Reprinted from the November 2010 Editions of

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MANUFACTURING NEWS
Practical Applications Of Automated Precision Part Manufacturing Using Process ControlTechnologie
numbers in batches of one as needed. The
parts range in diameter from 1.063" to 1.312"
and in length from 3.077" to 3.268" Total tol-
erance is plus or minus 0.0002" and both
lines run at 1.67 CpK consistently.
Operations performed include a
plunge OD grind controlled by a Marposs
Unimar in-process gauge, and a peel grind
after which the part is checked by a Mar-
poss Unimar post process gauge that is
mounted on the machine. After the grind-
ing processes, the part is placed into a Mar-
poss M57 automatic post process gauge
which checks all of the processed features
of the part and guarantees parts that may
be out of tolerance do not go to the assem-
bly area and maintains the SPC data inde-
pendently on each part run. The Unimar
and M-57 gauges were selected for this ap-
plication primarily because their wide
measuring range supported the goal of
minimal part-to-part downtime while de-
livering the necessary precision and ro-
bustness to function in the in-process and
on-machine environment.
The grinders are equipped with Mar-
poss P7ME amplifiers to process the gauge
data and interface with the grinder's Fanuc
controls. The Marposs M57 post-process
gauge performs the final part inspection.
This gauge also provides compensation
data to the grinder controls based on fin-
ished part dimensional trends.
Part programs and gauge set-ups are
Two Unimar-S gauges are employed for in-process gauging of a family of cylindrical parts. A third Unimar-S
stored in memory and called up by the
gauge installed on the O.D. grinder is used to locate the part prior to starting the grinding cycle.
machine and automation controls as re-
Cost reduction has been the primary tended to incorporate a lot of manual func- inter-operation, and post-process gauges. quired. Cycle time is 15-seconds per part.
driver for manufacturing automation ap- tions performed by skilled operators. Until In operation, both lines meet the cus- The manufacturer reports a 40% re-
plications for as long as those applica- quite recently machine tools, material han- tomer's goal of producing 128 different part duction in overall production costs in-
tions have been available. That is not to dling systems, and process control tech-
say that collateral benefits such as im- nologies simply have not been up to the job
proved quality aren't important, but the of efficiently automating high precision
fact is that if automation did not reduce manufacturing operations.
costs there would be a lot less of it used. That's changing very quickly, how-
One of the unintended consequences ever, with new generations of machine
of widespread automation is the relative tools and material handling systems being
ease with which many repetitive machin- coupled with advanced gauging and con-
ing and assembly tasks have been off- trol technologies to produce precision com-
shored to areas of the world with less ponents with significantly less manpower.
sophisticated infrastructure and much We can see the leading edge of what prom-
lower labor costs. As companies work ises to be a trend toward on-shoring of pre-
their way up the manufacturing food cision part manufacturing in a range of
chain to increasingly precise parts, how- industries including hydraulics, fuel con-
ever, the "automate and offshore" strategy trols, automotive, over-the-road diesel,
often runs into some serious problems. aerospace, and even medical devices.
There is a huge difference between au- For example, a large domestic hy-
tomating a simple "plus or minus a couple draulics company had offshored produc-
of thousandths" machining operation, and tion of one of their lines of hydraulic motors,
a sophisticated "plus or minus a fraction of and almost immediately began experienc-
a micron" application. Many manufactur- ing product quality "challenges".After mak-
ers discovered just how much difference ing the decision to bring production of a
there is when the offshored "precision" critical steel shaft "home," the company in-
parts started showing up in their products. vested in a new machining line for the shaft.
That left them caught between the At the same time, they created a second line
proverbial rock of high onshore manufac- using existing machines with added au-
turing costs and the hard place of unac- tomation and gauging.
ceptable product quality. The situation is The goal was to be able to grind the
made even more difficult in the current high-precision shafts in batches of one,
economic environment where capital ex- with minimal part-to-part changeover
penditures are difficult to justify and even time. Each line includes two OD grinders, A Unimar gauge set up for measuring an O.D. on a coupling type part.
harder to fund. a plunge grinder, a peel grinder, a center- The gauge is mounted on a slide that advances the gauge prior to
Frankly, it's no accident that precision ing machine, material handling automa- beginning the grinding cycle. The gauge is then retracted following
manufacturing operations historically have tion, and a full complement of in-process, the grinding cycle to permit unloading and loading the parts.
 measurement on the machine significantly
increased the cycle time for the process.
