shop solutions s problem solving on the shop...

38 AdvancedManufacturing.org | September 2016

sSHOP SOLUTIONSProblem Solving on the ShoP Floor

Software Monitors Spindles, OEE for Incentive Payout

For the Advanced companies (Owasso, OK), FactoryWiz

Monitoring software from Refresh Your Memory Inc. (San

Jose, CA) is monitoring spindle utilization OEE and providing

a baseline to evaluate company performance for its employee

Read more, P40

Waterjet Technology JoinsShop’s Quick-Turn Lineup

R apid Sheet Metal (Nashua, NH) has added two waterjet

cutting systems to its impressive lineup of subtractive

manufacturing technologies for production of prototype

and short-run sheetmetal and machined parts.

Read more, P43

Smart Milling Saves Time, Improves Part Quality

L icon MT (Laupheim, Germany) was able to save time, trim

costs, and improve part quality roughing a key part on one

of its machining centers using a roughing tool from Walter AG

(Tubingen, Germany; Waukesha, WI).

Read more, P97

Tablet with FactoryWiz monitoring being used by Forrest Vaught, CNC

programmer, at Advanced Machining & Fabricating.

Licon MT machines the 440 lb (200-kg) cast iron Z-slide for its

five-axis HMC on a Starrag Heckert HEC 1250 machining center

using Walter’s round insert milling cutter for roughing.

Rapid cut this ¼" (6.35-mm) aluminum shark on its Jet Edge waterjet

cutting system, demonstrating abrasive waterjet’s ability to cut highly

precise detailed parts from virtually any material.Photo courtesy rAPiD


incentive program. The Advanced companies—Advanced

Plastics Inc. and Advanced Machining and Fabricating Inc.—

are contract manufacturers that machine titanium, nickel

alloys, Monel, 15-5 and 17-4 stainless, PEEK material, cast

nylons, engineered thermoplastics, carbon fiber, and Inconel

for the aerospace and defense and oil and gas industries. A

shop’s overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) score is deter-

mined by availability, efficiency, and quality and is an impor-

tant measure of actual machining time.

“We have spent a great deal reinvesting in our equipment

over the last 15 years and into multitasking equipment,”

said S. Scott Shortess, president, Advanced Plastics. “Our

approach is to integrate a pallet system with a

horizontal machining center and a five-axis ma-

chine. We believe this type of manufacturing con-

figuration enables us to compete in the extremely

cost-sensitive aerospace industry and business jet

submarket. Typically, our parts are small in nature,

and very complex with a very tight tolerance. Work

envelopes of our machines handle parts 12 × 24

× 7" [305 × 610 × 178 mm]. That’s about the big-

gest workpiece that we run. We process up to 7"

thick titanium on the waterjet,” said Shortess.

About three years ago, Advanced imple-

mented an incentive plan, something manage-

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SHOP SOLUTIONS

FactoryWiz machine status page at Advanced Machining & Fabricating,

President Kim Parrish (left), Jeff Rogers, CNC programming manager.

September 2016 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 41

ment had been talking about for years. Last year, Advanced

installed FactoryWiz Monitoring software to get real-time

information to control the shop more efficiently and evalu-

ate performance objectively. “What we needed was a way

to validate our OEE score for spindle

utilization,” said Shortess. “Factory-

Wiz gives us the ability to loop back

and compare estimated time to run a

job, especially ones that you haven’t

quoted and run before, with actual

performance. That’s where the profit

is and that’s where FactoryWiz is so

effective,” said Shortess. “But first

we had to establish a baseline and

needed the ability to verify the OEE

score we had determined manu-

ally. We needed to know our current

state in order to create a plan that we

thought was quickly attainable.”

Advanced companies have 55 em-

ployees in both Advanced Plastics and

Advanced Machining & Fabricating. All

employees participate in the incen-

tive plan. “Our incentive plan is pretty

straightforward,” said Shortess. “We

want employees to know exactly how

they can affect the company’s results

in a positive manner. There are four

considerations: customer returns, on-

time delivery, scrap as a percentage of

sales, and the OEE spindle utilization.”

