Lantek Integra makes short delivery times a reality

DC Developments relies entirely on Lantek Integra ERP to achieve the rapid turnarounds that make it a highly successful subcontracting company.  Based in Norwich, it has five laser cutting machines including a 4kw Mazak 612, an impressive range of fabrication machinery and a full machine shop which includes a Mazak Nexus machining centre and Mazak Super Quickturn turning centres.

Matthew Cambell, Director, says, “We offer our customers very fast delivery for their parts and sub-assemblies, which means we have to have highly efficient systems for quotations, job management, stock management, purchasing and invoicing. Lantek Integra manages our whole operation, and we would not be able to offer 2-3 day deliveries on laser cut parts without it.” DC Developments services a wide range of markets including motor sport, agricultural, medical and automotive, laser cutting stainless steel up to 20mm thick, aluminium up to 12 mm and mild steel up to 25mm. Once parts are cut, they may then go on to have folding, machining and welding operations carried out, enabling the company to deliver complex assemblies to its customers.

Formed 34 years ago, DC Developments installed Lantek Expert CAD/CAM software in 2002 and, as well as its subcontracting operation, has a marine division specialising in parts for pleasure boats such as stern gear, catches and railings. The addition of Lantek Integra ERP has enabled it to integrate its CAD/CAM with the overall management of the company, moving it closer to the Lantek Factory concept, where every aspect of manufacture is linked and coordinated in real time. Matthew Cambell explains, “The system starts with a quotation, which we prepare from the customer’s drawing. Once the order is received the bill of materials and sequence of operations, laser cutting, machining and fabrication, is logged in Lantek Integra. Purchasing and stock levels are handled by the system, which generates alarms for low stock levels. Last year we managed everything within the company from paper to sheet metal, bar material and nuts and bolts. The job sheet from Lantek Integra goes to the laser machines where operations completed and lost parts are recorded on a shop floor terminal, allowing us to regroup shortages as necessary. Finally, Lantek Integra generates delivery notes and invoices, exporting information to our Sage accounting system.”

Efficient handling of remnants is an important benefit of the Lantek software as, to achieve the short deliveries it promises, DC Developments sometimes has to laser cut partially filled sheets. Not only does Lantek Integra keep track of the remaining material, but it also keeps track of the test certificates associated with each sheet to provide essential documentation to the customer.

Currently DC Developments uses separate job sheets for its machine and fabrication shops, but it plans to automate these and move to real time data collection for the whole factory, in line with the Lantek Factory concept. Matthew Cambell says, “We are currently investigating the use of bar codes with Lantek Integra which we anticipate will enable us to automate every aspect of our business, reducing administrative effort further and giving us live information about costs and the progress of parts through the workshop. The system is an essential part of our operation.”

Fabrication work at DC Developments

Automated internal deburring of high value components

At the recent METAV 2014, an innovative VG 25 vibratory finishing system for deburring & grinding the complex and delicate internal surface areas of high value components was presented by Walther Trowal.

The MV surface finishing machines have contributed to drastically reduce processing times for fine grinding and polishing. Now, with the new VG equipment and its closed loop media transport system, Walther Trowal goes one step further by practically eliminating the non-productive times for media and part handling.
The VG 25 finishing system effectively removes burrs from complex parts with difficult to reach surface areas including internal passages. It ensures that delicate part contours are not compromised and fragile ribs or cross-sections are not damaged. Even the inside of bore holes with diameters of less than 3 mm can be completely deburred.

Brand new is the closed loop system for transporting the grinding media. With this innovative and unique concept Walther Trowal could significantly reduce the non-productive times for loading and unloading the work pieces: After completion of the deburring process a suction pump removes the whole media batch from the work bowl allowing easy removal of the finished work piece from the magnetic fixturing plate and placement of a new raw part in the work bowl.  
The first VG systems have proven that the complex internal surface areas of aluminum or titanium components weighing 30 – 40 kg (66 – 88 lbs) can be automatically and efficiently deburred within 2 to 4 hours. In comparison, manual deburring of the same parts takes at least one week.

Lose burs in components used for the operation of complex systems, for example, hydraulic valve blocks for the aerospace industry, can cause system failures with catastrophic consequences. For this reason, such components require careful and complete deburring of all their internal passages.

The Walther Trowal MV finishing systems have demonstrated to be highly effective for such deburring tasks. And, compared to the Abrasive Flow Machining (AFM) with a grinding paste, or the ECM electrochemical deburring, the capital expenditure for the MV equipment with part fixtures and the operating costs (including consumables) are considerably lower.

