When discussing the role of digital technology in manufacturing, many commentators outside the industry talk about it as the future. Shop owners and manufacturers, however, know that the future is already here. In this new digital age, shops must merge advanced technology and manufacturing. They’re applying innovative solutions on the factory floor as more advanced materials and complex part features find their way into everyday products. And to help shops navigate this merger, Mazak created SMOOTH TECHNOLOGY and a full suite of Mazak digital solutions.
Mazak’s digital technologies not only address the current and future manufacturing challenges, but also many of the issues that existed prior to the digital age and that continue to create difficulties today, including the skills gap, unexpected equipment downtime, the protection of intellectual properties and continued pressure to increase speed, precision and production output. Here are some of the challenges today’s manufacturers face – and Mazak’s digital solution to each.
Challenge: A growing job shop needs to run 24/7, but while the machines can handle that pace, the best its team can manage at current staffing levels is 16/5.
Solution: Mazak SMOOTH Link, a fully scalable solution for machine monitoring that can be deployed with nothing more than a typical Wi-Fi router and MAZATROL Smooth CNCs. Users can view the status of machines and their in-progress workpieces from virtually anywhere at any time, allowing shops to unlock the efficiency made possible by unmanned lights-out production.
Challenge: A semiconductor shop won the bid to produce a new line of chips, but the customer requires extreme secrecy and equally tight cybersecurity.
Solution: Mazak SmartBox, a machine connectivity solution that offers virtually limitless possibilities for edge computing – and provides cybersecurity capable of meeting Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security Agency (NSA) requirements.
Challenge: A fast-moving custom automotive supplier has seen business boom, but it’s unable to find enough skilled operators who can handle part programming at the speed required to meet customer needs.
Solution: MAZATROL, the pioneering conversational programming language, makes it possible for novice operators to bypass G-code entirely to create part programs through conversationally displayed questions.
Of course, these Mazak digital solutions address more than just the challenges listed. Mazak developed SMOOTH TECHNOLOGY and its other digital solutions to offer complete scalability across the entire part-production landscape to ensure ease of use, cross-industry skills compatibility and room for future expansion in response to shop growth. As a result, the most common problems facing manufacturers today may be solved with these flexible technologies.