The results could not have been

more eye-opening when Advanced in-

stalled FactoryWiz Monitoring software

to monitor its machine spindle utiliza-

tion. FactoryWiz provided the ability to

spot trends as they happen. Real-

time information monitored includes

productivity, idle reason tracking, offset

tracking, and preventive maintenance.

“Each is weighted at 25% in this phase.

During our next phase of implementa-

tion, we will begin adjusting the weights

of the KPIs to align more closely with

the department’s contribution to each

individual metric,” said Shortess.

Information is displayed on 10 large screen monitors that

are strategically located throughout the shop where leads

and operators and other personnel can easily view them.

Other screens are located in the programming/planning area,


in the production manager’s office, tooling, scheduling and

the break room, among others. In addition, 12 wireless tab-

lets are available to monitor machine spindle utilization, and

the plan is to position one tablet at each workcenter.

“Leads and operators can easily view the shop floor and

their groups via the large screens which make them aware

of their program/production scheduling OEE score. It’s like

an on-line Pager, with visibility for each piece of equipment,”

said Shortess. “Visibility first and fore-

most gives us the ability to take steps

to become lean. A Shop View Map

on the large screen display contains a

CAD drawing of the shop with all 21

machines that are monitored. Each

machine is Green if running, Blue if idle,

and Red if in an alarm state.

“The FactoryWiz Monitoring escala-

tion of notifications feature is extremely

valuable when dealing with alarms and

idle equipment. We follow a 10-10-10

minute rule to get the experts involved

who can resolve a problem,” said Short-

ess. “We set the Red alarm escalation at

10 minutes which means the first notifi-

cation is to the operator; after 10 more

minutes the lead is notified, and after half

an hour, if the problem still isn’t resolved,

the president gets an e-mail and walks

out to the shop floor. That’s powerful in-

centive to resolve the problem as quickly

as possible,” said Shortess.

“The bottom line of the incentive

program is to get the results that you’re

planning for, measure them in a very ob-

jective way, and reward the people that

are doing the work. We do have an on/

off switch governing the program. If the

revenue threshold level for the quarter

isn’t reached, then there is no payout for

that quarter.” Advanced has paid out an

incentive for 12 straight quarters since it

started the incentive program.

“What we’re trying to do with Facto-

ryWiz Monitoring is identify the reasons

why a machine is idle and not running

and be able to generate continuous

improvement activities based on the

analysis of those reasons. One refine-

ment to our program has been to start

adding team-based metrics around our

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SHOP SOLUTIONS


day shift and night shift operators. It will require better com-

munication and teamwork between our day and night shift

operators who will be scored on their OEE,” said Shortess.

“FactoryWiz has direct native Ethernet connections to

Advanced CNC machines, including Mazak Matrix and Fu-

sion controls, FANUC Focas, Haas, and a DMG Mori with

MTConnect. Native Ethernet connections (including newer

Heidenhain, Mitsubishi EZSocket and Okuma THINC) can be

utilized for monitoring as well as for sending/receiving files.

FactoryWiz DNC has a built-in FTP/FANUC Focas software

module that is greatly improved over RS-232 communica-

tions. Simplified training is achieved because we have stan-

dardized practices to make sure operators have the same

look and feel on each machine,” said Shortess.

For more information from Refresh Your Memory Inc., go

to www.factorywiz.com, or phone 408-224-9167; for more

information about the Advanced companies, go to www.

advcosinc.com, or phone 918-664-5410.

Continued from P38

Waterjet Technology JoinsShop’s Quick-Turn Lineup

R apid Sheet Metal (Nashua, NH) has added two waterjet

cutting systems to its impressive lineup of subtractive

manufacturing technologies for production of prototype and

short-run sheet metal and machined parts. At Rapid, which

also manufactures wire harnesses, cable assemblies, and

box builds, the quick in quick turnaround means that quotes

are started right away, orders are processed immediately, and

sheetmetal and machined prototype parts are programmed

within 24 hours and out the door in days, not weeks.