In the MV machines the work piece handling had already been streamlined by simply placing the parts mounted to a special fixture on a magnetic plate in the work bowl where they are electro-magnetically clamped. With the VG systems Walther Trowal implemented further significant improvements.

However, the grinding medium, a mix of aluminum oxide and water, proved to be quite a challenge for the Trowal engineers. Because of its high abrasivity aluminum oxide is an excellent deburring medium but, at the same time, it can cause considerable wear on all machine components exposed to it during the finishing process, like for example, pumps piping and hose connections. To minimize the wear rate when pumping the corundum/water slurry Walther Trowal uses highly wear resistant materials and a special peristaltic pump.

After a raw work piece is placed onto the magnetic plate, the work bowl is flooded with water. Then the media/water slurry is pumped from a storage tank into the work bowl. Upon completion of the finishing process the slurry is pumped back into the storage tank. For removal of any residual abrasive particles from the work piece surface, the system is flooded with clean process water.

Technical highlights:
The work bowl of the multi vibrators, model range MV and VG, is equipped with an integrated magnetic plate. The work pieces, mounted onto a special fixture, are placed on this magnetic plate and held in a stationary position with an electromagnetic clamping device. This causes the clamped parts to vibrate at the same frequency as the work bowl generating a very fast relative movement between the work pieces and the grinding media and producing an intensive but, at the same time, gentle deburring/grinding effect. The result: Perfectly deburred and ground surface areas at significantly lower processing times.

At the center of these innovative finishing systems are three high speed vibratory motors which allow changing their rotational direction and RPM as well as their position. They are running at very high speeds but produce extremely low amplitudes. Since the directional effect of the induced vibrations is overlapping, the MV and VG vibratory systems produce excellent isotropic finishes on complex and/or delicate components, especially on surface areas which cannot be reached with conventional vibratory finishing methods.

International Metalworking News for Asia latest issue

When we solicited feedbacks from our readers, many told us that they wanted so see more news about South East Asia including topics on best practices in the magazine for 2014. Best practices can be a bit of a tricky concept at times. But we at International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) are dedicating a lot of effort to coming up with informative articles by technical experts to make sure that we are providing the right editorials to our readers. In this issue, IMNA published a couple of industry leaders in Asia’s metalworking market speaking about today’s cutting edge design topics to achieve the right way of getting a manufacturing
job done.

FARO’s Country Manager (SEA & India) Mr Hakiran Sandhu talked about its Edge ScanArm ES with Enhanced Scanning Technology (EST) and gives updates concerning the Thailand market. Yamazaki Mazak Corp. released its newest compact CNC lathe mode last year in response to growing demand in Asia.
Mr Thomas Lee, Deputy General Manager of Sales Division in Yamazaki Mazak Singapore Pte Ltd (YMS) explained that not only does the product encompasses the feedbacks of their customers, but as well as their needs.

Dr Christian Braun, Managing Director of DMG MORI South East Asia expects 2014 to be a year of growth and sees a possible 5% overall increase in the South East Asian metalworking industry. This year the company is focusing on technologies for advanced productivity due to product innovation but also developments, which look at the manufacturing process as a whole.

Lastly, we take your comments seriously. If you have other topics in mind, drop us a line and tell us what you want.

CAM system that cuts aerospace delivery time by 60%

A combination of Delcam’s FeatureCAM feature-based CAM system and two new five-axis machine tools has reduced the delivery time on a typical challenging part for the aerospace industry by about 60%, according to Bob Lewis Machine Co President, Jeff Lewis.

Bob Lewis founded his eponymous company in 1975 in his garage in Torrance, California, with a Bridgeport mill and three drill presses.  Over the years, the company added more equipment and moved to progressively larger facilities up to its current 10,000 square-foot facility in Gardena, California.  A comprehensive CNC programming department was added to support the growing number of CNC machining centres before Bob Lewis retired in 2001 and Jeff Lewis took over the management of the company.

Jeff Lewis explained that the company philosophy was “to take on work that others will not do”.  To support this approach, the company substantially improved its machining capabilities a few years ago by purchasing two five-axis CNC machines.  However, the CNC programming software being used at the time was not able to fully access the capabilities of the new machines.  

“I spoke to a friend in the area that owned several five-axis machines and he recommended FeatureCAM strongly,” Jeff Lewis remembered.  “He told me that, by automating many aspects of the programming process, it simplifies the task and makes it much faster.  He also said that Delcam provided excellent technical support.”

