New Mazak Versatech V-140N Will Boost Plant Productivity Mazak’s Florence, Kentucky manufacturing plant is expanding again with new Mazak equipment that will further increase plant capacity and productivity and shorten delivery time for Mazak customers. More than 46 truckloads of cement were needed to pour a foundation 4 feet deep for the new Versatech V-140N, a massive double-column five-face machining center for machining bed and column castings for all Kentucky-built Nexus models. Boasting axis travels of 433'' in X, 181'' in Y, and 77'' in Z, the Versatech V140N vertical machining center also features a nutating (B- and C-axis rotation) head, delivering full 50-Hp cuts. Four sides, the top surface, and any angled features can be machined without the need for head- or tool-change interruptions. This machine will also contain a 120-tool magazine and two-pallet changer, further facilitating increased spindle uptime and processing flexibility. Overall, throughput will double compared to the machine it replaces. Mazak’s Versatech V-140N can be incorporated into a Palletech material-handling system to further enhance productivity.
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From a new lobby to the latest in sophisticated equipment and software, Mazak customers are the beneficiaries of key service and support improvements at Mazak’s North American Parts Center. When a Mazak parts specialist takes your call, they have the benefit of dual-monitor computers that can retrieve parts drawings and check Mazak’s centralized parts inventory at the same time. As an order is entered, a bar-coded form is automatically generated at the warehouse. When scanned, the Automated Storage and Retrieval System automatically retrieves and presents the correct part, significantly reducing the chances for human error. In addition, Mazak customers are automatically receiving e-mail messages when their spare parts orders are being shipped. With the latest carrier software, the Mazak shipping process includes automatic e-mail or fax notification with full delivery information, including how to track their shipment. Customers are guaranteed parts from Mazak, not distributor parts cribs. These parts cover all Mazak models in the field, from the newest machines to those with decades in service. For all these machines, Mazak’s centrally located Parts Center in Florence, Kentucky ships 97% of parts orders on average within 24 hours of being received. And process is continually updated on a 42-inch monitor in the Call Center for all to see. New HOT Classes Get The Most From Your People Getting the full value from new Multi-Tasking technology involves getting the most from your people, and nothing is better for machinists than Hands-On Training (HOT) classes at Mazak’s Center for Multi-Tasking and Manufacturing Excellence inside the newly expanded National Technology Center in Florence, Kentucky. Since October 2006, more than 100 people from more than 50 companies have been helped through HOT classes. Class size is limited so that each attendee gets maximum time on the machine. Course objectives involve setup, machine operation parameters and verifying procedures such as machine alignments and system relationships. For the latest training offerings, click on the Center for Multi-Tasking and Manufacturing Excellence logo at www.mazakusa.com. |
Job Shop Teaches the Consultants
Kim Parrish is general manager of Advanced Machining & Fabrication Inc. in Owasso, Oklahoma. To cut waste and improve efficiency for his 27-person job shop, he signed up for lean training in August 2001. Two weeks later came September 11. “By the beginning of October, our fax machine was running out of paper with all the cancelled orders coming in,” he recalls.
“We started out wanting to increase our efficiency and fine-tune our operations, then overnight our focus shifted to survival,” says Parrish. “Now our priority is making sure we could adjust and make money whether business was up or down.”
Parrish has an energy services customer he likes to call the Mercedes Benz of downhole safety parts. Every order is for five to 15 parts of Inconel. Completing these parts on several machines in a cell like his lean consultants advised would mean scrap rates of up to 30%. Because his Mazak Integrex 100 Y Multi-Tasking machining center can mill, turn, drill, bore, tap, and finish a part in one setup, the scrap rate is more like 1%. “Cycle time became less important with quality like this,” he says. “We’ve entered a new stage of thinking.”
“Our consultants keep telling us to use our existing machines to increase efficiency, but we firmly believe efficiency with Multi-Tasking technology is the direction we need to go,” Parrish says. In fact, the last two Mazak Integrex Multi-Tasking machines Parrish has purchased, an Integrex 100 SY and Integrex 200 SY both acquired last year, were bought without consulting his consultants. “It’s led to some strong conversations,” he admits. “But we’re a job shop and we will always need machines that are versatile enough to jump jobs and industries. I will never veer from the path that Multi-Tasking technology moved us into profitability.”
