Workforce Development
School Days
I recently had the opportunity to visit machine tool builder Toyoda Machine Works in Japan. A part of my visit included a tour of the company's apprenticeship school.
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This Job Shop Found Success with Swiss-Type Turning
This northern Ohio job shop is very good at making parts on Swiss-type machines. It's evolved the business from manual engine lathes to lights-out manufacturing. Success didn't come easily, but it has indeed come to this shop.
Read MoreSoftware Leads To Integration In The Job Shop
Jim Andries of Stremel Manufacturing had a vision of his company's software and employees working together. After several years of piecemeal software purchases, Mr. Andries' vision turned into a true need for shop integration.
Read MoreMinimizing Offset Changes From Job To Job
Some companies store all cutting tools they ever use in the CNC machine's magazine or turret. Others have a number of tools that they keep in the machine on a permanent basis.
Read MoreModular Tooling Meets Requirements Of Job Shop Specizliaing In Off-Load Mach
Because quick response to customer needs is important, Ultimate Precision relies on agile production equipment, including CNC machining centers and flexible tooling. In producing 10-inch by 8-inch parts from raw castings for a builder of special machine tools, two ID bores and one OD surface, ranging from 3.3 inches to 5 inches in diameter, had to be finish-machined to exacting tolerances and fine surface finishes. Each of these cuts, and several other finishing operations, was performed on a 40 hp Niigata SPN-63 CNC horizontal machining center.
Read MoreJob Shop Provides Machine Operators With Job-Related Data In Real-Time
This shop, which specializes in large parts for power generation, aerospace and defense, decided it wanted to provide machine operators with every piece of information for the job at hand, in one place, at one time and in real-time.
Read MoreUser Interface Helps Solve EDM Skills Crunch
Many shops would like to do more electrical discharge machining (EDMing) but don't have the skilled EDM operators to run the machines. Mitsubishi EDM (MC Machinery Systems, Inc. , Wood Dale, Illinois) recently introduced several new models, and the ones equipped with a new generation of control unit will appeal to shops in this situation.
Read MoreJob Shop Triples Bandsaw Productivity By Substituting Carbide For Bi-Metal Blade
York Machine Shop Ltd. (Campbel1 River, British Columbia) cuts aluminum-bronze tube for a specialized paper industry application.
Read MoreJob Shop Cuts Processing Time 60 Percent
Innovative Manufacturing used to spend ten minutes per part machining cast iron differential housings for golf carts, but now total machining time is down to three minutes, 45 seconds. According to Innovative owner and president Rob Sander, the productivity leap came when the company consolidated turning, milling, drilling and reaming into a single machine tool.
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Not Your Typical Job Shop
This family-owned job shop has developed an integrated fabrication and machine shop in order to satisfy customers' changing needs. In doing so it has become an example that other shops might want to imitate.
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