With such a strong recommendation, the company had no hesitation in purchasing FeatureCAM.  It soon found that the new software made programming easy, even for the most complicated parts, for machining on both the new five-axis machines and the existing three-axis equipment.

By taking full advantage of the five-axis machines, the company is now able to reduce the number of set-ups required to machine complex aerospace parts from ten or twelve to two.  This is because both the part and tool can be moved so that the cutter can access the part from nearly any angle.

The company now has six networked computers running FeatureCAM that are used to generate programs for all sixteen of its CNC machine centres.  With the software, programmers at Bob Lewis Machine can access every capability of the five-axis machines, including drilling holes at multiple angles in a single set-up and machining surfaces at compound angles.

The company now saves substantial amounts of time and money that were previously spent building fixtures and changing the part from one fixture to another.  Relationships between different features within complex parts can now be held much more closely than in the past by machining them in the same set-up.

“Our use of FeatureCAM and five-axis machining has substantially increased the capabilities of our company,” Jeff Lewis said.  “By reducing the number of set-ups on the typical complex aerospace part, we dramatically reduce the amount of time required to make that part.  FeatureCAM provides a major contribution by making the machines perform to their full capacity while also reducing programming time.”

“We could not be happier with the service and support we are receiving from Delcam,” he added.  “When Marcelo Hermosillo, our Operations Manager, had issues in dealing with a particularly complex part, he contacted the FeatureCAM support team.  They responded quickly and showed him a new way to tackle the problem that he had never seen before.”

With Delcam’s FeatureCAM, Bob Lewis Machine can take on more complex parts and deliver them more quickly

Ringier to hold Asia metalworking summit in Bangkok this August

HONG KONG – Ringier Events announced on Wednesday that it has decided to hold the Asia High-Efficiency Metalworking Summit on August 21-22, 2014. The summit, which will address the technology requirements of the metalworking industry in Southeast Asia, had originally been scheduled for May 2014 in Bangkok.

With its robust automobile sector and ongoing infrastructure investments, Thailand remains a leading market in the regional metal tooling and metal fabrication market. Current political uncertainty, however, is affecting the dynamics – if only in the Thai capital, where political demonstration activities are now limited to central Bangkok.

While the outlook for the Metalworking industry remains buoyant in Thailand and across the region, Ringier believes that the confidence and comfort of participants is primary.

“Part of the success of our conferences is that we create platforms where experts and participants can network and exchange ideas, and for that to work, it’s essential that everyone is in a comfortable environment,” said Mike Hay, president of Ringier Events.

Ringier and co-organizer TTIS Co Ltd remain confident that the situation in Bangkok will continue to improve, and is indeed already showing signs of stabilization, and that Thai agencies will remain well prepared to support business travellers to the capital.

“Businesses are largely operating normally, and the transport infrastructure is still working well and business travellers can go about as usual, even to tourist sites,” Mr Hay said. “Delaying the event a few months can only improve visitor confidence and feeling of well-being.”

Furthermore, the Thai Tourism Bureau is introducing a series of incentives for business travellers attending conferences and trade shows with partners such as Visa and Thai Airways as well as local retail and tour operators. “We want to ensure that we have all the details of these offers first, so that they can be passed onto our delegates,” Mr Hay added.

About Asia High-Efficiency Metalworking Summit

Focused on the needs of regional manufacturers, the Asia High-Efficiency Metalworking Summit will zero in on technologies to increase efficiency and output with application case studies and expert viewpoints. The ASEAN-centric summit will also address manufacturing opportunities and trends in the region while also providing innovations on greening of manufacturing investments. To learn more and receive details about this event, contact Iris Lin.

About Ringier Events

Ringier Events, part of Ringier Trade Media Limited, provide sponsors direct contact with industrial decision-makers and professionals. The comprehensive sponsorship packages include high-impact promotions via print and online, presentations, onsite display, delegate list, food and beverages sponsors.

- See more at: http://us.industrysourcing.com/news/291339.aspx#sthash.AR353Gpl.dpuf

Development speed of service robotics

 Dr. Roko Tschakarow, Business Unit Manager Mobile Gripping Systems of SCHUNK GmbH & Co. KG about current developments and trends in the field of service robotics. 

Mr. Dr. Tschakarow, the motto of the this year’s SCHUNK Expert Days on Service Robotics is "Robots with Impact". How are you assessing the current market situation?
Amazon and DHL have presented the first flying robots, which transport parcels by air mail directly to the door of the recipient. Google systematically invests into highly innovative robotic companies. There is no doubt: The development speed of service robotics has achieved a new peak in the past twelve months. There is a particularly significant potential in intelligent, mobile applications.

