SLIDESHOW: Technology Tuesday, Toolroom Arsenals
This week I thought I'd highlight some of the mold builders MMT has profiled in the past, and the technology investments that have kept them growing.
A C 40 U five-axis machining center from Hermle in Eifel.
Diamond Tool’s Toshiba injection press enables sampling services.
Robot-fed machining of cores, cavities and inserts on this DMG MORI HSC 75 linear five-axis machining center at Ameritech.
Using technology Canon Virginia offers a pathway into not just manufacturing, but a subset of manufacturing that’s particularly renowned for the high-level skills and problem-solving ability that are critical to competitiveness.
Octex Labs offers access to digital microscopes capable of 60-320x magnification at a resolution of 0.05 micron.
Carson uses machines that offer high precision such as the mills and EDMs employed to product the 0.3 inch diameter insert shown here.
Mikron HSM 500 LPM high-speed VMCs from GF Machining are among Burteck’s workhorse machining equipment.
This Roku-Roku HC-658 machining center features a 30,000 -rpm spindle for electrode manufacturing and finish machining.
Here is just a peek at eight mold builders MMT has profiled over the past few years to give you a glimpse of their technology investment. Click on the company names to take you to their full profile.
- Even the most sophisticated technology can’t accomplish much if it’s not run by people who understand not only how to operate it, but how best to apply it. That’s the basic premise driving virtually all activities at injection mold manufacturer Eifel Mold & Engineering.
- Diamond Tool & Engineering has invested in injection presses for in-house testing and sampling, mold flow simulation software, another robotic cell and another five-axis machining center.
- Ameritech Die and Mold’s production philosophy helped it expand its robot-tending beyond electrode machining and sinker EDM operations.
- Canon Virginia’s toolmaking operation opened in 2005 and with an existing molding operation and tooling knowledge developed through years of repair and maintenance, manufacturing molds in-house rather than sourcing from outside was a natural next step.
- Supplied by Carl Zeiss, the Metrotom machine and accompanying Calypso software are housed at Octex Labs and Choice Tool. The amount of information the machine can process is staggering. A single scan collects 16 billion voxels (3D pixels) of information. Overlaying a scan atop a 3D part model during first-article inspections reveals even the smallest areas of deviation.
- When it comes to making use of technology, strategies haven’t changed any more than the company’s overall business philosophy. Whenever possible, Carson Tool simplifies and streamlines the build by consolidating operations.
- Regardless of where the work is performed, Burteck’s chief priority is ensuring that all tooling carrying its name is held to the same high standard. As long as it meets that goal, a careful, strategic approach to global production can help adapt to whatever the future has in store.
- Production problems at Advanced Mold & Tooling might not always be easy to solve, but chances are, they’ll be recognized. More often than not, they can even be broken down to a specific cause, a specific timeframe and a specific cost. That’s because the company enjoys deep enough visibility into its own operations that worn cutting tools, missing inventory, programming mistakes or other problems rarely go unnoticed. This visibility has proven critical to developing best practices and keeping costs and lead times low enough to thrive in an ever-more-competitive market.
