Purchasing Automation
Software comes into play by offering the ability to dramatically reduce the initial setup cost of an automated system, Gibbs said. “In my case, GibbsCAM is a software intended to dramatically reduce the initial programming and setup costs for an automated CNC environment, like a multitask machine, for example. By doing this, the initial cost per part allows you to break even and to be more effective at a lower volume, because you have less overhead going into the front end. But equally important in your cost evaluation is how long does it take to train your people? How hard is the software going to be to use? Ease of use, ease of learning become huge cost factors. On the software side, the cost of training your people to be effective on a software almost always exceeds the price of the software by a large margin.”
More Flexible Automation
Part of the payback question is whether an automation system has the flexibility to be redeployed or retooled for new applications as needs change. “If you sell manufacturing equip- ment like our gantries, we do lifecycle cost models of usually 10 years, with the product it’s built to support,” Liebherr’s Heise said. “Obviously our gantries are retoolable, and therefore you can use them a lot longer than 10 years. But what if the product life only lasts eight years? That leads us to other questions on how retoolable or how redeployable are the assets I’m buying?”
Thorough analysis of a shop’s automation needs is critical prior to any automation purchase. “It is important to evaluate what type of automation cell you need by considering what you are using it for,” said John Lucier, automation manager, Methods Machine Tools Inc. (Sudbury, MA). “The type of automation recommended is based on several factors—part size and weight, number of different parts, lot sizes, number of changeovers per day/week, machine type/size and the job’s probable lifespan,” Lucier said.
With high-volume, low-mix jobs, flexibility isn’t a sig- nificant requirement, he added. “Today’s automation cells allow for one part or multiple parts to be run and will provide unattended operation, opening up valuable resources and saving costs.” These determinations help buyers evaluate the value versus cost of automation to determine the “pay- back” period, Lucier added. Another key is to look at the shop’s spindle utilization. “For instance, on a vertical milling machine where each part is typically loaded by opening the door, opening the vise, exchanging the part, closing the vise, closing the door, and then starting the machine, often the spindle utilization can be as low as 60%, or even 50%,” he said. “During your automation evaluation, work with your supplier to calculate how much you can increase spindle utilization with automation.”
Lights-Out Automation
Palletized workholding and robotics solutions from Erowa Technology help shops lower costs and improve efficiencies with lights-out production.
A lot of companies want flexible automation like Liebherr’s flexible palletizing systems, he said. “They want retoolable items. Our gantries, conveyors are all highly reusable, even going from one commodity to another,” Heise said. “For instance, we have retooled gantries to go from camshaft to crankshaft, or block to head, depending on transport weights and the layouts.”
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Many shop owners don’t consider themselves a candidate for automation, says Chris Norman, chief operating officer for Erowa Technology Inc. (Arlington Heights, IL), developer of palletized workholding equipment and an integrator of robotic automation. But many die/mold shops and other manufactur- ing operations are often good candidates, he says. Workholding solutions from Erowa are repeatable pallet- ized automation solutions for handling the company’s pallets, Norman said. “A lot of people think about automation and think about six-axis robots picking and placing of parts. Customers buying our automation are buying it to more or less get more efficient with the equipment that they have. A key factor for a buyer is when he’s turning work away. Investment in automation can be as little as $100,000.” Erowa’s systems can range from a single pallet tool with a machine or to full linearized systems with robots on a track, said Norman, noting that 2011 and 2012 were the company’s best for selling automation solutions, much of which are aimed at lights-out manufacturing. “In order to handle that and be-
Photo courtesy Erowa Technology Inc.
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