What role does SCHUNK play in service robotics?
For many years, SCHUNK performs pioneering work in the field of mobile gripping systems. The standardized SCHUNK grippers and SCHUNK lightweight arms are mobile in use and have significantly influenced service robotics. Now we take the next step forward and have founded a private limited company for the business unit "SCHUNK Mobile Greifsysteme". With an own team and their own goals: Recognizing new automation scenarios, evaluating potentials, and for giving strong support to pilot users in developing ready for series solutions.

What is the focus of this new business unit?
Five relevant fields of application are in the main focus: There is the field of "hazardous environments", these are explosive, radioactive, hot, toxic or strongly polluted environments: The deactivation of explosive devices, the non-destructive material testing of nuclear reactors, of sandblasting of steel constructions. SCHUNK modules are successfully used in all of these fields of application and minimize the danger to life and limb.

A second focus is the field of "laboratory automation," the intelligent automation of lab applications. The issue here is to exclude the human factor as an error source, to relieve skilled employees from routine work, and to continuously document the analyzing processes by comprehensibly passing material samples through various analysis stations. Our customers automate cement testing labs with SCHUNK Powerball lightweight arms all around the globe for example. Service robots are taking over the handling of material during semiconductor production, and therefore lower the particle contamination in cleanrooms. The third field of application is the "material handling". Here, the goods transportation in the industrial production has to be automated in a way that each station can be independently and individually controlled, loaded and unloaded.

And the other two fields of application?
The fourth field of application is the "Health Care": From the acute medicine to rehabilitation and care applications. In connection with the imaging techniques, such as nuclear spin or computer tomography, doctors are supported by service robots for these tasks in the future, which require a particularly high accuracy. But also for recurring activities, which have to be carried out under controlled conditions, or assisting tasks in the operating room are performed by robots. Under the term "special subjects", SCHUNK summarizes special applications, such as service robots for film and TV, or for industrial cleaning.

What role does SCHUNK assume within this diverse market?
SCHUNK consistently focuses on its core competence: Modules for gripping, manipulating, and handling. At the beginning, committed entrepreneurs and engineers are required, who have ideas, and develop new applications. Particularly for Germany, as an industrial location, we see an excellent chance, since even today there are numerous tasks which can be carried out only under high physical stress. Service robots are going to take over such tasks in future, or are giving support. In this connection we assess the SCHUNK Expert Days on Service Robotics as an impulse-giver, and an ideal communication platform for users and system integrators. 

Source: SCHUNK GmbH & Co. KG  

Additive manufacturing of finished part quality

In addition to the special exhibition Metal meets Medical shows DMG Mori on the adjacent exhibition space of the Rapid Area with the "lasertec 65 Additive Manufacturing" an unprecedented hybrid machine. This integrates the generative laser cladding in a full 5-axis milling machine.

In times of ever shorter product life cycles and increasingly complex and individualized components generative process can help companies to manufacture new products faster. For generative manufacturing processes enable the production of complex geometries and workpieces. The unique combination of technologies according to the supplier of laser cladding by powder nozzle and milling allows users completely new application and geometry options. In the method, a job process is implemented through Metallpulverdüse which is up to 20 times faster than the generation in the powder bed.

Alternating deposition welding and milling

For the generative manufacturing the "lasertec 65 Additive Manufacturing" is equipped with a 2 kW diode laser for laser cladding. The selected integration full 5-axis milling machine Deckel Maho in stable mono-block design allows users but also high-precision milling operations. "The hybrid machine is due to the fully automatic change between milling and laser operation for the complete machining of complex parts with undercut, but also for repair work and the application of partial or complete coatings for medical, mold design and engineering," says Friedemann Lell, sales manager Sauer lasertec, pfronten.

The laser is off the bench along with powder coating head in the HSK tool holder of the milling spindle. It can be automatically parked in a secure docking station, as long as the milling operations are performed on the machine. The control for the laser process is housed in a separate cabinet, which facilitates the integration of this system into other machines from DMG Mori.

Machine large components generative

Components can be constructed in several stages. It can be milled between the cladding to edit points on the final accuracy that can not be achieved in the finished component due to the component geometry from the router. Conclusion: The hybrid machine combines the advantages of milling, such as high precision and surface quality with the flexibility and the high build-up rate of powder deposition welding. "With integral components, where today by milling to 95 percent of material is removed, is built with only additive process where material where it is needed. This leads to significant raw material and cost savings, "says Lell. The combination of cutting and additive methods should quickly gaining in importance as it gives users a lot of new possibilities and advantages.

