertical machining centers. In their case, the added capability is in the form of Swiss-type machines. Started in 1970, Advance employs 35 people in its 35,000-square-foot facility near Columbus and in another 5,000-square-foot shop in Cincinnati. Te company's focus is on two primary customer types: production parts for OEMs and maintenance-related machined components for manufacturers of consumer goods in need of replacement or maintenance parts for their equipment and facilities. Historically, this work was performed on machining centers and consisted of prismatic parts in a variety of materials. Te introduction of Swiss-type machining 2 years ago has had signifcant impact on the production mix and breadth of operations that Advance can supply its customers. 'The Guy' It seems that every small to medium shop has its technical "guy" who tends to champion the application and implemen- tation of newer technologies. In the case of Advance, that guy is Kyle Dunaway, vice president of manufacturing. We sat down with Mr. Dunaway and Advance CNC's president, Jeremy Hamilton, who describes Mr. Dunaway as "the techni- cal brains behind our operation," to fnd out what was behind the company's move into Swiss machining. An example of changing Advance's environ- ment came within the shop's machining center business. Mr. Dunaway advocated moving from VMCs to HMCs to help increase throughput, efciency, setup reductions and better match operator profciencies. While the initial investment in HMCs versus VMCs is signifcant, the resulting production efciencies and cost savings ofset the price diferential. "I came out of the steel mill machining industry," Mr. Dunaway says. "We used horizontal machines, and being familiar with them, I knew their advantages over the VMCs in place at Advance when I joined the company 11 years ago. Mr. Hamilton supported my reasoning and justif- cation. More work across a given spindle is a compel- ling argument. We now have fve HMCs, including three Makinos, one Okuma and one Matsuura." When Mr. Dunaway came aboard, Advance had some turning capability. However, it was primarily two-axis single-spindle turning centers in the 8-inch chuck range that were not very efcient from an automation perspective. Te machines required manual load and unload, manual :: Advance uses two models of DMG MORI Swiss-type machines. The Speed (p. 30) is able to bring three tools into the cut simultaneously and has three Y axes. The Sprint (above) is convertible, which can run with or with- out a guide bushing. productionmachining.com :: 31 Adding Swiss Machining