iConnectHub

Login/Register

WeChat

For more information, follow us on WeChat

Connect

For more information, contact us on WeChat

Email

You can contact us info@ringiertrade.com

Phone

Contact Us

86-21 6289-5533 x 269

Suggestions or Comments

86-20 2885 5256

Top

Why balancing speed and precision is key to profitable CNC machining

Source:Int'l Metalworking News for Asia Release Date:2021-10-07 1060
Industrial MetalworkingMetalworkingMetal Cutting Machine Tools
Add to Favorites
As technological progress accelerates exponentially around the world, all types of manufacturers are feeling the effects of shortening global innovation cycles.

1633594694742625.jpg


As technological progress accelerates exponentially around the world, all types of manufacturers are feeling the effects of shortening global innovation cycles. New, increasingly high-tech parts and products are bring requested or released at ever-shorter intervals. Just think how quickly the phones in our pockets are considered out of date, or consider the pace of change in automotive technologies.

The major pain points manufacturers everywhere face today mostly come from this same root cause. The shorter innovation cycles across almost every industry are leading to increasingly complex workpiece features, ever-higher standards, and expectations for precision and often tighter timescales as companies’ downstream battle to be first to market.

Together, all these pressures are squeezing manufacturers’ margins to breaking point. Even where clients are not a factor, in-house labs have to meet tight deadlines and work with even tighter budgets. Always, manufacturers are keeping their eye on the competition, and asking themselves who is adapting to the market changes more efficiently and effectively.

Yet it also comes down to a question of survival, as manufacturers ask themselves if they can keep pace with the rate of technological advancement at all. How can manufacturers get ahead, and stay ahead, when everything keeps moving so quickly?

At AXILE, we believe agility in mindset and motion makes all the difference. That means bringing together speed and precision — not one or the other.

 

Agility in mindset = speed & precision in management

The first step is achieving agility in mindset. Specifically, it is about reacting swiftly and decisively to swings in market demand and emerging trends.

A striking recent example was the abrupt global supply chain chaos sparked by COVID-19 and the global restrictions that followed. Orders relating to medical industries skyrocketed, while many other industries essentially came to a standstill as factories furloughed nonessential staff. Production lines focused on automotive or aerospace found themselves at an unanticipated disadvantage, while manufacturers with more agile operations could pivot rapidly toward ascendant industries. Especially in this case, taking on orders for medical parts came with huge pressures on precision, as well as very short timescales.

Even in normal times, manufacturers need to be able to react quickly and efficiently to urgent orders and opportunities if their company is to remain competitive. To be prepared for any and every eventuality, manufacturers need comprehensive oversight of their shop floor. Only by being well informed, can they optimise their operations for such swings and bursts in demand. This requires upgrades in both machines and technology, such as by introducing smart monitoring systems and/or automation solutions.

Here, data-driven strategies are vital. By knowing how far to push your machines without reaching breaking point, you can respond quickly and confidently knowing there will not be unwelcome surprises during production. In turn, this confidence can embolden manufacturers to embrace 24/7 automation, which is key to achieving rapid scale up in output without a huge uptick in staffing costs.

Changes in demand will only accelerate in future as innovation cycles shorten further. Manufacturers need to be informed, prepared, and flexible.

 

Agility in motion = speed & precision in machining

Of course, such management flexibility is only possible if your machines can flawlessly deliver high standards while shifting between applications. Truly agile machining requires handling different materials and workpiece geometries, all while consistently meeting the highest precision standards and keeping pace with ever-accelerating market demand.

Full 5-axis CNC machines took machining efficiency to the next level when first developed. With three linear and two rotational axes divided across the spindle and table, and all working simultaneously, incredibly complex geometries were suddenly made possible. Pocketing, 3D contouring, and perfect finishes for prismatic parts became almost instantly available to anyone operating these machines.

Yet, in the years since, the speed of 5-axis machines has stagnated, even while innovation cycles shorten. To achieve the highly intricate workpiece features required today, speed has been sacrificed, and even purposefully limited. This is not only true for spindle speeds, but also feed rates, and machine start-up and cool down. As a result, overall production times have not kept pace with the rate of technological advancement, all in order to offset the greater likelihood of heat build-up, or tool breakages, inaccuracies, and crashes that come with more complex cuts.

The high-speed machining approach helped at first. This allows spindle speeds and feed rates to remain relatively high by taking light milling passes, limiting heat build-up and dramatically reducing the overall processing time. However, this approach has been around since the 1920s. We are working with considerably different challenges now, 100 years later. Its high time 5-axis machines stop limiting metal removal rates to cope with high precision requirements.

 

In response, AXILE has introduced agile smart machining

Seeing the market need for truly high-speed and high-precision machining, our team at AXILE set out to create the new standard for full 5-axis machines. We call it agile smart machining.

For agility in motion, we decided to shake up the stagnant processing speeds that the market had been stuck with for too long. We have redefined high-speed machining by introducing our proprietary SMT™ compensation system. With this new technology, processing times can be reduced dramatically. The machine automatically mitigates potential machining errors arising from spindle vibrations, thermal expansion, or a host of other potential side effects of running at full-throttle. This automatic compensation allows simultaneously high precision and industry-leading machining speeds, for superior metal removal rates, quicker machine start-up and cool-down, as well and longer component lifetime.

For agility in mindset, we know data is king. That is why we developed our groundbreaking ART™ monitoring system, to empower manufacturers with data-driven strategies to take on new challenges. ART™ uses high-tech sensors within the machine to track machine and component utilisation, health, and lifetime, and to flag potential issues. By eliminating unexpected downtime, and providing full transparency into the health and real-time operations of individual machine components, ART enables manufacturers to optimise production and scheduling, and react decisively to new orders or opportunities.

Additionally, AXILE 5-axis machines make easy work of any kind of metal, while meeting the world’s highest standards for precision finishing. Together, all this means manufacturers can pivot instantly to new opportunities, reassured of their machine’s reliable performance. That is the real benefit of production agility.

Technology, innovation, and general market dynamics are all speeding up while precision standards are ever increasing. Agility is and will continue to be key to keeping on top of tech advances, let alone getting ahead and staying ahead of the competition.

 

Source: Axile


Add to Favorites
You May Like