Highlights of the "lasertec 65 Additive Manufacturing"

·         Unique combination of laser application and milling enables the highest surface quality and precision component

·         Laser cladding with powder nozzle is 20 times faster than the powder bed process

·         Feasibility of complete components

·         3D geometries can be realized even with undercuts

·         Repair work in tool and Fomenbau

·         Applying wear layers

·         Complete machining with fully automatic switching between milling and laser operation

·         Large work area for workpieces up to 650 mm diameter, 360 mm height and max. 1000 kg weight

·         Accessibility and ergonomics: 1,430 mm door opening (from the front)

·         Only 7.5 m ² floor space

Holistic production concepts

More precision and efficiency in medical technology production improves vendors capabilities

Ageing societies, higher disposable income, better medical care and at the same time the rising pressure on costs in the health care sector, these are the salient features of the business environment for medical technology companies. All these developments, however, promise one thing: the market for medical technology products remains an attractive one. It will continue to grow, and so will the concomitant challenges.

“In the field of medical technology, production operations are run with very different batch sizes”, explains Simon Voit, Product Manager Medical Technology, Marketing, Control Systems for Machine Tools, at Dr. Johannes Heidenhain GmbH in Traunreut, Germany, identifying one of the tasks that daily confront manufacturers of medical technology. “Whereas in the field of dentistry the production of one-offs is the everyday norm, in the case of surgical instruments the sheer diversity of variants entails small batches. Hip and knee joints, by contrast, are manufactured in a cost-efficient process-oriented series production operation. Irrespective of the batch size involved, moreover, the regulatory requirements for NC programs are very stringent”, adds Voit.

Heidenhain is one of more than 20 participants in the “Metal meets Medical” special show at the METAV 2014 – the international trade fair for manufacturing technology and automation, which will be held in Düsseldorf from 11 to 15 March. Under the motto of “smart solutions – more efficiency”, they will be showcasing how production technology contributes towards more efficiency and more precision in medical technology manufacturing. Other companies participating include 3D Laser, AHC Oberflächentechnik, Agie Charmilles, Citizen, DMG Mori Seiki, Forecreu, Fuchs, Paul Horn, Renishaw Sandvik, Siemens, SolidCAM, Trumpf, Zapp, plus the research institutes FEP from Dresden and IFW, IW, IFUM and Laser Centre from Hanover.

“People are looking for more flexible, more efficient production solutions, while retaining a consistently high standard of quality”, says Claus Bieder, Senior Manager Business Development at Siemens in Erlangen, Germany. In this context, efficiency primarily means speed. Faster translation of specific requirements into digital product prototypes, rapid creation of CNC programs, fast set-up and change-overs for the machines when handling different batch sizes, and not least expeditious machining are the salient challenges in the production process.

Other keynote topics are the materials used, like chromium-cobalt, stainless steels, ceramics, plastics or magnesium, some of which are less than easy to machine, stringent hygiene guidelines, maximised precision in the µm range, and coatings made of metal, plastics or ceramics, which at the same time have to be wafer-thin and nonetheless sturdy. The METAV will be showcasing solutions for this in Hall 15, covering the entire process chain, from the machine, the tools and the components all the way through to the metrological instrumentation for dental technology, implants, surgical instruments and mould construction.

Additive production processes expand the product portfolio in terms of medical technology
In addition, METAV 2014 will for the first time also be focusing on what are called additive processes, which are becoming progressively more important for industrial mass production operations and thus for manufacturing medical technology products as well. “Additive processes enable components with new functions to be created that could not be produced using conventional metal-cutting methods. Processes of this kind expand the options available for manufacturing components”, is how Dr. Matthias Luik, Head of Research and Development at Paul Horn, Tübingen, Germany, describes the potential involved.

Within the framework of the alliance between the trade fair organisers Messe Erfurt and the METAV’s organiser (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), the special show on medical technology will accordingly be expanded to include exhibitors from the additive production segment. Not only will additively manufactured medical products be showcased, such as implants, OP templates or prosthetics, but also the progress being made in deploying 3D layer-formers, reconstruction methods, (bio-)materials and how to machine them. In additive production processes, there is a huge potential for faster, more cost-efficient and more sustainable manufacturing in the field of medical technology.

Further information under: www.devicemed.de/metal-meets-medical. There you will also find, during the run-up to the METAV, the program of the presentation forum that will be accompanying the special show. 

Source: Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken (VDW)