Metal Working World 2006 #1

#1 2006LYMINGTON: HIGH PRECISION WITH THE RIGHT DECISIONHARD FACTS ABOUT THE NEW SUPERMETALGC4225 – THE NEW STANDARD FOR EXCELLENCEGET TO GRIPS WITH MULTI-TASK MACHINING

HIGH TECH & HANDS ON

ARVE VALLEY – IN THE COUNTRY OF SMALL PARTS

THE GUCCI STORY: FASHION AS A

REAL INDUSTRY

A BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE FROM SANDVIK COROMANT

2 METALWORKING WORLD

“TO KEEP UP WITH MARKET CHANGES, you have to maintain profitability at all levels,” says Bernard Gradel, sales and marketing manager at Techni-Deco in France’s Arve Valley.

I couldn’t have put it better myself. With 70 percent of his production for export, he needs productivity at all levels in his business operation. To achieve that, you have to put your efforts into creating sustainable competi-tiveness. You need the right machines, the right tools and optimized cutting data to create the key success factor — productivity.

Sandvik Coromant has 500 clients in the Arve Valley, a centre of high-tech small-part machining. Our challenge is to serve each one of these manufacturers with the right solution for their needs. Regardless of whether the ap-plication is medical or aerospace, companies here follow a new industrial orientation, imple-menting machining methods, micro-mechanics and integrated production to answer demands from the market.

MARKETS EXPAND AND CONTRACT. Competition is fierce. Only those who focus on productiv-ity and knowledge will achieve a competitive edge in their market. When markets change, these companies will have the chance to realize new business opportunities — and to continue to run a profitable business.

It’s the same everywhere. Demands for

higher flexibility, shorter runs and reduced costs are a challenge for any type of business, anywhere in the world. British company Lym-ington Precision Engineers is no different. But LPE has found a way around it — by planning ahead, by cooperating with the tool supplier and the machine tool builder and by doing things right from the start.

Common sense? For us, definitely. At Sandvik Coromant, common sense boils down to an open and innovative partnership where knowledge and experience come together and generate the right solutions for your business. By choosing the right partner you can work together to find the solutions you need without compromising your demands or the demands of your customers.

OUR NEW TURNING GRADE GC4225 is a good example of the right solution. At Sandvik Coromant we take pride in being devoted to research and development. This is because we truly see innovation as a natural part of any productive partnership and an absolute in creating competitiveness. GC4225 is the result of bringing together the world’s best experts within materials technology to take up the challenge of creating an outstanding turning grade. Probably the most productive piece of carbide ever produced, this new grade will bring you improved productivity in general steel turning — without compromising speed or safety.

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO, so they say. The same goes for creating productivity and sustainable competitiveness. It takes two to make a part-nership productive — for both parties.

I hope you find this issue of Metalworking World productive for your business.

Pleasant reading,

KENNETH V SUNDH

PRESIDENT SANDVIK COROMANT

PHO

TO: L

ARS

ÅBO

MCOMPETITIVENESS CREATED IN GOOD COMPANY

METALWORKING WORLD 3

CONTENTSMETALWORKING WORLD #1/2006

TECHNOLOGY

14 USING THE RIGHT STUFF The new turning grade GC4225 is more

multifaceted and capable than its predeces-sor, making it possible to use a P25 grade throughout an even wider range than before — especially advantageous for machine shops with varying one-off component production — without losing the ability for optimization of higher metal removal rate in large-volume machining.

26 THE HOLE PICTURE The pressure is on to make holes as

efficiently as possible. Today, the variety of machined holes and cavities is vast, and the quality is higher than ever. In short, machin-ing holes today is a competitive, demanding business.

34 MULTI-TASK THE RIGHT WAY When a machine shop invests in a multi-task

machine, it buys into new technology that brings with it improved quality consistency and shorter cycle times. It also brings with it a number of pitfalls, which can be avoided by taking the right steps — especially before the machine is projected.

METALWORKING WORLD is a business and technology magazine from AB Sandvik Coromant, 811 81 Sandviken, Sweden. Phone: +46 (26) 26 60 00. Metalworking World is published three times a year in American and British English, Czech, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. The magazine is free to customers of Sandvik Coromant worldwide. Published by Spoon Publishing in Stockholm, Sweden. ISSN 1 652-5825.

Editor-in-chief and responsible under Swedish publishing law: Pernilla Eriksson. Account executive: Christina Hoffmann. Editorial manager: Fredrik Strömberg. Editor: Luise Steinberger. Art director: Pernilla Lindqvist. Picture editor: Christer Jansson. Technical editor: Christer Richt. Sub editor: Valerie Mindel. Coordinator: Monica Åslund. Language editor: Åsa Brolin. Language coordinator: Sergio Tenconi. Prepress: Markus Dahlstedt.

Please note that unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted. Material in this publication may only be reproduced with permission. Requests for permission should be sent to the editorial manager, Metalworking World. Editorial material and opinions expressed in Metalworking World do not necessarily reflect the views of Sandvik Coromant or the publisher.

Correspondence and enquiries regarding the magazine are welcome. Contact: Metalworking World, Spoon Publishing AB, Kungstensgatan 21B, 113 57 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +46 (8) 442 96 20. E-mail: [email protected] enquiries: Monica Åslund, Sandvik Coromant. Phone: +46 (26) 26 60 14. E-mail: [email protected]

Printed in Sweden at Sandvikens Tryckeri. Printed on MultiArt Matt 115 gram and MultiArt Gloss 200 gram from Papyrus AB, certified according to ISO 14001 and registered with EMAS.Coromant Capto, CoroMill, CoroCut, CoroPlex, CoroTurn, CoroDrill, CoroBore, CoroGrip, HydroGrip, AutoTAS are all registered trademarks of Sandvik Coromant.

Metalworking World is issued for informational purposes. The information provided is of a general nature and should not be treated as advice or be relied upon for making decisions or for use in a specific matter. Any use of the information provided is at the user’s sole risk, and Sandvik Coromant shall not be liable for

any direct, incidental, consequential or indirect damage arising out of the use of the information made available in Metalworking World.

PHO

TO: A

FTO

NBL

ADET

BIL

D, A

DAM

HAG

LUN

D, S

AMIR

SO

UD

AH

6

17

30

26

46

17

20

2930

METALWORKING NEWS

VALLEY DEEP, MOUNTAIN HIGH – A VISIT TO THE ARVE VALLEY SUPER STRONG AND LIGHTWEIGHT– CGI IS BIG BUSINESS

PRECISION ENGINEERING ON THE COMPETITIVE FRONT

METALWORKING NEWS

A WORKING KIND OF FASHION – GUCCI PREVAILS


NEWS With the CoroMill Century and the new Coro-

Drill 880, Sandvik Coromant has changed colour.“The reason for changing colour was primarily

because the new material performs better. But we also signal that the product is something new,” says Johannes Rosenberg, who is responsible for industrial design at Sandvik Coromant.

Tools are not high on the list when design comes up for discussion. But the fact is that de-sign, which includes colour and shape, is becom-ing increasingly important in all areas of life.

“Even business-to-business deals involve people, and [where people are concerned] design becomes important,” explains Rosenberg.

But design is not only about making a tool look good, he says. It also involves functionality. In many areas it is becoming harder and harder for customers to see the difference between different products. There are variations in performance, but these are difficult to differentiate. Design can be an important support function, helping to cement the choice.

“The main thing is that the product conveys its value to the customer through its shape,” says Rosenberg. “The product must convey its trade-mark and the same message as its marketing. For Sandvik Coromant, this means that the tool must show that the company is on a path of high quality and that maybe it should resist fashionable trends, which exist even in industrial design.

“When it comes to grinding tools, nickel and chrome are ‘in’ at the moment,” he continues. “Everything is shiny. But we have consciously chosen to hang on to our matt, dark appearance. Our tools are professional tools, and we want to show this by going our own way.”

If design is to support a tool’s func-tionality, Rosenberg says, it is important to consider it early in the development process. If the designer can offer an opinion at the prelimi-nary study phase, when the new tool is positioned

and the target group is decided, design aspects can be included in the specifications.

“Design doesn’t need to cost anything, if the designer is included early in the process,” he says. “The later in the process [that the design comes up], the more expensive it is to build design aspects into what is being developed.”

Rosenberg says he is usually included in plan-ning meetings with research and development departments when a project is launched. It helps that along with his design education he also has an engineering degree. This eases communication with product developers.

Much practical design work is done in coopera-tion with industrial design companies, among them Ergonomidesign in Bromma, Sweden. Sandvik Coromant also works with the School of Design and Crafts at Gothenberg University in Gothenberg, Sweden.

DESIGN CONVEYS VALUE

A new Productivity Centre, the 13th in a row to follow Sandvik Coromant’s unified standards, has been accredited and opened in South Africa. Customers are welcome to JetPark, Gauteng, for training and high-level education in advanced machines and Sandvik Coromant tools.

“The basic idea of our Productivity Centres is that mutual training is the basis of a stable partnership,” says project manager Rolf Petersén. “We know a lot about our tools. Our customers know everything about their production. In our Productivity Centres these strands of knowledge meet and can be developed to find the most productive solutions for the customer.”

PRODUCTIVITY CAN BEGIN

13 is the lucky number for Johannesburg, South Africa, where a new Productivity Centre is about to open.

Design isn’t all about looks;

functionality is a big part of the

equation.

PHO

TO: G

ETTY

IMAG

ES

The main thing is that the product conveys its value.


How do you know which cutting tool is best suit-ed for the operations that are to be carried out in a machine? In addition to a vast store of knowledge and experience, Sandvik Coromant’s staff have practical aids in the form of software that they can use to calculate the exact savings resulting from the use of a particular cutting tool.

For improving operations in existing machines, the Productivity Analyzer (PA) program supports the comparative tests carried out when new cutting tools are tested, explains Olle Orlander, in Global Sales Support at Sandvik Coromant.