A veteran of the fast-paced 3D printing/additive manu-

facturing world, James Jacobs was accustomed to getting

things done quickly for his customers. Then he took a job as

a manufacturer’s representative for a metal fabrication shop.

He couldn’t believe that he had to fight to get quotes back

within two weeks and that it could take four to six weeks to

get parts to his customers. Others might have thrown up

their arms in frustration, but Jacobs saw a huge opportunity.

He knew he could do better.

With the help of family, friends and a local bank, Jacobs

put his and his wife’s life savings on the line and bought a

small sheetmetal shop in Nashua. As luck would have it,

Jacobs opened Rapid Sheet Metal for business on Sept. 14,

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2001, three days after the 9/11 attacks. But he

rolled up his sleeves and got to work transforming

the sheetmetal prototype and short-run business.

Jacobs persevered through the downturn that

followed 9/11, growing Rapid Sheet Metal and

adding two divisions, Rapid Machining in 2009

and Rapid Wire Cable in 2012. Today, Rapid as a

whole employs more than 325 people in 140,000

ft2 (13,006 m2) of manufacturing space and has

achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification for all its

short-run facilities. The full-service prototype

manufacturer serves a wide variety of clients in

many industries including aerospace, automotive,

consumer products and everything in-between.

Its customers have ranged from entrepreneurs to

Fortune 500 businesses.

Jacobs recognized that product designers and new prod-

uct developers need metal prototype parts just as quickly

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the delay for quotes by employing the deadline-sensitive

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SHOP SOLUTIONS

David Rugg, Rapid’s production supervisor, loads material onto one of the

company’s two Jet Edge Mid Rail Gantry waterjet systems and fixtures it

into place with heavy metal weights. The weights keep the material from

shifting during cutting for a more precise cut.

Phot

o co

urte

sy r

apid


Then he banished long queue times by investing in dedicated

machines and 3D CAD data to streamline the process.

Rapid’s metal fabrication and machining equipment

includes over 40 CNC milling and turning centers, multiple

laser cutting systems, press brakes

and other equipment. Most recently

the company installed two 5 × 8' (1.5

x 2.4 m) Jet Edge Mid Rail Gantry

waterjet cutting systems to increase

productivity at its Rapid Machining di-

vision. Rapid uses the waterjets to cut

a variety of materials including plastics,

aluminum and mild steels with thick-

nesses averaging between 0.030 and

5" (0.76–127 mm).

Jet Edge’s Permalign abrasive

waterjet cutting head, when used with

the Jet Edge OmniJet cutting head, is

rated for pressures up to 60,000 psi

(4100 bar), orifice sizes ranging from

0.003 to 0.020" (0.0762–0.508 mm),

and nozzle sizes from 0.020 to 0.065"

ID (0.508–1.651 mm). The Jet Edge

waterjets are credited with tremendous

efficiency gains. Machining hours have

been dramatically reduced by having

blanks cut to near net shape, thus

eliminating the time required to mill

excess material from the typical rect-

angular blank. This has also had an

impact in reducing tooling costs as the

tools are not cutting as much material

and last longer. In addition, the water-

jets have allowed Rapid Machining to

diversify its services.

“We are now able to offer more ma-

chining capabilities which has allowed

us to increase the number of projects

that flow through the machine shop,”

Jacobs said. “The waterjet systems

help accommodate the machining of

more detailed products with multiple

setups and operations. The waterjets

have also allowed us to offer more to

the customer. What is unique about

our systems is we use the waterjets to

enhance our machining capabilities. We are able to use the

systems at various stages of a part’s process from start to

completion and increase the materials offered.”

SHOP SOLUTIONS

Continued on P97


“The biggest positive about the Jet Edge waterjet is the

reliability,” he said. “This appeals to us because the tool is

there when we will need it, and it has the capacity to handle

specialized projects in the timeframe we need. The reason

we would recommend Jet Edge, aside from reliability and

dependability, is because of their customer service. The Jet

Edge team understands the business and provides prompt

customer service. Jet Edge has a great, reliable team, just

like the machine. When we have questions or need to call,

there are always people ready to assist no matter the ques-

tion. The great customer service is one of the reasons we are

so satisfied with the machine.”

