YCM Alliance Technical Center Grand Opening Highlights Customer-Centric Focus

YCM Technology (USA) Inc. announces the grand opening of its newest Technical Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The high-tech facility is designed to showcase and demonstrate various complementary machining solutions available through the YCM Alliance for mold and die machining, general parts machining and ultrahigh-speed machining. Alliance partners include YCM (milling, turning and wire EDM), exeron (sinker EDM, and ultrahigh-speed milling), Trimill (gantry-type portal milling), Cheto (deep-hole drilling) and Millutensil (spotting presses).

YCM Alliance Technical Centers are said to enable customers to challenge application experts with their distinctive requirements, compare different technologies, run test cuts, conduct time analysis and see firsthand the level of precision and quality that is achievable. YCM Technology Centers are designed as a production environment but also feature meeting rooms to discuss processes, business considerations and YCM’s own finance options. There is even a cafeteria so customers can be as productive as possible during their visit.

“The YCM Alliance Technical Centers are an important part of demonstrating to customers who we are. At its core, the YCM Alliance program is very customer-centric; it was created to provide extraordinary value to manufacturers looking for solutions, beyond a single machine type,” Tony Pekalski, president of YCM Technology (USA) Inc., says. “Our YCM Alliance partners are second to none when it comes to quality, performance, reliability and experience.”

The grand opening was celebrated by a two-day event, May 23-24, 2023, which YCM says drew the attendance of more than 300 hundred OEM and job shop customers, dealers and industry vendors. Machine type demonstrations included high-performance vertical milling, multi-axis, double column, gantry-type portal, ultrahigh-speed (steel/graphite), horizontal, sinker EDM, wire cut EDM, mold and die spotting presses, turning solutions and automation.

Machine demonstrations were ongoing for both days of the event with presentations by industry experts happening concurrently. Attendees were able to choose from nine different subjects and attend presentations of interest, making the most of their time while at the event. Informative presentations included:

• “Global Automotive Production Forecasting,” presented by AutoForecast Solutions (AFS)
• “Efficient Strategies for Machining Additive Manufactured Molds,” presented by Next Chapter Manufacturing
• “The Power of 5,” presented by Heidenhain
• “High-Efficiency Machining Using Five-Axis Milling, EDM and Automation,” pesented by Exeron
• “Automation — Bridging the Labor Gap One Arm at a Time with FANUC,” presented by Acieta
• “hyperMILL, When 3+2 Alone Just Won’t Cut It!” presented by Open Mind Technologies
• “Automating Mold Manufacturing using Five-Axis,” presented by Zero Tolerance
• “Seven-Axis Hybrid Milling and Deep-Hole Drilling With Automatic Gundrill Changer,” presented by Cheto
• “Bridging the Skilled Labor Gap with Technology,” presented by Tebis

The YCM Alliance is a customer-focused program where like-minded machine tool brands, dealers and solution matter experts work together to supply application-based systems designed to help customers improve processes, quality and overall machining productivity. Participating Alliance partners subscribe to a common assessment process designed to better understand each customer’s unique requirements, challenges and goals. The result is a comprehensive recommendation that takes into consideration process, machine types, configuration, special layout, financing, cost justification and return on investment (ROI). Service and support levels are guaranteed across all YCM Alliance brands, systems and components to ensure steady performance and reliability.