“Some background information is input about the customer’s production and the machine, as well as the component to be manufactured, the material, the type of finish required — for example, how many holes are needed,” he says. “In addition, information is fed in about both the existing and the proposed solution, cutting data and lifetime. The program then makes a calculation that leads to a productivity report, outlining exactly what sav-ings will be made with the new tool.”

Another program, known as TINA (Tool Invest-ment Analyzer), works in much the same way. TINA is used to calculate productivity in new invest-ments. One of the most important issues when purchasing a new machine is the tools it should be equipped with.

“While you can analyze one or two operations with PA, with TINA you can look at all the opera-tions necessary for manufacturing a particular component,” says Orlander.

But the knowledge of the technician is still required in suggesting improvements or tooling setups for the new machine.

“Someone who’s good at tooling has to know cutting data and what the cutting tools are best for, in order to input the right information,” he says.

The program is most often used to document real tests — meaning that input data are the result of actual tests carried out. The machine is run using the old tools, the data are collected, and then the machine is run again with the new tools and those data are collected, input and compared. The resulting productivity report shows the actual savings made.

“It is also possible to input expected data in ad-vance, which allows you to quickly check whether the size of the saving is at all interesting for the customer or whether it is better to try another solution instead,” explains Orlander.

TOOLS FOR TOOLS

The ShopOnline system is a simple, practical way for Sandvik Coromant customers to man-age their purchases via the Internet. ShopOn-line doesn’t require any special software. An ordinary Internet connection provides access to 25,000 standard products, with pictures, technical data and information about whether stock is available.

Specific contracts are also loaded into the system, so that customers can see individual prices.

Ton Ederveen, tooling manager at Het Zuiden at Kerkrade, the Netherlands, uses ShopOnline often. “When you order by fax, you usually have to send in your order before 2 p.m., if you want delivery next day,” he says. “With ShopOnline you save time, because you can place an order up to 6 p.m. for

next day delivery.” says Ton Ederveen.Another big advantage is that the customer

can see whether stock is available. To avoid production downtime, he can sometimes find an immediate alternative. As subcontractor to the automotive industry, Het Zuiden uses about 95 percent milling tools and 5 percent turning tools. Ederveen manages the daily orders via the Internet. He says that ShopOnline saves him a lot of time.

“I used to spend about an hour and a half on orders, three times a week,” he says. “Now I can order everything in 25 minutes. Altogether, I save about 150 working hours a year by purchasing through ShopOnline.”

ShopOnline doesn’t cost anything.The order is ID-protected and is safe, and the system is easy to use.

SHOPPING ONLINE SAVES VALUABLE TIME

The ShopOnline system is a great time saver.

The Productivity Analyzer supports comparative tests that are carried out when new tools are tested.

PHO

TO: G

ETTY

IMAG

ES

Savings per year is SEK 264,240


France’s Arve Valley is arguably the centre of all things small, at least in the world of small-part machining. In the valley, which borders on Switzerland, several thousand workers are employed in the manufacture of parts sized from compact to minute. Metalworking World pays a visit.

VALLEY OF THE DRILLS

VALLEY OF THE DRILLS ❯❯


WHEN ORDINARY TOURISTS hear the Arve Valley mentioned — the French valley that lies between Italy and Switzerland, in the Haute-Savoie area — they think of the great ski resorts in its upper reaches, and of course, the Mont Blanc, that roof of Europe from which the Arve River flows into the Rhone. However, the interest of small-part machin-ing professionals is drawn to the lower val-ley, to the 30-kilometre stretch between Anne-masse, near Geneva, and Sallanches.

Here lies Cluses, the world capital of small-part machining and the historical centre of what’s known as “Technic Valley.” Industrial subcontracting is the heart’s blood of the valley, and some 800 companies, including 500 small-part machin-ing enterprises, make their home there.

IT WAS A MAN from Haute-Savoie who set the process of rural industrialization in motion at the beginning of the 18th century. Claude-Jo-seph Ballaloup learned the trade of watch-making during a stay in Nuremberg, Ger-many. He returned to the Arve in 1720 and opened the first workshop for the creation of watch components in Saint Sigismond, in the Cluses hills, teaching the trade to apprentices.

Soon a new class of watchmaking small

farmers with family-owned workshops came into existence. On the eve of the French Revolution, in 1789, there were 115 watchmakers in the valley. A century later, there were 1,200, working from their farms on a contract basis, often mass producing a single component such as a cog, a pinion or an arbour. The “finishers” specialized in polishing components, other workers assembled movements, and still others centralized production and delivered the components to Geneva. “For a long time the valley was an outgrowth of the Swiss watchmaking industry,” says Laurent Cartier, regional specialist in charge of technical sup-port at Sandvik Coromant’s regional office in the Arve Valley.

IN 1848 A ROYAL SCHOOL of watchmaking was founded in Cluses in response to the increas-ing scope of the trade. It is still in existence today as a state-run technical college. Mean-while, at the end of the 1800s, a new activity arose out of watchmaking technology: small-part machining.

It is believed that César Vuarchex of Scionzier, near Cluses, started the industry when he bought a lathe to machine the small screws used to hold down the brass decora-tions of women’s horn combs, which were manufactured in the Oyonnax Valley, in the neighbouring Jura mountains.

“Workers in small-part machining have always anticipated technological changes, probably because of the very specific socio-

cultural environment in which they work,” explains Jean-Max Dufour, manager of Depery-Dufour, a metal merchant for small-

part machining and a Sandvik Coromant distributor. “Family businesses are at the heart of the industry.”

Most of the small, family-run busi-nesses converted to manufacture for other sectors of the industry, for such items as bicycles (spoke screws and ax-les), telephones and automobiles. In the 1960s the watchmak-ing industry started to decline, but at the

same time there was enormous growth in manufacturing in the aviation, household ap-pliances, electronics, television and automo-bile sectors.

Ever ready to innovate, the small-part machining workers bought new lathes to produce high-quality components and, with foresight and an interest in developing technical support in the valley, a number of them created the C.T.DEC — the Centre Technique de l’Industrie du Décolletage (the Technical Centre for the Small-Part Machin-ing Industry).

Today this state-supervised association is an important marketing tool for industrial sector companies aimed at keeping up with technological innovations. It offers technical assistance, training, computing, machining R&D, advice on quality and on the environ-ment, analysis of materials and industrial results, awareness campaigns and metrology, amongst other services.

A CRISIS IN THE 1990s once again forced small-part machining companies to change in order to adapt to increasingly rigorous demands from the industry (zero defects, on-time delivery, certification, production capac-ity, etc.), which in turn meant permanently acquiring better machines and tools (CNC lathes, sliding head machines, multiple-

On the eve of the French Revolution there were 115 watchmakers in the valley.

“For a long time the valley was an outgrowth of the Swiss watchmaking industry,” says Laurent Cartier, regional specialist in charge of technical support for Sandvik Coromant.

PHO

TO: A

DAM

HAG

LUN

D

❯❯


“ Workers in small-part machining have always anticipated technological changes, probably because of the very specific sociocultural environment in which they work.”


Small-part machining applications cover almost all sectors of activity: medical, electronic, connectics, aeronautics, nuclear, telecommunication, automobile, household appliances, civil engineering, and so forth. To answer demand, companies are following a new industrial orientation, implementing machining, micro-mechanics and integrated production.


spindle lathes, machining centres, transfer lines, carbide inserts and more). The valley became one of the first French Système Productif Localisé or SPL — a production cluster, also inspired by the Italian industrial district under the Technic Valley label. The purpose was to pool resources more effec-tively, to innovate by adapting, to highlight intrinsic skills, to face the challenges of globalization and to consolidate the network of small and medium-sized businesses. There are around 105 production clusters in France, in almost all the sectors.

IN JULY 2005 THE FRENCH government designated the Arve Valley as the national centre of small-part machining excellence, with the goal of persuading area institutions and companies in the same industrial sector to collaborate. “Amongst other things, it will allow the institutions and companies to achieve synergy, to share roles,” says Thierry Guillermain, head of the C.T.DEC.

“In other words, not to consume too much energy where activities merge. Learning to work together is the challenge for a centre of excellence.”

Today the small-part machining indus-try of the valley is a high-tech sector that employs some 19,000 people directly and a more still in related services (notably logis-tics) and that covers 65 percent of French

production in the area (in comparison, small-part machining accounts for only 2 percent of engineering in France). Some 70 percent of components, sub-assemblies and finished products are for export.

Small-part machining applications cover almost all sectors of activity: medical, electronic, connectics, aeronautics, nuclear, telecommunication, automobile, household appliances, civil engineering and so forth. To answer demand, companies are following a new industrial orientation, implementing machining, micro-mechanics and integrated production.

Even though family-run businesses are still the norm, more companies are being taken over by outside groups, especially by North American companies. Still, 70 percent of companies in Haute-Savoie still employ fewer than 20 people.

RECRUITING QUALIFIED LABOUR is a recur-ring problem. Switzerland, with its higher salaries, attracts many small-part machining workers. The narrowness of the valley also hampers construction, and rents are expen-sive. Most companies make up for the labour shortage by training workers internally.

Reactivity, adaptation, dynamism, innova-tion and design are the cornerstones of Arve Valley companies. They have inherited the know-how and the legendary precision of

the watchmaking profession. People in the valley are also traditional, in the sense that everybody knows and helps each other, that a hard day’s work is valued and meticulous-ness is the order of the day. Having lived in a free zone for a long time, the inhabitants of Haute-Savoie adapted well to the Genevese Calvinist influence and its pragmatism; their entrepreneurial spirit proves it. The Arve is a reservoir of skills for the small-part machin-ing industry.

JEAN-PAUL POURON

LA PRÉCISION. Family-run business created in 1904, situated in Scionzier and la Roche-sur-Fo-ron. Workforce: 300 employees. Four main sectors of activity: connectics/optics, aeronautics/armament, medical and hydraulic. 80 percent turning machining, 20 percent milling-machining centres. Target diameter 5 to 26 mm. Subcontracting. La précision is not a euphemism. Smallest compo-nent: 0.7 mm in diameter, 0.4 mm in length with a complex bore and an integrated taper; all dimensions are machined within microme-tres. The company focuses on micro-mechanics, which demand extreme attention to meticulous detail. “A small-part machining

worker’s main tool is a magnify-ing glass,” observes Raphaël Depery, technical manager and the fourth generation of his family in small-part machining. “Meeting challenges is an integral part of our

company’s philosophy. Dealing with unstable markets means always being reactive and adding more value to products. The key is to manufacture impeccable high-tech components, which necessitates a change in mentality.”

