Chris Koepfer has been involved in metalworking for 30 years. His first 14 were in the machine tool group at Cincinnati Milacron where he honed his technical writing skills in turning, machining and grinding before joining Modern Machine Shop in 1992 as an associate editor. In 2001, he helped found MMS’ sister publication Production Machining, which speaks to the precision machined parts segment of the industry. Chris is graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, as are three of his four children, and an XU basketball fan—which can be as daunting as working in metalworking, he says.
To better serve its growing customer base east of the Mississippi River, Ganesh Machinery recently cut the ribbon on its newest Technical Center. Located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, it is set up to be a full service facility for training, runoff, automation integration, turnkey applications, sales and service.
A highlight for visitors to the new technical center was a demonstration of mill/turn technology in the form of an automation package built around the company’s Cyclone 52 twin spindle, twin turret eight-axis turning cell. Included in the cell is six-axis robot for load/unload, which offers a drawer-type loading system capable of holding enough part blanks and finished parts for extended operations.
Ganesh also demonstrated its vertical machining center line at the opening. These machines are displayed in the tech center and under power for customer runoffs and demonstrations.
Long a proponent of mill/turn, multitasking technology, Ganesh is taking this step to bring its productivity advantages to a wider audience. California based, the company’s move east seems to indicate the concept of mill/turn is being embraced by companies looking for better ways to process work.
DMG/Mori Seiki USA President, Mark Mohr, and Chief Learning Officer, Rod Jones, accept the NIMS accreditation certificate at the company’s Innovation Days.
At its recent Innovation Days in Chicago, DMG/Mori Seiki USA announced that its training center, DMG/Mori Seiki University (DMSU) is the latest addition to the network of National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS)-accredited training programs. The company is the first machine tool builder to receive such accreditation from NIMS.
This accreditation focuses on CNC machining and machine maintenance, and requires that all trainers gain credentials in a variety of NIMS skills certifications. DMG/Mori Seiki University chief learning officer, Rod Jones, led the accreditation process, along with Doug Pierce, Manager of Educational Operations, and John Roufis, manager of technical instruction.
“Our team found the entire staff, faculty and administration fully committed to expanding NIMS credentialing within their company and affiliated distributors," says NIMS Team Leader Joan Cook. “The facility is state of the art, with exceptional opportunities for the participants to learn—and to ultimately earn NIMS credentials."
Through a balance of on-site, Web-based and classroom training formats, DMSU has established itself as a resource with the ability to transform entry-level machinists into the highly skilled experts that the industry demands. According to Mr. Jones, “We’re delighted to have received the NIMS accreditation, as it proves our dedication to going beyond machine-tool builder—to respected industry educator.”
HaasTec 2013, held at the company’s Oxnard, California headquarters attracted a global audience of 3,000 attendees.
Haas Automation Inc. reports that its recent HaasTec open house was a complete success, attracting almost 3,000 attendees to the company’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Oxnard, Calif. The 4-day event drew visitors from the U.S., Canada, and around the world, with attendees from 44 countries, including China, India, Korea, Latin America, the Middle East, and many European countries. In addition, more than 300 students – from regional high schools, colleges, and universities – attended the event.
Held the second week of April, HaasTec included machine demonstrations, extensive tours of Haas Automation’s 1 million-square-foot facility, a catered lunch, and 38 vendor booths with representatives from major CAD/CAM, tooling, and workholding manufacturers. As an added bonus, Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet racecar was on display, courtesy of Stewart-Haas Racing. A high percentage of the racecar’s high precision chassis and engine components are machined exclusively on Haas machines by Stewart-Haas Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.
Visitors to HaasTec often arrived in large groups, accompanied by representatives from their local Haas Factory Outlet (HFO). More than 30 HFOs worldwide arranged trips to the event to personally show customers and potential customers what goes into making a Haas.
Providing visitors with a historical perspective, HaasTec also included a display of the company’s very first VMC – machine number one, fitted with an early Haas rotary table – alongside its modern-day equivalent. Today’s VF-1 still sells for less than the machine’s 1988 introductory price of $49,900, proving that Haas is the industry leader in machine tool value. This year marks Haas Automation’s 30th anniversary, and the 25th anniversary of the VF-1.
By all accounts, HaasTec 2013 was an overwhelming success, providing attendees an opportunity to see first hand what goes into making a Haas machine, and why Haas Automation is America’s leading machine tool builder.
Clive Martell of Delcam (center) receives the CEO of the Year Award from Ian Throssell, director of market making from Winterflood Securities, and BBC news presenter, Naga Munchetty.
Earlier in 2013, Delcam’s chief executive, Clive Martell, was named CEO of the Year at the Grant Thornton Quoted Company Awards, sponsored by Growth Company Investor. The award was given in England and recognized Mr. Martell “for having driven profitable growth through his experience and business acumen.”
It came the day after Birmingham, England-based Delcam issued a trading update announcing that revenue from sales of the company’s CADCAM software and related services for 2012 is expected to be at least £47 million. This would be a record for Delcam and an increase of more than 10 percent over the previous record revenue achieved in 2011.
Commenting on the award, Mr. Martell says, “I am obviously delighted to be named CEO of the Year, even though I feel it is a tribute to Delcam’s excellent results as much as to my personal achievements. I would like to thank all of the staff at Delcam for their contribution to our success and, therefore, to me receiving this Award.”
While Delcam is based in England, its U.S. manufacturing presence is significant in the CAD/CAM market through its PartMaker, FeatureCAM and Delcam software brands as well as numerous variations of each. To learn more specifics about Delcam, visit delcam.com.
Forget the traditional bag and catalog. Today’s sales engineers carry in the palm of their hand more access to technical information than ever before. To that end, Swiss precision cutting tool manufacturer, Rego-Fix (Indianapolis, Ind.), recently announced that its sales force has been equipped with a new mobile device application that allows for instant calculation of ROI, product specifications, pricing, video demonstrations and more to improve the resources available to its customers.
For many shops, the sales call can be a nuisance, especially if the sales person fails to recognize the precious nature of time. Increasingly, that sales person is being phased out in favor of people that can bring a useful deliverable to the customer.
In today’s competitive marketplace, we recognize the need to provide customers with up-to-date and comprehensive information at each and every step of the process,” says Bill Obras, vice president of sales at Rego-Fix. “Order takers are out, replaced with consultants that add value to the process by giving information that is correct and instantaneous. This app does that.”
Increasingly, the use of mobile resources will proliferate, and as it does, companies that take advantage of it to the benefit of the customer will have an edge. It’s a version of automation making a sales call more efficient and giving technical information instantly to speed up the purchasing process.
For more information on Rego-Fix’s tooling portfolio, visit the company’s website.
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