Page 3 - Hemlock achieve 10 minute changeover for parts with the Feedio from Whitehouse Machine Tools

HEMLOCK ENGINEERING
CASE STUDY
He also advised that every night shift in particular is much more productive with the automation, as all the operator needs to do is attend to swarf clearance, tool exchange and perhaps coolant supply. He or she is therefore free to complete other duties
on the shop floor with very little interruption.
As to his choice of automated handling of the component itself, rather than a machine pallet with a component fixtured, Mr Cobb points to the couple of hundred different jobs routinely passing through his factory that are able to benefit from automation. They would need expensive pallets and bespoke jigs and fixtures, a production route that would not be economical. Furthermore, the footprint of such pallet change systems tends to be large.
It is interesting that in 2014 when Hemlock Engineering, 90 percent of whose production involves machining aluminium, took the policy decision to migrate from 40-taper to faster 30-taper machines, the subcontractor gained the productivity boost that it was seeking due to cycle times that proved to be between 50 and 70 percent quicker than previously.
However, what was not foreseen was that the Speedio machines would be so fast that one operator was committed full-time to
each, so there was no labour cost advantage. It is exactly this problem that robotic loading and unloading solves.
In the first four months of operation, around 25 different components that were previously produced on 3- and 4-axis VMCs
had passed through the automated Brother 5-axis cell. The jobs were about to start repeating, with the prospect of even greater gains the second and subsequent times a batch of components is produced.
The benefits of the production solution were so conclusive, including the small footprint on the shop floor and the low power consumption, that Mr Cobb almost immediately placed an order for a second identical cell, which is due for delivery in December 2022.
HEMLOCK ENGINEERING LTD New Road, Stapleford, Nottingham, NG9 8GS
Tel: 0115 9393305
Email: sales@hemlock.co.uk
www.hemlock.co.uk
WHITEHOUSE MACHINE TOOLS LIMITED
Princes Drive, Crackley Industrial Estate, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2FD Tel: 01926 852725 Fax: 01926 850620 Email: solutions@wmtcnc.com
WMTCNC.COM