ANTHOGYR. Producer of dental instruments in Sallanches since 1947. Highly specialized company that employs 180 people. It devotes 20 percent of its production to sub-contracting in order to “calibrate ourselves against our competitors,” says Chairman and Managing Director Claude Anthoine. “It allows us to invest in state-of-the-art material.” The company manufactures syringes, crown

removers, amalgam holders, back angles that rotate 200,000 times a minute, and more. All are very high-quality products that demand extreme precision and attention to detail. The recent addition of dental implant production necessitates “a more scientific and sales-oriented attitude rather than a mechanical

FROM WATCHES TO AERONAUTICS:

THE ARVE VALLEY — A SPM HOTSPOT

Today the small-part machining industry of the Arve Valley is a high-tech sector that employs some 19,000 people.

❯❯

❯❯

Raphaël Depery. La Précision is at the cutting edge of small parts.

Claude Anthoine of Anthogyr special-izes in dental instruments.


approach,” Anthoine says: “It’s almost a new profession if one takes into account that it is more expensive to sell a dental implant than to manufacture one.” Anthogyr exports to more than 80 countries, with exports making up 65 percent of the company’s turnover, which is increasing annually by 10 percent. Production is integrated; productiv-ity is the main goal. “We have to rationalize production and, above all, to make sure that the compo-nents are totally finished when they come out of the machines,” says Gérard Blondel, Anthogyr’s techni-cal coordinator. The company’s only problem: finding good setters. “The creation of ‘skills clusters’ should make internal training easier, be-cause the more we miniaturize, the more we are going to need good small-part machining workers,” he says.

PERROTTON. “Perrotton is one big family,” emphasizes Jacques Perrotton, plant manager and one of four brothers who have run the company since 1999. Philippe is the chairman and managing director, Pierre is the techni-cal manager, and Claude is the

production manager. Their father, Jean, an important figure in the valley, had a sales and marketing approach that led the company to boom in the 1960s. The company is still situated on the site where the brothers’ great-grandfather made cheese and started manufacturing watch components in 1899. With a workforce of 270 people, whose average age is 37, the company annually manufactures some 85 million high-precision parts for the automobile industry and its main equipment manufacturers. “By machining and assembling value-added parts and sub-assemblies, we make sure that our customers don’t turn to low-cost manufactur-ers,” explains Jacques Perrotton. “It demands good management. To win, we need to know how to invest and to price well.” Dynamism and competitiveness have made Perrot-ton the undisputed champion of the valley, according to several of the company’s competitors.

TECHNI-DECO. A standard in the valley. The company has 14 em-ployees who believe in productivity. It moved from traditional manufac-turing to CNC in 1999. Whereas the great-grandfather machined bicycle spoke screws on a cam lathe, the fourth generation manufactures small and medium-sized value-add-ed series on topnotch machines for the aeronautics, medical, connec-tics and automobile sectors in the same town of Magland. “We are no longer a small-part machining firm in the true sense of the word, but rather a precision micro-mechanics company,” says Bernard Gradel, sales and marketing manager. “To keep up with market changes, you

have to maintain profitability at all levels. High-performance machines and reliable tools are essential for good productivity, along with quali-fied employees.” Seventy percent of production is for export.

DEPERY-DUFOUR. Merchant in various materials in bar form for small-part machining and in cutting oils, and Sandvik Coromant cutting tool distributor since 1971. Once a saw mill, the company now employs 24 people and has a turnover of 15 million euros. Tool sales account for 10 percent of annual turnover. “The small-part machining industry is aware of its technical competitive-ness but is worried about reloca-tions to Eastern Europe and China,” says Jean-Max Dufour, company manager. “The biggest companies make the laws. Taking into account our capacity in the valley to react quickly, I’m sure that small-part ma-chining companies and merchants like us will continue. Know-how is an important asset in small-part machining.”

C.T.DEC. Centre Technique de l’Industrie du Décolletage: Technical centre for the small-part machining industry. Founded in Cluses in 1962. The centre offers support to the industry through specialist advice and various forms of training. “The relationship that small-part machining companies have with our centre is based on

trust,” explains Thierry Guillemin, head of the C.T.DEC. “Strong relationships are the norm, since everybody knows one another.” One such relationship is being established between the C.T.DEC. and Sandvik Coromant. The latter’s technicians will help train students who want to specialize in machining for aeronautics in cutting stainless steel and heat-resistant materials. In return, the C.T.DEC will send its specialists to the Swedish cutting tool supplier’s Productivity Centre in Orleans to teach courses in machining.

AGENCE SANDVIK COROMANT in Bonneville. The company opened in January 2005 and employs four people. “We have 500 clients — all machine and tool manufacturers,” says Laurent Cartier, regional specialist in charge of technical support. “It creates a huge climate of competition, which forces us to adopt a highly techni-cal approach towards the market in the valley, There is a huge potential, from emergent integrated produc-tion to level-four subcontracting. It’s unique. The trend seems to be towards mergers as well as value-added special productions.”

LE DÉCOLLETAE. A professional journal for the small-part machining industry. A compulsory read for the valley’s small-part machining employees.

❯❯

J-M Gradel at Techni-Deco — a preci-sion micro-mechanics company.

“We have to rationalize production,” says Gérard Blondel at Anthogyr.

“Know-how is an important asset,” says Jean-Max Dufour at Depery- Dufour.

Thierry Guillemin, head of the C.T.DEC.

Laurent Cartier at Agence Sandvik Coromant in Bonneville.


“ There is a huge potential, from emergent integrated production to level-four subcontracting. It’s unique. The trend seems to be towards mergers as well as value-added special productions.”


TECHNOLOGY

What could the following, very different manufacturing applications possibly have in common?

Transform Automotive in Michigan, in the US, makes transmission drums from warm-rolled, low-carbon, non-alloy steel in CNC lathe cells. Semi-finish and finish cuts are made on the near-net-shape parts, performed on the internal and external diameters of the thin wall drums.

Nachbur in Holderbank, Switzerland, is a small-part machining specialist that uses mainly sliding head machines. One of the company’s many Swiss-machined components is a valve cone in high-alloy steel for small hydraulic pumps. The turning, which is performed in one pass, includes reducing the diameter by half along the component in addition to profiling.

SAFETY AND SPEED WITH NEXT GENERATION GRADETHE NEW GC4225 DRAMATICALLY BROADENS THE SPECTRUM

The GC4225 is the broadest, most secure, easiest to apply and most productive piece of carbide ever produced.


Operations, materials and insert sizes are all very different, as are the machining conditions, but what both applications have in common is that both use the same ISO P25 coated insert grade.

GENERAL STEEL TURNINGThese examples illustrate, to some extent, the breadth of the P25 application area. Nowhere else in machining are there so many different demands on a cutting tool as there are on those intended for the large P25 turning area. This is general turning in its broadest sense. To start with, the steel material varies from unalloyed to high-alloyed bar material through to various forgings and castings. The types of operations vary from rough to finish turning, with conditions from good to difficult.

Production types vary from single-part production to mass production of micro parts to giant rolls, short to very long engagements of the edge, with and without coolant.

Optimization requirements vary from the highest cut-ting data for maximum productivity to extended tool life for security and tool-changing considerations.

The insert wear encountered in P25 turning ranges from workpiece material smearing, as a result of built-up edge formation, to plastic deformation of the cutting edge, from rapid flaking of the insert coating to a crater forming on the face of the insert.

HIGH DEMANDS“P25 grades are often required to withstand the initial cut of forged skin with varying stock removal, followed by additional cuts at high cutting speed,” explains Paul Williams, senior turning specialist at Sandvik Coromant in the UK. Coromant has long experience in applying the well-established GC4025 insert grade, which has for years been the leading P25 grade and the first choice for many machine shops that perform steel turning. “For ex-ample,” says Williams, “take a low-alloy steel main fitting for an aircraft undercarriage. To rough machine this takes two medium-roughing passes with up to 8 mm in depth of cut, with a subsequent intermediate finishing pass of 1 mm to hold the next process tolerance — all with the same insert. It has to stand up to the different demands of both operations whilst maintaining good chip control, and it has to be in contact for a 40 minute tool life.”

Improvement on the form of GC4025, introduced at the end of the 1990s, has been achieved by years of analy-sis and development. A clear picture was built up of what was required of the grade that was to take over as the main general steel turning insert grade. This has resulted in the improvement of several grade properties, a formidable

task considering there are about a third more applications in the P25 area than there are in the P15 finishing area and the P35 roughing area.

The new turning grade GC4225 is more multifaceted and capable than its predecessor. It allows the use of a P25 grade throughout an even wider area than before (especially advantageous for machine shops with varying one-off component production) without losing the ability for higher optimization of the metal removal rate in large-volume machining.

ISO

P

Wea

r res

ista

nce

Toug

hnes

s

5

15

25

35

45

GC4005

GC4015

GC4025GC4225

GC4035

The new GC4225 grade is undoubt-ably in the process of taking market shares in the P15 and P35 applica-tion areas.

ISOThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a classification system according to machining applications, with areas for workpiece materials. The P group refers to long chipping materials dominated by steel in various forms. The P group is then divided into subgroups from 01 to 50: the higher the number, the greater the toughness required of the tool employed; the lower the number, the more wear resistance is needed. Finishing is thus usually in the P01 to P20 range and roughing in the P30 to P50 range, leaving a large intermediate area centred at P25, where a balance of toughness and wear resistance is needed.