Jacobs attributes the company’s success to its large team

of experienced employees who understand their custom-

ers’ sense of urgency. “Rapid has grown and will continue

to grow because we recognize that our team of employees

is key to the success of the business,” Jacobs said. “Part of

having a great team is their commitment to always exceeding

customer needs. The attitude to grow, and improve cus-

tomer experience has allowed us to offer more services for a

frictionless customer experience.”

According to Jacobs, Rapid’s consistent quick-turn

service requires a large and highly skilled workforce. “This

size gives us the capacity for large projects. We are better

positioned to meet peak demand periods, and employee

vacation and sick days don’t have an impact on lead times or

deliveries. Rapid operates at a minimum 24/5 and, in some

divisions, 24/7. Parts are always moving through our shops,

permitting us to ship expedites within 24 hours if necessary.”

“On the experience side, our employee bench is incred-

ibly deep with dozens of master CNC machinists and sheet-

metal mechanics, do-it-all guys, with the critical knowledge

gained through years of experience. We ship well over 100

unique parts every day, and the majority are parts we have

never made before and will never make again.” In 2015,

Rapid manufactured more than 33,000 unique parts. Rapid

recently developed a free add-in for Solidworks, eRAPID,

that allows users to quote sheetmetal parts within Solid-

works instantly. Its add-in also provides design feedback

regarding proper sheetmetal design for manufacturing. This

addresses a very common problem for many mechanical

and design engineers with tight deadlines to get quotes and

parts instantly.

For more information about Rapid, go to www.rapidma-

nufacturing.com or call 603-595-1400; for more information

about Jet Edge, visit www.jetedge.com or call 800-538-3343.

Continued from P38

Smart Milling Saves Time, Improves Part Quality

L icon MT (Laupheim, Germany) was able to save time, trim

costs, and improve part quality roughing a key part on one

of its machining centers using a roughing tool from Walter AG

(Tubingen, Germany; Waukesha, WI). In addition, dramatic

savings in finishing time were also realized at Licon’s main

plant in Laupheim where it employs 200 people.

Walter’s know-how and innovative tooling are credited

by Harald Dammann, head of Licon MT’s production/work

preparation, with producing impressive results. “We were

simply not satisfied with the previous machining times.”

Two successive work processes on one component

seemed too lengthy and too expensive to this experienced

technician. The component in question is part of the Liflex II

444 five-axis, twin-spindle horizontal machining center.

The work processes involve the rough and precision

machining of an internal opening on a Z-slide that is 55.12"

(1400-mm) long and whose width and height are both 11.81"

(300 mm). The workpiece, which weighs almost 440 lb (200

kg), is made of ductile cast iron and has a tensile strength of

600 N/mm2. Circular interpolation milling is used to expand

the opening from a diameter of 7.87–9.49" (200–241 mm).

Licon MT uses special milling cutters for the rough machin-

ing, and for the subsequent finishing.

The roughing tool has an extremely large projection length

of 21.77" (553 mm). “On tools of this length, ensuring suf-

ficient toughness and stability is an important aspect in order

to achieve the required machining quality,” said Dammann.

“However, to make this tool easier to handle, the tool shank,

which weighs more than 22 lb (10 kg), is made from alumi-

num rather than steel. This is not good for achieving a high

level of stability. For this reason, milling cutters and indexable

inserts are required that contribute to stable machining with a

high level of operational smoothness.”

The roughing takes place on a large four-axis horizontal

machining center with a horizontal/vertical milling head. Until

recently, this process took a full 56 minutes and the subse-

quent finishing of various surfaces took another 48 minutes.

To reduce these times, the head of production/CAM pro-

gramming, Marcus Breymayer, contacted Martin Huber from

Walter at the start of September 2015. Huber, an experi-

enced application engineer, has had a close working relation-

SHOP SOLUTIONSContinued from P47


ship with Licon MT for years, and within just a few days he

found an ideal solution for both work processes.

