Case Study

One of the most valuable assets to a machine shop is time.

“That’s where your profits are, that’s where your customer satisfaction numbers come from, that’s where everything comes from,” said Carl Pasciuto, president and sales team leader for Custom Machine. “You can’t really buy time. You have to create it.”

Custom Machine had one job in particular for which it needed to expedite operations. With the help of a new Yasda machining center from Methods, the company has built a highly reliable process with fewer setups and partially automated inspection that frees up employees for higher skilled work. The extra time created by this setup has enabled the company to triple throughput, and it hopes to use this momentum to further increase production.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

Yasda YBM 7Ti interior at Custom Machine

It was apparent that the shop needed a way to streamline production of this part in order to meet demand.

Changes to tooling and other factors did not result in the necessary improvements, and it was clear the shop needed a new machine tool.

After researching several options, it purchased a 5-axis Yasda 7Ti horizontal machining center with two pallets from Methods Machine Tools. The machine stood out to the company for a number of reasons.

One of the most significant features is the machine’s large work envelope. With X-, Y- and Z-travels of 49.2 inches, 39.4 inches and 43.3 inches (1,250 mm, 1,000 mm and 1,100 mm) respectively, along with a vertical rotation of 360 degrees and a horizontal rotation of ± 110 degrees, the machine can handle the large lubrication scavenge pump.

“Yasda’s platform was so flexible that we were able to go from seven setups on our previous equipment down to two.” All machined features are being produced in these two setups, saving a significant amount of time and reducing the risk of errors. “The fewer times you touch something, the more productive you are,” Pascuito said.

The work envelope has also enabled the shop to simplify the fixturing for the part.

“When you go to a five-axis platform with an open envelope such as the Yasda, you can simplify that by actually extending it, or lollipopping it, we call it,” he explained. “Just put it on one stem and then you can work around and hit five sides of the cube.” Simpler fixtures also help reduce the chances of potentially expensive mistakes, such as loading the part incorrectly or fixtures coming loose.

According to Mr. Pasciuto, another reason the company chose the Yasda machine was its accuracy. He was able to visit the factory in Japan and see the detail that goes into the machines. Everything is hand-scraped, and the platform is very rigid to effectively reduce vibration.

“The spindle is very accurate,” he added, “and they have redundant checks on everything on their machine tools, from feedback mechanisms to backlash and everything else that eliminate all the risks.” These details enable the machines to produce the highly accurate parts this application requires.

Accuracy saves the shop time. The machine takes into account factors such as thermal expansion, backlash and lead screws, making it repeatable so machinists don’t have to spend time fixing errors and making tweaks. According to Mr. Pasciuto, time spent correcting problems is time wasted chasing the machine. “Every time you’re chasing something, it’s time you’re losing,” he said. “You’ll never get it back.”

Additionally, the machine’s accuracy has enabled the shop to shift experienced employees to higher skilled work. “The other thing you can depend on when you have accurate machines is you don’t need your highest skilled people,” Mr. Pasciuto said.

As with many other shops, Custom Machine is looking for new machinists. Until shops are fully staffed, it’s important for employees to work as efficiently as possible using their full capabilities. If a job has a reliable machine tool, a reliable process and a solid setup, a lower-skilled employee can run it while higher-skilled employees can focus on new jobs and process improvements.

The new machine has helped improve the inspection of the pump as well. The Yasda has on-machine probing, a feature the shop’s previous machines did not have. This has enabled the shop to automate some of the part inspection, and with more than 800 features on each part, this adds up to significant time savings.

“It’s still an hour, but it’s much less human interaction,” Mr. Pasciuto noted. “There are some features that still need to be checked manually, but for the most part we’re automating anything we can.”

Due to the on-machine probing, Custom Machine has reduced the number of employees inspecting these parts from two to one, shifting another employee to higher-skilled work.

The Yasda has enabled Custom Machine to dramatically increase its throughput of the part. “If you back figure what time it took before to where we are now, a triple throughput is probably conservative,” Mr. Pasciuto said.

However, even with this progress, the company still couldn’t meet the demand of 60 parts per month. So, it has purchased a second Yasda 7Ti, this one with six pallets. These additional pallets, along with the improvements made on the first Yasda, will enable the company to run parts lights out through the weekend. Mr. Pasciuto estimates that the new machine will again enable the company to triple output and exceed 60 parts per month.

This story original ran in a previous edition of Production Machining magazine