❯❯

STEEL, CAST STEEL AND LONG CHIPPING MALLEABLE IRON


TECHNOLOGY

CONTROLLED WEAR ONLY“Because of the breadth of the P25 turning area, we are looking at the development of several different wear mechanisms,” explains Peter Littecke, the project leader for the development of new GC4225 grade at Sandvik Coromant in Swe-den. “Ideally, all inserts in all operations should develop only flank wear. This is the more ‘natural’ abrasive way an edge should wear out and thus the most predictable wear rate of a cutting edge. Today, a lot of wear mechanisms interact with each other, limiting the effective tool life and often leading to premature edge breakdown.

“With the GC4225 grade we have taken a major step towards reducing the tendency of unwanted wear types developing as rapidly or, in some cases, even at all,” he continues. “This has resulted in a more controllable flank wear with tool-life limitation being twice as com-mon with the new GC4225 as it is with the old GC4025. The consequences of this development, of course, are very interesting for the users.”

The trend of predictable flank wear taking over from other, more destructive, wear mechanisms is confirmed by reports from trials in machines shops. The P25 turn-ing area is undergoing a clear generation change with regard to indexable inserts for general steel turning.

A WIDE-RANGING SOLUTION“The combination of improved insert toughness and wear resistance has certainly contributed to the GC4225 grade becoming a better all-rounder,” confirms Sigrid Surkamp, a Sandvik Coromant grade development spe-cialist in Germany who has P25 turning as a speciality. “The new grade has considerably improved the edge-line security of inserts, partly through an improved coat-ing adherence to the insert. The ability to apply the P25 insert for tougher operations, such as interrupted cuts, has improved, and security is higher. In addition, look-ing at insert capability, the edge-deformation resistance is better, as is resistance against wear in the form of a crater developing on the insert.”

As a consequence, the new GC4225 grade is un-doubtably in the process of taking market share in the P15 and P35 application areas, in addition to improv-ing performance in the P25 area. An example of this change is the machining of automotive crank shafts. This is a tough application, usually just outside the limits of the P25 area. These steel forgings are turned and involve demanding interrupted cuts. For security and for an acceptable tool life, it is normal for them to be machined with a tough P35 insert grade — in this case using GC4035 — with a tool life of 44 components per cutting edge. The GC4025 grade was tested in this application and demonstrated a tool life of 14 compo-nents before the insert had to be indexed. The newly developed GC4225 grade was recently tested in this application with 41 components being turned, with less wear than with the P35 grade.

A NATURAL FIRST CHOICEThis example illustrates the fact that the new P25 grade GC4225 has an improved capacity to tolerate varia-tions arising from workpiece material and operational demands of tougher applications, providing greater versatility. The added tool-life predictability makes the insert grade easier to apply, with greater security. The new grade is also more durable, partly through its greater ability to withstand thermal demands. As such it has shown itself to be even more suitable for various optimization requirements and, above all, for raising productivity within the broad area of general steel turning.

CHRISTER RICHT

With the GC4225 grade we have

taken a major step towards reducing the development

of unwanted wear types.

❯❯


Who would have thought that a 1950s dream would revolutionize the car industry in 2005? SinterCast, the small company behind new supermetal CGI, spent years on research to get it right. Today, the company is destined for global success.

A TYPE OF IRON THAT IS TWICE AS STRONG as the iron presently used in car engines – that’s what SinterCast, a company situated in Katrineholm, Sweden, has come up with. However humble its beginnings, this innova-tion is a big-time industrial breakthrough.

“Our greatest moment so far was in 2003, when Ford/PSA became the first to use CGI technology for mass production,” says Steve Wallace, operations director at SinterCast.

The new supermetal CGI – Compacted Graphite Iron – is about to revolutionize the car and truck industry. The combination of iron and magnesium alloyings used in exact proportions produces a metal that is perfect for engines such as diesel engines that must withstand severe pressure. Cylinder heads and engine blocks are now being made from CGI.

The quest for CGI started in the 1950s, but the necessary tools to produce it were not de-veloped until much later. The basic research took place between 1983, when SinterCast was set up, and 1991.

“We spent a lot of time researching how iron solidifies,” says Wallace. “In the begin-

ning, we focused primarily on basic research to make absolutely sure that the right amount of magnesium was added to the iron to con-trol the CGI. Today, in series production, we routinely control the magnesium alloying to less than 20 grams per tonne of liquid iron.”

This basic research provided many answers and several new challenges. The biggest was finding a way to produce CGI on an industrial scale.

“Our success relied on an extremely ac-curate and demanding measuring process,” Wallace says. “And we made it work. Today, anyone that uses our equipment at a foundry can carry out the same process and add the right amount of magnesium to produce CGI.”

SINTERCAST NEEDED funding to succeed, and so, in 1993, it was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Meanwhile the innovation work continued. An important discovery was made in 1997–98, when SinterCast up-dated its technology by replacing a ceramic sampling cup with a sampling device made of steel. This is where the molten iron is ana-lyzed before the exact amount of magnesium

and inoculant are added. Reliability lies at the core of the CGI process, as it is repeated over and over again with consistent exactitude and simplicity. Producing the new metal safely on site is only the first step. The next step is being able to use it efficiently in production.

“Developing CGI tools was a challenge, as the material is so strong,” Wallace says. “We knew that unless we came up with a solution, the metal couldn’t be used for industrial purposes.”

In the mid-1990s, SinterCast embarked on a cooperative project involving a wide range of companies, both to further advance CGI knowledge and to set clear standards for the tools needed when dealing with CGI.

In 1999, SinterCast and its collaborators felt ready to take CGI into industrial produc-tion. The material’s obvious advantages cre-ated an immediate demand that was followed by a commercial breakthrough a few years later, when Ford and PSA Peugeot Citroën joined ranks to create a high-volume 2.7 litre V6 diesel engine using CGI.

Today, SinterCast CGI engines are avail-able in 12 different vehicles and six car ❯❯

SUPERMETAL POWERS

The up-close view: This is what CGI looks like through a scanning electron microscope. The graphite within the iron microstructure is formed as vermicular particles, giving the graphite structure a coral-like appearance.

PHO

TO: S

INTE

RCAS

T


❯❯ brands in European dealer showrooms.“We already knew that it worked,” says

Wallace. “This was a confirmation. It was important to us that someone took the lead and started using CGI for mass production. We could show that our process works within large-scale engine production.”

He says that the whole company – which employs 11 people, most of whom are spe-cialized engineers – knew that success was just around the corner.

“The car manufacturers realized the importance of the material,” Wallace says. “People always say that the car industry is conservative, but all its players are interested in new technology. Our impression is that most of the big car companies take an interest in CGI today.”

The ever-increasing environmental require-

ments enforced in Europe and elsewhere make CGI even more interesting. Diesel engines with CGI can handle a higher level of combustion pressure that, in turn, reduces emissions. When the pressure increases in the cylinder, the combustion process is cleaner, resulting in lower emissions of carbon diox-ide, particulates and nitrogen oxide.

Wallace is optimistic about the company’s future. “I think diesel is going to take a bigger share of the US market,” he says. “The price of oil is going up, and at the same time envi-ronmental legislation is increasing.”

However, the demand for CGI isn’t limited to the car and truck industry. It is manifested in every industry that values low weight and massive strength in a material. General Electric now makes an environmen-tally friendly train engine with cylinder heads

made of CGI. Other areas where CGI is gaining ground are piston rings for ships and components for power generators.

Wallace notes that the possibilities of manufacturing smaller engines using CGI will become more interesting as the demands on car and truck design increase, simply because a small engine leaves more room for elaborate design. So a significant reason for the current interest in CGI is the increasingly tough environmental regulations in many countries. But it isn’t the only reason, says Wallace.

“A driving force behind engine develop-ment is to produce more power, and that’s what CGI does,” he says. “We believe that the demand would have been there regardless of environmental issues.”

TIMOTHY TORE HEBB

In many respects, CGI — Com-pacted Graphite Iron — is halfway between ductile iron and grey iron. The graphite within the iron micro-structure is formed as vermicular particles in three dimensions, giving the graphite structure for CGI a coral-like appearance when viewed under a scanning electron microscope.

The CGI graphite morphol-ogy, coupled with the rounded edges and irregular surfaces of the compacted graphite particles, provides strong adhesion proper-ties between the graphite and the iron matrix. This graphite shape suppresses crack initiation and propagation and is the source of both the increased mechanical properties relative to grey iron and the improved thermal conductivity relative to ductile iron. This means improved mechanical properties and a material that is twice as strong as aluminium.

Compared to grey iron, CGI has a 75 percent higher tensile strength and some 45 percent higher stiffness. Although this makes the material harder to machine, tech-niques have now been developed that allow efficient handling of the material. The fatigue strength of CGI is up to five times higher than that of aluminium at elevated temperatures. In comparison to

ductile iron, CGI provides superior castability, thermal conductivity and machinability.

The combined properties of CGI offer cost-effective solutions for complex components that are sub-jected to mechanical and/or ther-mal loading. This has opened up its use in castings for the automotive industry. CGI is finding increasing use in diesel engine blocks and cylinder heads where the need for cleaner emissions calls for higher internal operating pressures. It is also a material with inherent low noise characteristics that lend themselves to automotive applica-tions. It supports the development of lighter, stronger components that contribute to weight savings in vehicles, for example.

CGI WAS DIFFICULT to manufacture on a large industrial scale until SinterCast developed a reliable process that could monitor the for-mation of the vermicular graphite particles. It is not simply the struc-ture of the graphite particles but also the quantity of the particles within the iron matrix that contrib-ute to the overall characteristics of the material.

The amount of magnesium introduced into the iron plays a key role in whether the graphite forms into flake-like formations

that typify grey iron or into nodules, which signifies that ductile iron is present. CGI is an intermediate step between the two forms. It is important to avoid the formation of flake graphite, but some percent-age of nodularity is admissible.

The manufacture of CGI starts from a foundry-specific base iron that is based treated. The amount of initial magnesium remaining after this treatment has to be within certain specified limits or it will alter the secondary process-ing. An accurate online analysis of the solidification behaviour of the magnesium and inoculant-treated base iron is determined by thermal

analysis. This is because the forma-tion of CGI’s characteristic graphite structure occurs along a relatively narrow band of the thermal curve during the secondary processing.

