Process Improvement
the CNC front end be driven by a PC. That makes an easy platform. For example, Mazak’s Fusions, Matrix, and Matrix II controls all are able to be made MTConnect-compliant, even the controls dating back to the Win95 days.” With ShopViz, customers get a relatively simple solution
that is Web-based and resides either on the cloud or locally, Pieper said, depending on customer preference. “The impor- tance of a metric like OEE or TEEP is based on who’s using it and what they’re doing with it,” he adds. “Really the most important metric comes down to utilization, simple as that. Is the machine running or not?”
Tuning the Process
Implementing process improvements can entail tak- ing simple steps such as ensuring machines have properly tuned servosystems before delivery to customers, said Mark Brownhill, manager, strategic marketing, FANUC FA America (Hoffman Estates, IL).
“It really depends on where they are in the process jour-
ney,” said Brownhill. “If they haven’t even implemented 5S, they need to. When it comes to process improvement, you’ve got to start with something basic. A lot of people are still in what I call the fire-fighting mode.”
MTConnect is a protocol that is still trying to gain ground, said Brownhill, noting that FANUC has its own native protocol, FOCAS (FANUC Open CNC API Specifications), that runs on its CNCs. FANUC and FANUC Robotics (Rochester Hills, MI) are MTConnect members and Technical Advisory Group participants in the consortium. “MTConnect at the end of the day is a communications device that is designed with web- enabled data to tell you if your machine is running.” Data-driven process improvement helps and manufactur- ers should fix things that have the biggest impact, he advises. “Focus on adopting best practices,” Brownhill said. “Until you fix the root cause, the problem will repeat itself. Very few man- ufacturers dedicate people directly to process improvement. It takes leadership to get process improvement to work.” Manufacturers can make vast process improvements with tuning machine servosystems. “Your typical machine tool delivered to an end user is never optimized,” Brownhill stated. “Even if you didn’t add one thing to it, if you were to tune the servos it would go a long way toward optimizing machine per- formance. The majority of improving speed is improving the path accuracy. It can be any part of the servosystem. With a bell-shaped acc and dec, it is knocking off the linear accelera-
tion corners to reduce vibration. A properly tuned machine with an AI Contouring Control can climb the path and you can cut your cycle times in half—we call it improving dynamic ac- curacy. That’s a big deal.”
Several elements of manufacturing systems—better CAM systems, workholding, and tooling systems—can dramatically affect performance, but deploying a high-pressure coolant system may have the greatest return on investment, noted Okuma America’s Jeff Estes, director, Partners in THINC and Okuma Technology Centers. “What we see is there’s really eight groups of technologies. One of them is CAM systems,” Estes noted. “CAM systems have come a long way, allowing shops to optimize cutting time, and simulate when undesir- able things like a crash can happen.
“If I only had $15,000 to spend on something on the ma- chine and I had to increase my productivity in the cut by 20 or 30%, the first place I’d look would be high-pressure cool- ant,” Estes added. “The biggest bang for the buck is putting in high-pressure coolant. It’ll allow you to get faster cutting speeds, longer tool life, and better surface finish.” ME
Want More Information?
DMG / Mori Seiki USA Inc. Ph: 847-593-5400
Web site:
www.dmgmoriseikiusa.com
FANUC FA America Ph: 888-326-8287
Web site:
www.fanucfa.com Mazak Corp.
Ph: 859-342-1700 Web site:
www.mazakusa.com
MTConnect Institute Ph: 703-893-2900
Web site:
www.MTConnect.org
Okuma America Corp. Ph: 704-588-7000
Web site:
www.okuma.com
Sandvik Coromant Ph: 201-794-5000
Web site:
www.sandvik.coromant.com/us
TechSolve Inc. Ph: 800-345-4482
www.techsolve.org
July 2013 |
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