Automated Manufacturing in CNC Machining Environments
Automation of CNC processes is a global requirement driven by the need for increased efficiency, productivity and cost competitive manufacturing.
In this video, Paul Maxted, Director of Industrial Metrology Applications at Renishaw gives an introduction to automation in a CNC manufacturing environment and discusses how the factory of the future will need to go beyond mechanical automation to deliver the productivity benefits and provide a platform for sustainable manufacturing. Learn more .
Transcript
00:00:01 automation in manufacturing is now more important than ever cnc machine shops must be flexible to cope with changing demands in product mix and volume processes must be intelligent to automatically adjust when skilled workers are not available and factories must increase efficiency and reduce waste
00:00:21 to provide a sustainable future manufacturers who achieve these goals can compete in a global market even against low-cost economies these challenges are driving a digital manufacturing revolution and initiatives that you may have heard of such as building smart factory and adopting industry 4.0 mechanical
00:00:42 automation in a factory is nothing new robots have been used for part handling applications in high volume manufacturing environments for over 50 years current requirements for automation go beyond simply loading and unloading of parts from cnc machines and that's what we're going to talk about today this is
00:01:00 intelligent manufacturing so let's take a typical working week you have 7 days 24 hours that's 168 potential hours every week how many hours are the machines in your factory actually running in a traditional machining environment this will require one two maybe three shifts and associated labor costs
00:01:23 if you're manning your machines over the weekend that's an extra cost making it more expensive to get the most out of your machines so automation is the key to unlocking that capacity without adding extra cost but you need to consider all aspects of your manufacturing process if you are to succeed there are a lot of processes in the cnc factory that
00:01:42 require skilled people the setting up of machining processes making measurements and adjustments keeping dimensions under control monitoring processes throughout the day and reacting to things like tool wear tool breakage cutter deflection and process drift if you automate all these processes you can switch off the lights and leave the
00:02:02 machines running overnight with confidence your factory can safely and intelligently cope with variation trends and drift in your cnc processes and automatically adapt and ensure the quality of the output the immediate benefit here is your process capability is predictable manufacturers have automated their work
00:02:23 handling machine setup adjustment and monitoring of higher confidence in the output of their cnc machining processes delivering high quality machine parts throughout the week without excessive labour costs means manufacturers can get the maximum potential out of the high value capital assets
00:02:42 as manufacturers ourselves renee shall face many of the same challenges in our own factories we have many years of experience successfully automating our own cnc processes wework is partners with our customers around the world to achieve the same goals these customer span industries such as aerospace
00:03:01 automotive consumer electronics and power generation by automating manufacturing processes we could build highly flexible intelligent systems provide closed-loop feedback process control and provide data for improving process capability and efficiency only renishaw can provide all the industrial metrology solutions
00:03:23 that are required throughout the manufacturing process the technologies we provide include systems for assessing the performance and calibration of cnc machines on machine probing and tool measurement systems for automated cnc setup process control and part measurement shop floor gauging systems for process
00:03:44 validation and cnc process control and a wide range of systems for part verification using the latest five-axis multi-sensor technology on coordinate measuring machines and now in the age of industry 4.0 these systems provide all the data throughout the manufacturing process from start to end this is invaluable for
00:04:05 visibility of what's happening in the factory for traceability of a continuous improvement of course there are different levels of automation that can be used in and around cnc machining from simply bar feeding raw material on a lathe reducing operator intervention to allow
00:04:23 machines to run for longer with less staff through to fully automated intelligent manufacturing systems rental technology can deliver benefits at every stage of your automation journey and what's more the integration of rental technology is made simple through a range of smart apps that can
00:04:41 be used on cnc controls and mobile devices rennes will continuously innovate and develop technologies to meet the challenges of our customers and our solutions are supported around the world by our strong technical sales and service teams with many years experience working across multiple industries with our key
00:05:00 customers to find out more about how to integrate menstrual's automated manufacturing solutions in your own machine shop visit our virtual expo or you can also request a demo