SINTERCAST has developed a special sampling cup and a thermocouple pair to measure a 200 gram sample for its cooling characteristics. This provides a rapid measurement that is used for active correction and alteration of the casting process. The process control system determines the necessary amounts of magnesium and/or inoculant and automatically adds these to the iron.

The entire online measure-and-correct process requires approximately three minutes and is conducted in parallel with standard foundry activities such as deslagging and ladle transport. The process allows for continuous operation of the moulding line at normal grey iron production rates.

In the mid-1990s SinterCast and Sandvik Coromant started a cooperation to look into the machin-ability of CGI and the optimization of cutting tools and materials. The im-portance of optimized tool solutions and cutting data for CGI is essential, as the cost per component is critical for the automotive industry.

ELAINE MCCLARENCE

MATERIAL DIFFERENCES

The System 2000 provides user-friendly hardware and software that allows the foundry to independently develop new CGI products.

PHO

TO: S

INTE

RCAS

T


“ It was important to us that someone took the lead and started using CGI for mass production.

This gave us a reference case. We could show that our process works within large-scale engine production.”

“ We spent a lot of time researching how iron solidifies. In the beginning, we focused primarily on basic research to make absolutely sure that the right amount of magnesium was added to the iron in order to turn it into CGI.” PH

OTO

: SAM

IR S

OU

DAH



UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL The problems facing Lymington Precision Engineers are no different than those facing other contract engineering companies. Demands for higher flexibility, shorter runs and reduced costs can put a strain on anyone. But LPE has found a way around it — and the solution is simple.

Plan ahead, cooperate with both tool supplier and machine tool builder and do things right from the start. At Sandvik Coromant this is called OTS

— Original Tooling Services. At LPE it is just good old common sense.

THE BENEFITS OF DOING THINGS RIGHT FROM THE START


LYMINGTON PRECISION ENGINEERS and Co Ltd, or LPE, has built its success by living daily by the mantra of quality and delivery. To succeed and grow in the highly competi-tive environment of contract engineering, the British company has realized the need to become involved with the customer’s design process at the earliest possible stage.

So when LPE decided it needed a better and more effective way of making a compo-nent for one of its customers, it brought in Sandvik Coromant and Matsuura Machinery PLC, the British arm of the Japanese machin-ing centre builder, to combine expertise to create the optimum manufacturing process for the part.

Leon Crouch, who is the founder and managing director of LPE, notes, “To achieve time-to-market deadlines, it was essential that this project be completed in the short-est possible time. I believe that this was only achieved by effective teamwork and

communication between LPE, Sandvik and Matsuura personnel.”

For Sandvik Coromant’s David Barras, the engineer who has run the LPE account for more than four years, it was an opportunity to put the company’s Original Tooling Services model into practice. This model is based on a close collaboration between the customer, the machine supplier and the tooling specialist at the start of the machine investment cycle.

The aim is to reap the benefits of their combined experience to create manufactur-ing solutions that achieve the objectives set by the customer — from lower cost to higher quality and from faster throughput to less downtime and quicker return on capital.

For LPE, the main reason for the invest-ment was “to achieve 24-hour operation with the machine running unmanned through the night,” explains Tony Chalk, the company’s business manager and director. The company wanted to transfer manufacture of a complex

casting for an industrial customer from one of its existing FMS (Flexible Manufacturing Systems) to a new Matsuura machine that would be capable of fulfilling the increased demand for the component and would, at the same time, meet its customer’s tight dead-line. “The existing machine could not meet the capacity requirements,” says Chalk.

In addition to the immediate require-ments, LPE was keen to increase its in-house capacity — a driver for the purchase of a two-pallet Matsuura H.Plus-630 machine. There were pressures for all involved. The component needed to be in place as quickly as possible so that the company could start

Tooling up for a pro-ductive partnership.

Both the LPE guys and Sandvik Coromant

representatives know how to achieve maxi-

mum productivity.

❯❯

PHO

TO: J

OH

N C

OLE


achieving some return on capital. Typical in-vestments for machining centres are around 500,000 GB pounds, a considerable amount for a medium-sized organization such as LPE. The component mounting on the ma-chine had to be designed in a such a way that parts could be processed unmanned during the night. The tooling had to be arranged to meet not only the complex material require-ments of the casting but also the performance requirements of all-night operation. The steel casting required two basic operations — an

initial machining operation and a second operation following a hardening treatment carried out by an external contractor. The aim was to carry out both operations within the machine, For this, the choice of appropriate tooling was vital.

USING THE ORIGINAL TOOLING SERVICES

concept, all the relevant issues related to the manufacturing requirements of the compo-nent were considered at the outset, Barras says.

Barras advised on all aspects of the tooling and was also asked to give his opinion on the capabilities of the H.Plus-630 machine — an indication of the trust that had developed between the two companies. “From studying the specification, it was clear that it was a machine capable of obtaining the best perfor-mance from the Sandvik tooling required to produce the component,” Barras says.

LPE knew the manufacturing process and how to handle the material, and it understood the expectations of its own customers, so it was able to explain its requirements for the new machine. In addition, LPE’s production engineer, Martin Booker, devised a novel fixture solution incorporating an eight-sided mounting that would solve a problem of parts capacity and allow the operations in the machine to be carried out to match the specification of unmanned working. Another feature of the casting was its complex shape, which involved no straight edges. This com-pounded the challenge of holding the casting in the machine.

MATSUURA WORKED with the machine programming at the same time that Sand-vik Coromant advised on the best tooling solution. This involved careful study of the cutting data, matching the data to the material

“The existing machine could not meet the capacity requirements,” says Tony Chalk.

❯❯


characteristics. Notes Barras, “We looked at the wear in the tooling to optimize the production. To meet the targets of night op-eration we came up with the concept of sister tools, which automatically replace tools that need to be replaced because of wear.”

All three companies worked as quickly as possible. David Barras explains the time scale and steps involved in getting the machine up and running: His initial meeting took place with Tony Chalk on 9 January 2004. Having assessed the machine, Barras alerted Steve Weston at Sandvik Coromant’s Original Tooling Service department to discuss the scope of the project.

Next he made contact with Matsuura to ensure that, he says, “personal contacts were in place to ensure the project was going to run smoothly.” Within a month, LPE had provided Sandvik Coromant with component drawings and a skeleton shape of the fixtures

to allow tool clearances to be checked. Bar-ras says, “I produced a preliminary package of cutting tool assemblies to manufacture the component using the Sandvik Coromant-based TINA [Tool Investment Analyzer] software.” This was followed by a full pre-sentation of the tooling package. At the same time LPE’s production engineers provided the proposed fixture designs on a CD-ROM as DXF files. This enabled the tool drawings to be checked against the fixtures.

Meanwhile the Sandvik Coromant OTS team, including Steve Weston and Steve Tann, was building relations with Matsuura, and its installation engineer agreed to work with Sandvik Coromant to ensure that the machine installation and testing could be completed quickly at the LPE’s Lymington site.

On 16 February, the Matsuura machine arrived, and over the next three weeks, the tooling package, fixtures and cutting paths and cutting data were installed on the ma-chine. This culminated in final testing over

a two-day period to ensure that cycle times and component tolerances were achieved, including unmanned night operation.

In this case the total project time from concept to planned production took three months. Since then, the machine has per-formed so well that production of the casting was completed ahead of schedule, freeing machine time for other projects.

THE JOINT PROJECT has provided valuable les-sons. Barras says that despite the good results of the project, better initial planning between the companies involved would have reaped additional benefits. He says that troubleshoot-ing on site was not an ideal situation and that it would be better to complete testing at the machine builders.

Then the complete installation — ready to go — could be commissioned more quickly at LPE. The benefits of taking this approach were proven almost immediately. While the first project was under way, LPE decided to purchase a second H.Plus-630 machine

Matsuura Machinery Corpo-ration has a track record that goes back to 1935, when its first production facilities were opened in Fukui, Japan. Initially its business was focused on the production of lathes. In the 1960s, it began to develop numerically controlled milling machines. Matsuura pioneered the concept of high-speed machining and was the original developer of high-speed spindles and CNC machine tools. Today the company employs 450 people worldwide and produces a wide range of high-speed machining centres, horizontal and vertical, config-ured with 3- to 5-axis, single tables, twin and multi-pallet

systems, twin spindles and tool changers, cells systems and a range of ultra high speed linear motor machines.

It is recognized as a tech-nology leader in the world of high performance machinery, with a customer base that spans the aerospace, automo-tive, electronics, medical research, die and mould indus-tries. It is still a family-run busi-ness. Says marketing executive Ian Michie, “Matsuura prides itself on being a progressive meritocracy, where hard work and dedication are rewarded.” This allows employees to work their way up through the company.

Matsuura Machinery thrives

on innovation, and in 2003 it began manufacture of its metal laser sintering hybrid milling machines, which in 2004 won Japan’s prestigious Industrial Technology Grand Prize. In recent years, it has invested in the UK market in terms of expertise and support infrastructure to maintain the products it installs. Its UK company, Matsuura Machinery PLC, based in Coalville, Leices-tershire, provides engineering design and services support. It has a Class 1000 clean room facility for spindle build and refurbishment and an automated warehouse system for parts supply to the whole of Europe.

When the customer, the machine tool builder and the tool supplier

are working closely together, the solution is

close at hand.

The machine has performed so well that production of the casting was completed ahead of schedule, freeing machine time for other projects.

❯❯

MATSUURA – SETTING STANDARDS FOR QUALITY


Despite the good results, the OTS team says that with better initial plan-ning, greater benefits could have been reaped.


from Matsuura. This machine would be dedicated to machining a different stainless steel casting. In this case, the fixtures would be designed with four faces, to allow 16 com-ponents to be loaded on each pallet, which would run unmanned through the night.

Barras worked alongside Sandvik Coromant’s OTS department, which had dedicated several staff to design and build the tool assemblies and to commission them at the Matsuura site.

As a result, the total project time was cut to a month and a half. Says Barras, “The planning prior to final installation at the cus-tomer site, with prove-out at Matsuura using cutter paths and cutting data that have been optimized and tooling that is ‘right first time’ can typically save 50 percent of the total cost of the project.”