The solution was to pre-measure the
part with a second Unimar S26 gauge be-
fore it's loaded using a fixture that duplicates
the machine's tooling. This allows the grind-
ing wheel to be pre-positioned before the
part is loaded, removing the traverse time
from the machining cycle. This cuts the time
spent moving the wheel into contact with
the workpiece to an absolute minimum,
while eliminating the danger of a crash.
Each of the gauges is equipped with a
Marposs P7 amplifier. Communication be-
tween the positioning gauge, machine
control, and in-process gauge is fully au-
tomated, and the parasitic time spent po-
sitioning the part is eliminated. No special
control software or grinder modifications
were required, and the grinder itself re-
mained in the standard configuration.
This solution was initially imple-
mented on a new grinding line, and then
duplicated on an existing line to improve
its productivity.
A similar approach has been used suc-
cessfully by bearing manufacturers to cut
cycle times in match grinding operations.
Most bearings are ground on shoe-type
grinders which support the OD of the race
with pads resembling those used on a
steadyrest. Variations in the OD can move
the centerline, so the grinding wheel has to
be infeed relatively slowly to avoid crashes.
These are extremely high-volume op-
erations with typical production of a half
million or more bearings per day, so any re-
duction in cycle time has an extremely high
payback. By pre-measuring the OD of each
race before it's placed in the grinder the ma-
chine control can precisely place the wheel
for minimal movement to contact with no
danger of crashing.
The resulting cycle time reduction is
Two Unimar in-process gauges are used on this twin spindle O.D. grinder for controlling size in grinding of shaft type parts. not typically very large, perhaps 0.1 second
Contacts on the gauges can be easily adjusted to accommodate measuring parts from 8 to 131 mm diameter. or so, but over a production run of 500,000
parts per day it generates a substantial cost
cluding a manpower reduction from the In-process gauging plays a key role in The challenge here was to reduce cycle time reduction. Properly executed, this ap-
previous 30 operators per line to two. The both of these applications, but it isn't always to improve productivity and lower cost. proach can also eliminate the need for an
cost savings paid for both lines within six the best solution to a productivity problem. The original set-up used a Marposs ID in-process gauge on the grinder further
months, and the parts are now Made in Sometimes it's better to take the gauge off Unimar S26 in-process gauge to both locate reducing costs.
the USA. of the grinder. Here's an example. a critical dimension used to position the part Here again, the productivity of exist-
The really interesting aspect of this ap- A small engine manufacturer match prior to the grinding cycle and then to con- ing machines can be improved for a rela-
plication is not the productivity of the new grinds a pair of features on a crankshaft. trol the grinding operation. Doing the pre- tively small capital investment in gauging
equipment, that's hardly a surprise, but hardware and control software. In some of
rather the fact that the customer's existing these examples 15 year old machines were
equipment could be equally productive able to match the productivity and preci-
when equipped with modern process con- sion of brand new equipment with the
trol technology. Here is another example of simple addition of contemporary gauging
what can be accomplished. hardware and control technology.
A competitive hydraulic pump manu- In a time when capital budgets are tight
facturer produces a family of parts on a to non-existent the approaches described
Weldon AGN4 grinder. The parts range in here offer a low-cost, proven way to im-
size from 4.5 to 8.75 inches and are typically prove productivity through the creative ap-
produced in batches of less than 50. Toler- plication of process control technologies.
ance on the part is plus or minus 0.005-in., Add them to the machine, move them off
but the customer could no longer hold that the machine, or integrate both approaches
while meeting cycle time requirements into a beginning-to-end process control sys-
with the aging Weldon machine. tem and you can add precision parts to the
Rather than invest in a new machine, long list of automation success stories.
the customer chose to install a Marposs
Unimar S26 in-process gauge on a quick- Authored by Frank Powell,
adjusting bracket and an E9 gauging am- Product Manager, Marposs Corp.
plifier on the existing machine. A simple
relay-based I/O device interfaces the For more information contact:
gauge with the machine's Fanuc control Marposs Corporation
which was modified to accept gauge data 3300 Cross Creek Parkway
inputs. For a fraction of the price of a new Unimar gauges are designed to function flawlessly in the grinding hostile Auburn Hills, MI 48326
machine, the Weldon is now meeting both environment. In this photo, a Unimar in-process gauge is applied to an 248-370-0404
quality and cycle time goals while deliv- angle head O.D. grinder for controlling size on shaft type parts. The [email protected]
ering an overall part cost reduction. machine also incorporates a Marposs automatic wheel balancing system. www.marposs.com