Methods Completes “Demo Days” Series

“Given the economy we’re in right now, the solid number of attendees and their high level of interest in KIWA-Japan machines indicates that our series of Demo Days was a success,” says Scott McIver, chairman and vice president of product development at Methods Machine Tools Inc. Methods, a supplier of precision machine tools, is the exclusive importer of KIWA-Japan HMCs and VMCs in North America. To showcase this line of machines, which Methods has carried since July, 2008, the company held a series of six 1- or 2-day customer events at Methods Technology Centers throughout the United States. The first occurred at the end of March at company headquarters in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and the last was held in Tempe, Arizona, in early June. According to Mr. McIver, about 160 attended the event in Massachusetts, making it the highpoint of the series. Methods’ new Tempe Technology Center, where more than 145 attended during the two-day event, was a close second.

Main attractions were the KH-41 and KH-45 HMCs, which are designed to make profitable horizontal machining available to job shops, and the Triple V21i-R, a VMC which features a rotary pallet changer for rapid work changing in high production applications. The VMC is also available in a special version for automotive wheel production. The KH-45 is expandable so that users can migrate from a two-pallet system with 120 tools to a six- or eight-pallet system with 220 tools.