STEVE TANN OF THE OTS TEAM adds: “Early involvement can positively contribute in new manufacturing processes and investment de-cisions and may save large amounts of time and money. Important metal cutting knowl-edge can be applied from within the Sandvik OTS department as well as from the Sandvik regional and head-office support teams.”

Tann also notes that, for customers, “hav-ing a machining process of the customer’s components proved before the new invest-ment is delivered helps reduce any concerns about financial expenditure and also helps to speed up the introduction of new machine tools and methods on the shop floor. Plus, for Matsuura and Sandvik Coromant, the closer

working relationships that we have with end users and each other increase the three-way-partnership idea. This leads to better profit-ability for all concerned and also reduces the chance of errors being made.”

Ian Michie, marketing executive at Matsuura, adds, “We value these relation-ships because they not only bring in repeat business, but they also give us a chance to grow with our customers and to better serve their aspirations for the future.” Of course, he says, such a partnership can only grow based on a solid foundation of trust and integrity.

There have been other rewards as well. As Tann points out, “the excellent work-

ing relationship between LPE and Sandvik, which has developed over the years, has been a major factor in the success of this project, since we were invited to be involved right from the start.” Barras spends two days a week at the company and has been involved not only in providing tooling expertise but also in introducing a simple but effective tool management system that supports machine operations and ensures that sufficient parts are always available to keep the machines going.

For Sandvik Coromant, the project has helped the company build strong relation-ships with Matsuura, and that has led to new opportunities and partnerships. The company has recently purchased a total of four ma-chines from Matsuura.

For LPE, the collaboration has helped the company continue to deliver high-quality products competitively. In the fast-moving world of contract engineering, speed, quality and delivery at the right price are vital for survival.

ELAINE MCCLARENCE

Thanks to a hands-on approach by senior management, Lymington Precision Engineers (LPE), part of the Fullers group, is a company that is dedicated to excellence in engineering. Its manufacturing fa-cilities are not only approved to IS0 9001, but it is equipped to tackle an impressive range of engineer-ing processes from welding and fabrication to final assembly and testing. Its facilities are maintained to the highest standards of cleanli-ness and organization, and all employees are urged to play their part in making sure the company stays in front of the competition.

At a time when many British engineering companies are strug-gling against growing international

competition, LPE is winning new orders because of its commitment to the application of the latest techniques and processes.

In 2004 alone it completed a 6.4 million GB pound capital invest-ment programme, and in 2005 it purchased additional machine tools to enhance its already impressive production capacity. By giving itself the tools — the latest machine tool technology, computer programs that support design and develop-ment, staff development quality certification — the company can offer its customers a sophisticated service that has won itself markets in telecommunications, defence, medical, aerospace and offshore engineering applications. The

company’s engineers have a broad knowledge of many different types of materials and processes. LPE’s capabilities allow it to manufacture everything from single components to complete assemblies through to final testing. “We are able to compete by being proactive and flexible,” says Tony Chalk, business manager and director at LPE.

Chalk says that much of the company’s work begins by making prototypes of products. This, he says, means that it is important to be involved “as early as possible in the design process.” While clients are finalizing their designs, LPE is working out the manufacturing process. For much of its projects, time is of the essence. Customers

want to have completed designs ready for market in as short a time as possible. Chalk says that invest-ments in sophisticated engineering software programs allow a faster exchange of information in most formats. For its production, the company has invested in an ad-vanced networked database system that tracks each production job, supports planning and is fully inte-grated throughout the shop floor.

The company has about 150 employees and a turnover in excess of 30 million GB pounds. In addi-tion to its continual investment in machines, LPE supports its staff with training programmes and runs its own craft apprenticeship schemes.

QUICK REACTIONS WIN BUSINESS

“ Tooling that is ‘right first time’ can typically save 50 percent of the total cost of the project.”

At a time when many companies are struggling against growing international competition, LPE is winning new orders because of its commitment to the application of the latest techniques and processes.

❯❯

TECHNOLOGY

The pressure is on to make holes as efficiently as pos-sible. Today, the variety of machined holes and cavities is vast, and the quality is higher than ever. In short, machin-ing holes today is a competitive, demanding business. Holemaking machines and tools are being developed

rapidly, and machine shops now have access to new, capable equipment and a choice of

ways with which to best perform opera-tions.

A STRATEGIC CHOICE TODAYA major task facing machine shops today is the task of selecting and applying the best method and tool for holemaking. It is no

longer obvious whether a hole should be drilled, bored or milled or whether the tool should be standard and flexible or special and dedicated. The evolution of machine tools has provided a new, broader perspective on machining

methods. For example, instead of following a straight feed movement, a tool can be

programmed to a helical path and can be inclined at almost any angle to the

workpiece.Holemaking, then, is more

complex, but at the same time it has become a lot more efficient,

with a wide scope for im-provement. In line with the availability of broader and

more capable processes,

new approaches are needed by machine

shops, especially in terms of tools and methods.

FACTORS AFFECTING CHOICE OF TOOL AND METHOD

Machining cost is the dominant factor in the selec-tion of a machining process. The scale of operation, whether manufacturing a large batch of components or making a one-off hole in a small part, determines the extent of optimization. Generally, however, it pays to machine according to best practice with the best available means.

Along with the productivity priorities, the main factors that determine the holemaking tool and method are the hole size and limits, the component type and material, the batch size and the machine tool type and capability.

Component holes vary in diameter, depth, tolerance demands, surface finish demands, workpiece and clamp-ing stability. The component material and its hardness are also key factors, as is the component type. A round sleeve requiring a single through-hole needs a very different setup and process than a housing with a multitude of vary-ing holes in different faces does.

The component batch size has considerable bearing on the choice of tool and method. If it is a question of mass-produced holes, a tool optimized to produce each hole for the minimum machining cost is a priority. But if a machine shop wants a very flexible holemaking method to cope with a variation of hole configurations in just one or

Counterboring with a step drill optimizes the making of multi-diameter holes. It is a high-productiv-ity solution, well suited to mass production.

A BRIEF HOLEMAKING OVERVIEW

THE HOLE WORLD IN YOUR HANDS


a few compo-nents, versatility is the main priority.

Regarding capa-bility for producing holes, machine tools vary in type, condition, control system, size, power, torque, feed force, spindle speed, coolant supply method, volume and pressure. Any of these characteristics may affect the choice of tool, method and cutting data and also whether an alternative machine should be considered.

A CHOICE OF HOLEMAKING METHODSThe main machining process for making holes is usually one of the following or a combination of the following: drilling, trepanning, counterboring, fine boring or reaming and milling.

Solid drilling is the most common and straightfor-ward method, with very efficient, simple standard tools for solid drilling from very small holes to holes around 60 mm, above which it is complemented by trepanning (mainly to save power and material). Most holes are in the diameter range of 10 mm to 30 mm, the machin-ing of which is dominated by indexable insert drills and solid carbide drills. Solid drilling should be seen as a fast and flexible holemaking method, which may or may not require a subsequent finishing operation.

Boring and reaming entail machining an existing hole to make it larger and/or to finish it. Boring can be

applied either as a roughing or finishing operation, with tools developed for either type of operation. Reaming is a super-finishing operation that provides component holes with a very good surface finish. When the boring opera-tion involves stationary tools, these are in the form of boring bars. When the boring tools rotate, they are usually in the form of specially developed single or multi-edge, adjustable boring tools.

Combination tools for counterboring and step drills are dedicated solutions based on drill and turning technology and are normally designed to produce specific multi-diameter holes that may also have chamfers. The main intention is to have a specialized step-drilling tool that efficiently makes the complete hole in one pass. This is an optimized way of making holes, which allows little, if any, flexibility and often requires more power and stabil-ity in the machine tool. However, it is a very productive solution for long series production.

Drilling with CoroDrill 880 complemented with the 830 high-feed reamer. Fast and precise methods of mak-ing holes.

❯❯


TECHNOLOGY

Milling holes is ideal with the right type of CNC machine, where helical interpola-tion is available. It is a flexible method for a va-riety of holes and cavities, but it has a slower cycle time.

Milling holes has become an option with the avail-ability of machine tools that perform helical interpola-tion and similar cavity-making cycles. This is a very flexible method, as it is down to the programming to es-tablish the hole with a milling tool. Tools are standard, simple cutters, often in the form of endmills, and do not require large amounts of power or stability. The range of holes that can be made is very large but, compared with other holemaking methods, it takes more time to perform the holemaking cycle.

QUESTIONING THE METHOD – A TYPICAL CASESome of the more common types of machined com-ponent holes include bolt holes, screw-thread holes, location holes, bearing holes, guide holes, fluid holes, clearance holes, weight-relief holes and cavity-making holes. Generally, a solid drilling operation, followed by a finishing operation when necessary, has been the obvious choice.

And today, with the availability of the new genera-tion of indexable insert drill, the CoroDrill 880, the odds are that drilling will take place. Especially con-sidering that this drill provides 40 to 100 percent faster penetration rates, depending upon component material, in combination with closer hole tolerances, higher reliability and better tool economy. Screw-thread holes,

for instance, were previously beyond the capability of indexable insert drills, unless the drill performed an additional boring operation. But the CoroDrill 880 can drill holes that are within the required limits.

Some questions to bear in mind when considering alternative holemaking methods:• With cycle times in focus (for example, for machining

IT7 tolerance 25 mm diameter holes), when should solid drilling and reaming replace solid drilling and boring on medium-sized batches using rotating tools?

• Which tool or tools should be used to machine flat-bot-tom holes with a generous diameter tolerance?

• What is the best way to machine a pocket with radius corners?

• When is a multi-diameter bolt hole best machined through counterboring with a dedicated step drill or by a drill combined with an endmill?

• What are the depth limitations for an indexable insert drill before deep hole drilling must take over (an area where interesting new developments are taking place)?

Whatever the application, the method should be questioned and looked at from a machining cost point of view. There are alternatives to most ways of making holes.

