SHOP SOLUTIONS
thousands of the Dynomite line of engine and chassis dyna- mometers which measure forces generated by a wide variety of engines or motors with rotating shafts. Applications range from snowmobiles, go-karts and motorcycles to automobiles, marine engines, trucks and industrial power plants. The dynamometers handle outputs of 1 to 10,000 hp (7460 kW) and vary from suitcase-size units to heavy-duty systems that can fi ll a 40' (12-m) tractor-trailer. Different sys- tem versions include engine dynamometers engineered for precise collection of data as well as chassis dynamometers or “rolling roads” that measure torque and horsepower via large rotating drums turned by a vehicle’s wheels. Land & Sea manufactures all the machine’s components,
ranging from multifoot diameter drums to small aluminum connectors and steel machine housings. The shop performs machining and high-defi nition plasma cutting as well as fabri- cation operations, including welding and forming sheetmetal.
Land & Sea company president Bob Bergeron’s focus on setup reduction, along with a need for expanded machining capabilities, resulted in the acquisition of several Mazak machines, including an Integrex i-400S Multi-Tasking Machine with second spindle.
Business has been good at Land & Sea and the com-
pany’s volume of products and market share continue to increase steadily. Company’s president, Bob Bergeron, recently decided the shop’s part processing operations desperately needed advanced machine tool technology that would allow the shop to keep pace and accomplish one key goal—to reduce setup times. “The machines we had were getting on in years, and it was time to take a look at another round of equipment,” said
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | January 2017
Bergeron. “We wanted to shorten setup times because we produce a lot of different components in small runs—typically of one to a dozen pieces. Reducing the number of setups is crucial, because any setups we eliminate can provide the best time savings of all.” Bergeron cited an example of a part manufactured on one of the shop’s older machines. “We had to machine seven sides. The job would run six or seven working days to produce 12–24 pieces. Probably three days of setup time were embed- ded in those seven days. And invariably, it would seem, every fourth or so time we would run the job there would be an error in one of those setups and we would not fi nd out until the seventh setup that there were 24 junk pieces.” Bergeron’s research and focus on setup reduction, along with a need for expanded machining capabilities, resulted in the acquisition of a full simultaneous fi ve-axis Variaxis i-700 vertical machining center and later an Integrex i-400S multitasking ma- chine, both from Mazak Corp. (Florence, KY). The Variaxis i-700’s rotary/tilt table provides multiple-surface, simultaneous fi ve-axis machin- ing capabilities for processing parts with complex profi led surfaces in single setups. An automatic 40-tool changer offers fl exibility and permits con- tinuous machining operations. The machine’s full fi ve-axis capabilities enable the shop to process the seven-sided part in just two setups. Bergeron said that the setup time for that job is now well under 10 minutes, and such setup reductions have been the case with most of the jobs the shop now does on its Mazaks. “We realized the benefi ts of fast machining in terms of cycle times and in heavy material-re- moval part applications. But even if the machine cut at infi nite speeds, for us, it would have zero effect on our long setup times,” he said. In addition to the Mazaks, standardized tooling has also proven a key factor in reducing
setups and potential tooling errors at Land & Sea. “We real- ized early on that we could save a lot of setup time by using standard tools,” said Bergeron. “Such standardization allows us to reduce the number of tools that we have to custom load for each new setup.”
The strategy works because Land & Sea manufactures
its own products and now, whenever possible, designs part features around standard groups of tools. This is often impossible, according to Bergeron, for typical job shops
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