SHOP SOLUTIONS
on toolmaker education. A journeyman toolmaker himself, Brown is passionate about protecting and growing the trade through the adoption of more enabling technology and more robust education. “Our business has a state-certifi ed ap- prenticeship program,” Brown said. “And our business is up- lifted by companies like Siemens and Romi, who understand the challenges of our industry. In fact, to further enhance our market/product offering, we just purchased our second Romi to machine round tools for the deep draw industry—a C420 lathe with a Sinumerik 828D control that will be used strictly for hard turning. For more information from Siemens Industry Inc., go to
www.
www.usa.siemens.com/cnc, or phone 847-640-1595. Continued from P36
Dynamic Programming Optimizes Material Removal Rate
R
educing lead times is nothing new to job shops but fi guring out which method works best for each shop is
a never-ending challenge. According to Curt Shatz, general manager of Planet Tool and Engineering (O’Fallon, MO), his company’s approach has been to train each machinist on the shop fl oor to use Mastercam CAD/CAM software from CNC Software Inc. (Tolland, CT), even if their knowledge of its func- tionality is just at the basic level. Planet Tool & Engineering, owned by the Grassmuck family since 1965, is a job shop special- izing in custom equipment, tooling and parts for customers in a variety of industries, most notably automo- tive and aerospace. “We have one programmer who
does off-line programming and we have four programming stations on the shop fl oor. Pretty much every- one who runs a CNC is qualifi ed to create their own 2D programs from a CAD model,” said Shatz. This strategy reduces the need for the “middle man” and empowers the machine operators to solve
problems as they arise rather than wait for help. The shop has eight four-axis systems and approximately 14 vertical- axis systems that are all Mastercam-capable. By distributing programming responsibilities to program- mer/machinists throughout the shop, the company has seen lead times shrink from a typical six to eight weeks fi ve years ago to sometimes four weeks or less. Because so much of the work is custom, a four-week turnaround can be tough at times because a project can go through many different departments—including plating or painting—each requiring its own amount of time to complete the task. “The difference between the work and a typical job shop is that what we do is not just one part,” said full-time programmer Chris Branco. “Sometimes it is just one part, but a lot of the time it is mul- tiple parts or an entire assembly.” Using Mastercam’s Dynamic Motion technology to mini- mize tool wear is an integral part of Planet Tool’s strategy for reducing lead times and manufacturing costs. Toolpaths in- corporating this technology adjust cutting motions on the fl y based on material conditions ahead of the tool. “This makes it possible to cut with shallow stepovers along the full fl ute length of an end mill, spreading wear evenly over the tool while removing material as fast as the tool manufacturer’s chip load recommendations will allow,” Branco said. On average, there are about 400 different jobs moving
through Planet Tool at any given time. The fi ve people who comprise Planet Tool’s engineering department defi ne the scope of work and deliver it to six to eight project managers
Programmer Chris Branco has reduced roughing cycles at Planet Tool by as much as 70% using Mastercam’s Dynamic Motion technology, challenging conventional chip-handling systems to keep up.
42
AdvancedManufacturing.org | May 2016
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