For the roughing, an F2334 round-insert milling cutter

from Walter has been used since the end of September

2015 instead of the octagon milling cutter that was previ-

ously employed. “This milling cutter’s strengths include very

smooth running and a high level of process reliability,” said

Huber. “Round indexable inserts with location flats and a

robust insert clamping system allow for high feeds and metal

removal rates—particularly with roughing materials that are

difficult to cut.”

For the subsequent finishing, the F5041 Walter BLAXX

shoulder mill from Walter replaced the shoulder mill that was

previously used. “The F5041 is designed for high levels of

toughness, stability, process reliability and productivity,” said

Walter’s Huber. “The basis for these advantages is a Walter

BLAXX tool body that is protected against wear by a special

surface treatment, a particularly robust core, four helical,

positive cutting edges per indexable insert and the precise

90° on the workpiece.”

Walter’s milling cutter combines the advantages of tan-

gential milling systems with the strengths of indexable inserts

that come with the manufacturer’s own Tiger·tec Silver CVD

coating. With this temperature-resistant, particularly wear-

resistant coating, aluminum oxide with its optimized micro-

structure contributes to reduced machining times. Extremely

smooth rake faces are designed to minimize tribochemical

wear. A silver flank face as an indicator layer means that wear

can be easily detected, therefore preventing cutting edges

from being wasted.

The round-insert milling cutter that is used for the rough-

ing has a diameter of 6.30" (160 mm) and is equipped

with 10 eight-increment round inserts with Tiger·tec Silver

coating. By changing to this tool, the feed rate per tooth has

increased from 0.01 to 0.03" (0.25–0.8 mm), and the depth

of cut has increased from 0.02 to 0.04" (0.5–1 mm).

On the round insert, the effective cutting approach angle is

20° in contrast to 45° on the eight-edged insert on the previ-

ous octagon milling cutter. “The lower the approach angle, the

thinner the swarf and the higher the potential feed,” said Hu-

ber. The feed rate was therefore able to increase from 33.46 to

106.30 ipm (850–2700 mm/min), and the machining time sank

from 56 minutes to just 10 minutes. “We did not expect to see

this type of improvement,” said Dammann. Saving 46 minutes

per workpiece means that, for 100 components each year,

there is a capacity increase of 76 hours. Another positive effect

of Walter’s solution: The thinner the swarf, the lower the load

on the milling spindle, and the more smoothly the machine

runs. Reduced vibration means reduced wear on the machine,

better surface finish and longer edge life.

The Walter BLAXX shoulder mill 2.48" (63-mm) diam-

eter that has been used for the finishing application since

the changeover, is equipped with seven square indexable

inserts while the competing product was equipped with

six square inserts. The seven inserts on Walter’s milling

cutter are tangential double-sided inserts with four cut-

ting edges and wide finishing land. This product is made

from Walter’s wear-resistant WAK15 cutting tool material

and has a long secondary cutting edge. This means that

a higher feed per tooth is possible and ensures that the

surface quality is significantly improved.

By changing the finishing tool to Walter BLAXX, it

was possible to increase the feed per tooth from 0.08 to

0.35 mm. The feed rate increased from 11.81 to 137.80

ipm (300–3500 mm/min), and the machining time fell

from 48 minutes to just five minutes. “This is roughly

one tenth—we would hardly have dared to dream about

such figures,” said Dammann. Reducing the machining

time for each workpiece by 43 minutes means that, for

100 components each year, there is a capacity increase of 72

hours and significant cost savings.

For more information about Walter USA LLC, go to

www.walter-tools.com/us, or phone 800-945-5554.

SHOP SOLUTIONS

Circular interpolation with Walter’s F2334 round insert milling cutter

reduced roughing machining time from 56 minutes to just 10 minutes

to expand the opening from a diameter of 7.87 to 9.49” (200–241 mm).

shop solutions s problem solving on the shop...

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