CHRISTER RICHT

❯❯Thanks to a robust design, the adjust-able-finish boring tool, CoroBore 825, can use Wiper inserts, which means consider-ably higher feeds and shorter cycle times.



NEWS

When it comes to patents for new tools and cutting grades, Sandvik Coromant is clearly No. 1.

From 1998 through 2004, 25 to 40 percent of all new patents linked to cutting tools issued in the US went to Sandvik Coromant. The remaining patents, 75 to 60 percent (de-pending on the year), were shared among 10 companies competing with Sandvik Coromant. Sandvik Coromant is especially strong when it comes to cutting materials. In 2001, more

than half of all patents in this area went to Sandvik Coromant grades.

“We have a very active patent strategy, and we believe this is of the utmost importance in a competitive market such as ours,” says Henrik Tåqvist, patent engineer at Sandvik Coromant.

“To be sure, quantity is not everything. But the flow of patents is proof of our very active research and development, and it reflects the fact that Sandvik Coromant spends more than twice as much on research and development as the average competitor does. Quality speaks for itself.”

IN THE FIRST STAGE

Turning, milling and drilling catalogues have, by tradition, been the most important selling tool for a company in the metalcutting industry. Today modern multi-task machines are replacing tradi-tional CNC machines, and traditional transfer lines are being replaced with machining centres and special purpose machines. For Sandvik Coromant, it is important to be on the front line not only in terms of products and technical solutions but also in terms of information and know-how. A revised product publication strategy will soon be launched that will provide customers with more frequent and more comprehensive information about the tools and how to use them, to make it easier for them to find what they need.

The new strategy is based on multiple avenues of communication. The first is a metalcutting guide. Sandvik Coromant continually supplies cus-tomers with more sophisticated tools and smarter technical solutions. This handbook, of more than 600 pages, is designed to give customers the information they need to apply these tools and solutions in the most efficient way.

The next is a new, single-volume catalogue showing Sandvik Coromant’s full assortment of about 25,000 turning and rotating tools. This and

the metal-cutting guide are similar in structure and ap-pearance. Divided into eight chapters covering most application areas in metalcutting, they form a unified reference of some 1,500 pages.

New products and technical solutions will be presented twice a year in CoroPak. CoroPak, which has been in existence for about 15 years, includes both electronic information (CoroGuide Web) and printed material (new product supple-ments). Finally there is CoroKey, a small (A5) book that is designed to guide customers to the “first choice” tool for a particular operation.

For Sandvik Coromant to be the No. 1 supplier of cutting tools for the metalworking industry, it must also speak to its customers in their own language. For this reason, Sandvik Coromant publications are published simultaneously in 15 to 20 language editions.

Left: Total cutting-tool-related patents issued in the US.

NEW GRADE FOR FINE SURFACES

SANDVIK COROMANT READY TO LAUNCH NEW PRODUCT PUBLICATION STRATEGY

Very hard nickel-based alloys are difficult to work with. But hardness is what makes the material durable and suitable for applica-tions requiring precision and reliability.

In January 2006, Sandvik Coromant is launching GC1105, a new grade for milling these nickel-based alloys.

“It will be quite a broad grade, which can be used in the aviation industry, in gas turbine manufacture and also in medical

technology and small-part machining,” says project manager Malin Mårtens-

son at Sandvik Coromant.So far, customers from the aviation

industry have shown the most interest. “We have been out to customers several

times to test the new grade, before we de-cided that it was ready to launch,” explains Mårtensson. “These were mostly customers in aviation, as well as some medical technol-ogy customers.”

She says that medical technology will benefit in particular from the new grade, because it can offer several cutting tools that are in demand in this area.

“It could be used, for example, to make hip replacements and bone screws in mate-rial such as cobalt chrome and very pure stainless steel material such as Sandvik Bioline 316LVM,” she says. “There is great demand for a good finish, which we solve with our knife-sharp tool.”

GC1105 will be launched in January 2006 within the framework of CoroPak.


AS A YOUNG MAN at the turn of the 20th cen-tury, Italian Guccio Gucci, the founder of the Gucci dynasty, worked at the Savoy Hotel in London. Although he was only a dishwasher, a waiter and an errand boy, it is easy to imag-

ine the young Gucci absorbing the lifestyle and glamour that passed through the

magnificent lobby of the grand hotel. The Prince of Wales housed his mis-

tress in a Savoy suite, and luminar-ies such as actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Henry Irving stayed there.

In the Savoy lobby, Gucci had the opportunity to study the baggage of the wealthy in detail, as expensive travel accessories in exclusive leather sat piled

on top of each other, and it is not much of a stretch to imagine that

this was where the Gucci brand was born, at least in young Gucci’s mind. But it

would be almost half a century before this fledgling idea would translate into one of the world’s largest luxury companies.

Guccio Gucci began his company with a little bag shop in Florence, Italy, in 1921. By mid-century he had successfully moved from the shop in Florence to Fifth Avenue, New York.

When American actor Sidney Poitier travelled through Africa at the end of the 1970s, he was asked what it felt like to place his feet in the country of his ancestors. “Fine, through the sole of my Gucci shoes,” was his answer. The Gucci brand, then most known for its loafers and bags, had become synonymous with glamour and luxury. Film stars and society people such as Grace Kelly, Jackie Onassis, Sophia Loren and Ronald and Nancy Reagan all carried Gucci bags, shoes and scarves.

In 1975 New York Magazine ran a four-page article about Gucci under the headline

HOW GUCCI BECAME GUCCIThe fashion industry relies heavily on up-to-the-minute manufacture of trendsetting items. And perhaps none more so than Gucci. The story of this Italian fashion legend beats most TV scripts when it comes to family feuds, intrigues and scandal. But it is also about turning catastrophe into success at the last minute — by making the right decisions at the right time.

PHO

TO: C

ORB

IS O

UTL

INE,

AFT

ON

BLAD

ET B

ILD


“The rudest store in New York.” Gucci had an ability, the author said, to patronize his customers with an arrogant, superior attitude while simultaneously encouraging them to return to stand patiently in line for more of the same. Gucci’s manager, Aldo Gucci,

one of Gucci’s five sons and a recognized marketing genius, employed sons and daugh-ters of society friends from Europe, allowing them to come to New York to work in the shop — something that didn’t particularly add to the level of service but that obviously didn’t hurt sales. Gucci was also one of the first to realize the value of an exclusive customer club, and he handed out VIP cards to a small circle of illustrious customers who were given access to an exclusive gallery a flight up from the Fifth Avenue store.

BUT BY THE END OF THE 1980S, all this glamour was a memory. The goodwill of the brand had eroded, and Gucci had become a status symbol for drug pushers, appearing more often as a slang word in rap songs than on the pages of Vogue. An overenthusiastic licensing

of the brand had diluted its prestige. Gucci’s cheaper range of canvas bags were sold in department stores in huge quantities, and the original exclusivity was lost. The Gucci fam-ily was itself the subject of supermarket tab-loids and scandal magazines. The company was hemorrhaging money, not least to fund the endless lawsuits that family members brought against one another in American and European courts.

Gucci’s rescuer, designer Tom Ford, entered the picture at the beginning of the 1990s. Maurizio Gucci, Guccio’s grandson and Aldo’s nephew, had staged a coup and with the help of American-Italian lawyer Domenico De Sole he kicked out the omni-potent but elderly Aldo from the company and brought in Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment company. Maurizio had great visions for Gucci and wanted to restore the brand by, among other things, rigorously stopping manufacture under license. Unfortu-nately Maurizio, like Aldo, had less business

Sandvik Coromant produces precision cutting tools needed to manufacture forming tools for perfume bottles, lipstick containers, shoe soles and more.

❯❯

In 1975 New York Magazine ran a four-page article about Gucci under the headline “The rudest store in New York.” Things have changed...

Tom Ford had a vision of Gucci as a trendy fashion brand.

sense than he had creative ideas. After five years and much struggle, Maurizio sold out to Investcorp.

By the early 1990s, the last of the Gucci family had left the almost-bankrupt com-pany, and there was little money, even to buy raw materials. Domenico De Sole took over as CEO, and discussions began about bringing in an external designer, an unusual thing to do at the time. Names such as Cal-vin Klein and Giorgio Armani came up, but in the end the choice went to Tom Ford, who had worked in Gucci’s design department for a couple of years. Ford, who had just turned 32, became creative director for all of Gucci, moving from New York to Milan in the process.

Ford had worked for Maurizio Gucci and Dawn Mello, who Maurizio had headhunted from one of New York’s fashionable depart-ment stores, Bergdorf Goodman. Maurizio and Mello had preferred a classic line, but Ford had a completely different vision. He wanted to make Gucci a trendy fashion brand.

“Maurizio wanted to do brown, soft gar-ments,” Tom Ford is quoted as saying in Sara Gay Forden’s The House of Gucci. “I wanted to do black.”

WHEN TOM FORD became creative director, he was given a free hand by De Sole, who viewed the change in direction as a risk but also a possible way out of the company’s trouble.

After a weak first fashion show in October 1994, Ford found his look, and by the spring 1995 show he was ready. He sent super-models out on the runway wearing lots of lipgloss, open satin shirts and low-cut velvet

hipsters. The collection oozed sex and jet-set lifestyle, something the fashion world was clearly hungry for.

Within a couple of months, pop and film stars such as Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Elizabeth Hurley were dressing in Gucci from top to toe for appearances at film premieres and other mingle events. At the same time, Gucci’s bags, still the framework of the company, started to fly off the shelves. Demand went up so drastically that supply became a problem.

Ford himself became a megastar, a com-pletely new phenomenon in designer circles. In People Magazine he was named one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Ford bought a house in Los Angeles and began to mix seriously with film stars and celebrities, thus strengthening his hold on the brand. He took control of advertising campaigns, using images just this side of vulgarity, thus guar-anteeing maximum publicity. He took on all 11 Gucci product categories, and introduced a new designer collection.

