Machining touches all the products around us. It produces individual parts that are assembled in the millions of machines that we use in our society. Molds are machined that shape material into products that are needed. Our world could not exist without precision machining. It is a service that continues to evolve, becoming ever more efficient and productive. It continues to provide for our modern world.
Computer Numeric Control (CNC) is the technology that allows a computer to control the movements of an industrial machine. Manufacturing companies implementing CNC has greatly increased modern production.
CNC machining increased the efficiency and quality of the machining industry. The technology has allowed the reduction of manpower while at the same time increased production output with higher quality parts.
The manufacturing process begins with a production engineer creating a program that will control the machine that manufactures the part. This program is sent to the machine. A floor employee sets the machine up and runs the parts.
The combination of complex computers and modern ridged machines allow parts that could not have been made economically twenty years ago to be sourced within budget and delivered in a timely manner.
This technology allows the machines to be constantly producing high precision complex parts. The machines never get tired.
Milling machines are versatile.
They can machine simple two-dimensional toolpaths or complex three-dimensional ones that result in extreme geometries. They can produce simple parts or highly complex ones at rapid rates. These high tolerance machined parts find their way into machines manufactured for industries like aerospace, medical, and electronic.
These machines repeat. This capability allows the manufacture of parts that are consistently within a specific tolerance range. This ability assures the parts are interchangeable and conform to the customers specifications. This repetitive ability assures that the parts manufactured are what the customer desires.
These machines allow for a mixture of high or low volume production runs. With modern part fixturing the machines can be left to produce the same part for days or quickly changed hourly to produce short volume production runs.
Milling machines produce precision parts and rapid rates. This volume of production allows the creation of the products that we use in the modern world at affordable prices.
Lathes, or turning machines, are also controlled with computers. Like mills, they rapidly produce high tolerance machined parts at high rates of production. These machines efficiently remove material to produce cylindrical parts. The most commonly recognized examples are nuts and bolts. Cams, bars, and other types of parts are most efficiently manufactured with a turning center.
On many precision parts it is common to use both milling and turning machines to efficiently create the desired geometry.
Total Quality Systems constantly evaluate the methods that are employed in manufacturing. They have moved beyond the simple measurement of the part to monitor the entire manufacturing process. They insure the parts are delivered on time and conform to the specified quality.
These modern quality systems measure the reliability of the vendor who supplies the material that is used in production. It verifies that the correct revision level of the part is produced. It constantly evaluates all the methods that are employed to manufacture the part.
Adherence to these modern quality systems (ISO 9000:2015 & ASM9100D) improves the quality of the part and the manufacturing system that produced it.
