Another year, another round of trade shows. With some adjustments, in person events were held this year from EMO Milan to EASTEC to MECT2021 as well as Methods Open Houses for three of their technical centers. Our team was eager to see what new trends would be featured and captured several of them listed below.
Automation
Every industry is experiencing labor shortages including manufacturing. To keep shops running, many are adding automation to their set up. It’s no surprise that FANUCs’ booth drew attention because of their robots on display at EMO Milan. The two that drew attention were at the forefront, moving the body of a car around in addition to moving a car battery as if they both weighed no more than a feather. Collaborative robots were also partnered with FANUC Robodrills’ and Robocuts’ to showcase the compact size and the ability to work without the need of a safety fence. Check out the full video where MTDCNC speaks with a FANUC representative.
Industry 4.0
Chances are you’ve heard the term “Industry 4.0” thrown around which is the next revolutionary step for technology and a huge change to the manufacturing sector. With the addition of technology and automation, more and more information is available digitally. Machines can essentially speak to each other; monitoring systems can be set up to alert you when a machine goes down or if a tool broke. Shops can more efficiently and effectively hit their production target with less down time and errors.
At OptiPro’s Technology Open House, we had vendors such as FactoryWiz and Caron Engineering which exemplified the next steps machine shops can take.
FactoryWiz is essentially “an Ethernet connected factory using software systems like FactoryWiz Monitoring to collect activity status on assets such as CNC Machines, robots or assembly lines and present real-time non-biased information…” . Consider checking out one of their recent case studies here.
At Caron Engineering their goal is “to provide leading smart manufacturing solutions to reduce cycle times, promote unattended operation, drive down tooling costs, and minimize expensive damage to machines and work-holding”. One of their featured products, Tool Monitoring Adaptive Control also known as TMAC was built to maximize tool life and reduce cycle time. Consider checking out their product offerings here.
New Machine Announcement
FANUC & Nakamura-Tome showcased new products at EMO Milan including the new FANUC Robocut Ci400-C as well as the SC-100X2, respectively.
The new ROBOCUT a-CIC series offers “even high levels of reliability, cutting speed, surface finish and dimensional precision”. The new series boasts further accuracy due to high-precision pitch error compensation function. Additionally, users will be pleased to have the ability to adjust cutting performance via a simple plus and minus control while still maintain discharge gap. To read more on the press release of the machine click here for the article or watch FANUC robocut product manager, Steve Raucci, cover the machine in the video below.
Nakamura-Tome also showcased their newest product addition, the SC-100X2. It’s the perfect multi-tasking machine to consider if you are looking at twin turret lathes but nervous about the cost. With the Sc-100X2, their new tagline is “born to be fast” and the machine is fast! The main feature this machine boasts is superimposed cycle in simultaneous machining with the left and right spindle.
You can check out the international announcement made by Nakamura-Tomes’ Shogo Nakamura below or check out OptiPro’s press release for the machine.