Like the fashion brands Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, Ford was creating an entire Gucci world. He coordinated the appearance of the stores, the interior design of the offices,

❯❯

“ This job is a total ego thing in a way. To be a designer and say ‘This is the way people should dress, this is the way their homes should look, this is the way the world should be.’ But then, that’s the goal: world domination through style.”

Tom Ford coordinat-ed the appearance

of Gucci stores, the interior design of Gucci offices, the

clothes worn by Gucci employees

and even the flower arrangements that appeared at Gucci

shows.



the clothes worn by employees and even the flower arrangements at Gucci shows and parties.

“The concept of ‘The World of Ralph Lauren’ — not just the clothes but furniture, advertising campaigns and stores — had always impressed me,” Ford told Vogue in 2003. When interviewed by Hello! magazine, he said, “This job is a total ego thing in a way. To be a designer and say ‘This is the way people should dress, this is the way their homes should look, this is the way the world should be.’ But then, that’s the goal: world domination through style.”

1995 WAS NOT ONLY THE START of what Gucci itself calls “the turnaround,” with the new collection from Ford. At the same time Investcorp took Gucci public to huge success and the entire luxury market began to take off.

But trouble still lurked in the wings. In 1999 Gucci was subject to a hostile take-over bid by the French luxury conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). Gucci’s only way out was to ally itself with LVMH’s opponent PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), with Francois Pinault at the helm.

The deal with Pinault included the takeover of one of the leading brands in the fashion world, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL). Tom Ford was now not only designer for Gucci, but also for YSL, and all eyes were on him. If he failed, the consequences would be catastrophic, not only for YSL, but also for Gucci. The company was in a new phase: be-coming its own brand empire with top brands in its portfolio. In quick succession the fashion and cosmetic brands Boucheron, Bot-tega Veneta and Balenciaga were acquired, and partnership agreements were made with Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.

Today the Gucci Group is a global player, with myriad fashion and cosmetic con-nections. Gucci had sales in 2003 of more than 1,500 million euros, with half the sales coming from the exclusive leather goods, the original products on the Gucci roster.

Guccio Gucci’s dream of a true luxury brand has been fulfilled. Sales of the designer clothing in 2003 reached 214 million euros, nowhere near the sales of bags, but still clothes remain the company’s most important asset. Gucci clothes act to market the brand and are the platform for the entire accessory range.

For the past year, Gucci has had to manage without its dream team, Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford. Both left the company at the end of 2003, and four new designers have been brought in.

So far, Ford’s style is still very visible in the Gucci collection, according to the American Vogue, in its review of the latest autumn show. But even Ford needed a season to shake off his predecessor. The continuation of the exciting Gucci saga continues.

IMKE JANOSCHEK

GUCCI ♥ SANDVIK COROMANT What does Gucci have to do with Sandvik Coromant? Sandvik Coromant produces the preci-

sion cutting tools needed to manufacture forming tools for perfume bottles, lipstick containers, shoe soles and more. Each forming tool must be precisely made, and the quality of its shape and surface must be very high because it reflects directly on the quality of the final product. Sandvik Coromant contributes technical know-how in the machining process, which is important for the end result. The industry segment Die and Mould at Sandvik Coromant works continuously to further develop this advanced technology. The high level of design of Gucci products demands constant development of both technological competence in terms of application and the cutting tools themselves — something Sandvik Coromant prides itself on.

The Gucci Group is a global player with myriad fashion and cosmetic connections. Gucci had sales in 2003 of more than 1,500 million euros.

TECHNOLOGY

When a machine shop invests in a multi-task machine, it buys into new technology that brings with it improved quality consistency and shorter cycle times. It also brings with it a number of pitfalls that can be avoided by taking the right steps early on.

NEW POSSIBILITIES AND NEW HURDLESThe concept of multi-task machining is built mainly around automated tool changing, multi-axis machin-ing, the use of rotating and non-rotating tools and the possibility of having main and sub-spindles as well as a complementary turret. The main benefit is complete complex-component machining in a single setup, improv-ing quality and throughput time. There is no re-setting of the component, which risks variations in accuracy, and the total production time is shorter, as machine stops are

minimal and there is no queueing in the machine shop between machines.

The multi-task ma-chine is very flexible and holds consider-able potential, but there are issues that should be addressed in advance. To start with, multi-task machines may be limited in

terms of positioning possibilities and some power restric-tions, depending on the model, especially for some of the rough turning operations. But the advantage is that, in the multi-task machine, this can usually be compensated for by switching to a different machining method, such as milling.

Tooling and programming for multi-task machines often means new demands. The workpiece chucks in these machines often must be of a somewhat larger size to cope with the variety of workpieces. This means that tool overhang compromises must be made in terms of tool-reach capability and machining stability. To counter this, tool holding can be optimized with stable couplings such as Coromant Capto.

The question of batch sizes also must be resolved: When is a multi-task machine the best solution, compared with a CNC lathe and machining centre?

Operators and programmers often need training to develop their skills to cope with the more varied machin-ing — a challenge that is often underestimated. Operators are usually specialized on machine types and are familiar with certain machining methods.

With multi-task machining, they must cope with new methods and grasp new skills. In addition, programmers are confronted with new combinations of tools and tool paths, and for these machines to run continuously, a different approach is needed. But the broader approach brings with it new capabilities, once it is successfully adopted.

THE FASTEST ROUTE TO THE BEST PERFORMANCEMULTI-TASK MACHINING IS DEMANDING BUT REWARDING

Rock-drilling bits are completely machined on multi-task machines in a single setup.


MOVING TO MULTI-TASK MACHINING This can be done at a number of different levels: • With previously used, conventional tools and, to some

extent, less than optimal methods;• By the application of modern tools and tools developed

for multi-task machines as well as optimization of meth-ods when the machine has been installed; or

• Through pre-investment planning of tools and methods as well as running-in when the machine is in place.

The different levels became apparent at the Sandvik Mining and Construction (SMC) plant in Sweden, where down-the-hole bits for rock drilling are machined. Some 200 types of drill bits in batches varying from eight to 48 are produced from strong alloy-steel forgings. These relatively complex products had been produced in a country with lower costs and higher manual involvement, in a shop with conventional machine tools. The produc-tion was moved to an automated cell with three multi-task machines and a component-handling robot.

“We compete with other Sandvik facilities as well as competitor manufacturers of drill bits, where delivery and quality are the critical factors for success,” explains Hans Sletten, technical manager. “As we had previous experience of multi-task machining, it was obvious that this production should be put on a cell with machines that could complete all the green machining in one setup. The component design and the delivery requirements were suited to multi-task machining. The cell did involve a large capital investment but one that would deliver a satisfactory payback and safeguard the volume and qual-ity demands. Previously, we had lead times of 20 days and four man-hours per component. Today, we have a lead time of five days and one man-hour per component — and these values are still falling.”

The cell includes three Nakamura STS 40 multi-task machines serviced by one robot, and a PC station from which all of the control units can be accessed. There are 30 tools permanently positioned in the magazine, which holds 40 tools; 10 tools are flexible so as to be changed in accordance to component type. Setup times vary, depend-ing upon the extent of changes needed, and preparations are important for efficiency.

NEW STRATEGIES ARE VITAL“There are several operations involved in making the drill bits,” explains Jimmy Pihl, manufacturing engineer. “The forgings are pretty tough to machine and, in addition to several turning operations, various milling and drilling operations must be performed. The drill bits also have to be provided with splines and, on some types, also threads. When the component is completely machined, it goes on to hardening, after which the buttons are inserted.

“New strategies were vital for the new multi-task machines to ensure efficient tool handling and adminis-tration,” Pihl says. “It has taken us a couple of years to achieve the present levels of operating. There is a consid-erable learning curve involved to arrive at satisfactory batch pro-duction with cells that have multi-task machines. Operations in these machines began with tools that had previously been used in the existing machines.

“However, we had a certain volume that had to be pro-duced annually,” he continues. “The machine tool builder could come up with a 0.8 hour cycle time per component, but we needed to come down to max 0.5 hours. Conse-quently, it became vital to focus on individual operating times when the machines were in place, so as to achieve the shorter cycle times needed for the production capability.

“As well as the recommendations from the machine tool maker, our machine shop had some existing tools and methods that could function at the start. But it was appar-ent that SMC had a lot of improvement work to do when the machines were in place.

“There was no room for tools that did not perform sufficiently well in the new multi-task environment,” Pihl says. “Tools and methods became the new bottlenecks that had to be eliminated. Consequently, we worked on methods and tools and also on cooperation with our main tool supplier, Sandvik Coromant, to arrive at improve-ments.”

Although the production times have been reduced from 45 to 25 minutes since the machines arrived, Sletten and Pihl say they regret not going down the route of pre-investment analysis of tools and methods and involv-ing themselves more closely with the tool supplier and machine builder. Considerable running-in time could have been saved to reach efficiency at a much earlier stage if an Original Tooling Services (OTS) collaboration had been established. With the stretched resources of produc-tion technicians today, and the rapid introduction of new technology, it takes time to arrive at optimum solutions without the right partners.

CHRISTER RICHT

Turning in multi-task machines entails new challenges to make use of ways where the tool spindle can be tilted to position cutting tools. Tools especially developed for these machines can utilize the new possibilities.

To save tool-changing times, new tooling concepts have been developed to provide cutting tool variation for different types of cuts as well as for sister tooling. The new CoroPlex tools provide a large range for ac-commodating tool types.


Hits your production target.CoroDrill® 880.

Please contact your local Sandvik Coromant representative or visit www.coromant.sandvik.com

Discover a more profitable way of short hole drilling. Look at one of our latest developments – the CoroDrill 880. This is the first indexable insert drill with Step Technology, developed for

Professional Holemakers. The secret lies in its step entrance, perfectly ba-lanced cutting action and Wiper insert technology. Characteristics that give up to 100 percent productivity increases

and cut the cost per hole to less than half in many applications. Productivity is the key to your compe-titiveness.

Your Productivity Partner

CoroDrill® 880 featuring:

Prin

t n:o

C-5

000:

515

ENG

/01

© A

B Sa

ndvi

k Co

rom

ant 2

005:

3

Documents

Metal Working World 2006 #1