Metalcraft's factory in West Bend covers an area of 230,000 ft2 (1 ft2=0.093 m2), and mainly provides large-scale welding and manufacturing services for OEM customers, including John Deere, Oshkosh Truck, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar. With the increase in large-scale component contracts, improving processing performance on the basis of traditional manufacturing services has become the key to the company's competitive advantage.
In this context, Metalcraft is still using old-fashioned milling machines, which not only cannot meet the needs of customers, but also cannot meet the requirements of machining tolerances. To make matters worse, this machine tool has been down for 8 months, causing the company to have to pay an additional fee to outsource the work that could have been done in the company's workshop. At the same time, the maintenance cost of the machine tool alone was as high as $140 000. Therefore, Metalcraft began to look for alternative equipment.
The company decided to purchase two Toyoda FH1250SX-5 axis horizontal machining centers. Although they are mainly used for processing large welded parts, under the same process requirements, the five-axis performance of the two machine tools will be compared with the traditional three-axis or four-axis operation steps. Cut it by half. According to the design, these two machines are mainly used for processing large and complex parts with strict tolerances, but they can also meet the flexible processing requirements of large workpieces raised by Metalcraft's high-end customers.
John Grotelueschen, Manager of Metalcraft, who is responsible for overseeing more than 20 large CNC machining centers, said: “We use these two machines to cut various rough steel alloys. It turns out that using Toyoda's machining centers to process these parts is not only easy, but also very profitable. "Toyoda’s machine tool is equipped with an integrated tilting spindle with a speed of 10 000 rpm or 15 000 rpm. The feed rate on the X and Y axes is 1260 ipm (32 m/min), and the Z axis is 1654. ipm (42 m/min). "The installation of these machine tools is also very convenient," Grotelueschen added. "I have been in the industry for more than 30 years and have supervised more than 20 installation projects. This is the easiest one I have participated in so far."
The FH1250SX-5 axis horizontal machining center is equipped with a spindle speed of up to 15 000rpm and a torque of up to 400 Nm. It generates low heat and can be used to process various materials from aluminum to titanium
After the installation was completed, Metalcraft immediately used Toyoda's machine tools to complete orders from 5 different customers. The FH1250SX-5 axis machine tool can handle various sizes and other processing requirements while ensuring delivery time. "Take Caterpiller as an example, we mainly manufacture various large-scale front assembly radiator shields for it. The specific steps include metal cutting, welding, assembly and secondary processing after assembly." Grotelueschen explained, "Deere Company , We mainly manufacture the connecting rods of four-wheel drive tractors. The connecting rods are about 10 ft. The specific steps include electric discharge cutting, machining and painting, and then send them to customers. In addition, we also produce cockpit bases for them. Each Parts are worth thousands of dollars, so the accuracy of the machine tool is of utmost importance to us."
The introduction of new machine tools has become Metalcraft's core competence, laying a foundation for the company to improve its competitiveness, especially when customers request a "full production service package" (Figure 2). One of the customer's requirements is to increase the processing speed, but for the workshop, it was not possible to do it before purchasing the Toyoda machine tool. The introduction of the five-axis machine tool has increased the processing speed and reduced the operation steps. The processing cycle and rework of Metalcraft have been reduced a lot.
The introduction of the five-axis processing machine has improved Metalcraft’s processing efficiency, shortened processing time, and at the same time improved the company`s ability to control delivery time. It has become a part of the company’s core capabilities and is also the "full production service" proposed by the company in OEM customers. Another important advantage formed by the requirements of “package”
For Grotelueschen, these advantages are inseparable from the accuracy of the machine tool: “The accuracy of the machine tool is almost at its peak. When dealing with high-cost parts, accuracy is crucial.” He said, “Toyoda's machine tools are very Accurate and consistent in the production process. They can easily accomplish tasks that cannot be accomplished by other means."
Grotelueschen also mentioned another advantage of the five-axis machine tool-tool life, which is another important factor affecting the overall cost. "Some of the tools on the machine tool are built-in. They are there from the beginning and never need to be replaced. This rarely happens on a machine tool of this size and purpose." In short, Metalcraft's tool replacement ratio It was a lot less before. Utilizing the powerful performance of the FH1250SX-5 axis horizontal machining center, the company no longer needs to use special tools to complete specific tasks.
The large-scale machining performance of the FH1250SX-5 axis horizontal machining center reduces Metalcraft’s reliance on special tools while increasing tool life, including those used on large machines for hard metals
Maybe Metalcraft was originally positioned as a manufacturing and welding company, but the addition of Toyoda HMC has made the company's business scope more diverse. And diversification also happens to be the problem that many workshops are facing.