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Photo One: Six Fanuc Robodrill α-T21i at Adaero Precision Components are equipped with DockLock systems. The machine pictured shows a trunnion fixture clamped into the patented collet locks of the DockLock’s receiving plate. |
Setup Time Reduced 50 Percent At Adaero Precision Components Ltd.
Using VB DockLock® Zero-Point Workholding System – 30 Minute Setup Savings Impacts Profitability
Crediton, Devon UK: Production output has increased significantly from eight vertical machining centers on the shop floor of Adaero Precision Components Ltd. as a direct result of retrofitting each machine with the Visher & Bolli DockLock® Zero-Point system distributed exclusively in North America by Kurt Manufacturing Company.
Today's machine tools are very fast in terms of spindle speed, rapid traverse, cutting feed rate and tool change. Productivity, however, is often restricted because components aren't presented to the cutting spindle quickly enough after the previous batch has been completed. With current trends toward ever smaller lot sizes, the inability to set up quickly for the next part run seriously impacts profitability.
"At Adaero Precision Components, we shorten spindle down time between part runs using the DockLock Zero-Point workholding system," reports Andy Dickinson, managing director. "This is one of the most cost effective systems on the market. On average, we cut 25 to 30 percent setup time on our eight 4-axis Chiron and Fanuc machining centers using the DockLock. The savings are huge because some of our runs call for just 10 to 20 parts with three to four part changeovers a day. We save around a half hour for each setup."
Offshore Competition Necessitates Lean Initiative --
The DockLock System Is A Key Lean Contributor
Founded in 1988, Adaero Precision serves customers in the medical, optical, laser and aerospace industries. It has doubled its volume in the last five years and expanded its Crediton, Devon facilities twice to handle the increased volume. However, increasing competition from Eastern European countries and India threatened to restrict this growth. This led the company in 2005 to investigate lean manufacturing methods including the DockLock system as a key tool for developing a lean initiative.
"Our original idea was to install one DockLock system on one machining center and spend some time evaluating it," reported Gary Raymont, works manager at Adaero Precision Ltd. "However, in the process of installing the first system, it became abundantly clear that the benefits were going to be so profound that there was no point delaying the installation of DockLock systems on most of our other machining centers as well. New initiatives like this can meet employee resistance but that wasn't the case with the DockLock systems. Everyone, particularly the machine operators, championed the systems from the start."
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Photo Two: This DockLock system is integrated to a Chiron Mill 800 at Adaero Precision. The setup is equipped with twin Kurt 6-inch vises and an indexing head. |
Photo Three : On this Chiron FZ15S at Adaero Precision, the DockLock system holds an angle plate as well as a Kurt vise. |
Another benefit that Adaero Precision experienced with the DockLock introduction was the reduction in skilled setup time. Using DockLock for most setups, tedious, time-consuming setups were eliminated with a corresponding reduction in skill level required to do the setups.
Improved Profitability For Shorter Runs With DockLock
Raymont also cited major improvement on certain small lots that required two hours for setup and only 25 minutes to run prior to using the DockLock. "By implementing the DockLock, setup time for these jobs was reduced to one hour with the removal and replacement of the fixture requiring less than a minute. The overall 50 percent savings in setup time impacts enormously the profitability on these jobs," Raymont reported.
In addition, the larger the part, the more difficult the setting up process," says Raymont. "Special fixtures for very large parts are difficult to lock accurately into position, which takes time and adds to machine downtime. This is true with angle plates, trunion fixtures, indexing heads, vises and air chucks, all of which are changed frequently. DockLock solves the large part setup problems with these different holding devices.
DockLock Has ± 0.0002 Inch Repeatable Positioning Accuracy
Adaero Precision's machine operators like the DockLock because of its simplicity and ease of use. Top down design makes the fixture handling process effortless. With the DockLock, fixtures and workholding devices are fitted with centering plugs on their undersides. This allows positioning these devices precisely and repeatably to within a few microns in the DockLock receiving plate's patented collet locks, which are mounted on the machining center bed. If the component to be machined is especially large, a centering plug can be fixed directly into the part itself, allowing convenient five-sided machining. Each fixture or component is accurately located every time to ±0.0002 inch so the machining cycle can start quickly and the first-off component is usually within tolerance. Little or no scrapped parts are experienced with machining centers equipped with the DockLock Zero-Point system, according to the company.
Another advantage of the DockLock system for Adaero Precision is that jobs can be interchanged freely between the Fanuc and Chiron machining centers without additional setup requirements. There is no loss of production time if a machine goes down or a job needs to be moved to another machine. Similarly, if an incoming rush order requires intervening in a part run, only a small productivity loss results when breaking into a part run to fulfill the rush job.
DockLock Chosen Because Of Precision And Robust Design
The DockLock system operates by precisely integrating a receiving plate onto the machining center bed. A series of locking cylinders are arranged in a grid pattern over the plate, according to customer requirements, which in the case of Adaero Precision's requirements, involve primarily plates with 4 locking cylinders (some 2, 6 and 8 cylinder plates are also used in various combinations). Each cylinder is located at 250 mm centers and generates 1.5 tons of holding pressure (DockLock systems with 3 tons of holding pressure are also available for heavier duty applications.)
For its machining setups, Adaero Precision employs a variety of fixturing devices including Kurt precision vises, angle plates and indexing heads. Each is fitted with centering plugs that locate in the locking cylinders with ±0.0002 inch positioning accuracy. Hydraulic pressure locks up and releases these fixturing devices in the exact, desired position instantaneously with the flip of a switch.
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Photo Four and Five:
A Kurt vise with centering plugs on the vise underside is being positioned on Adaero Precision's Fanuc Robodrill a-T212i using the DockLock system.
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"We're extremely pleased with the DockLock system and what it's done for our productivity," reports Dickinson. "It is only by adopting lean manufacturing techniques made possible by innovative designs like the DockLock system that UK companies can compete with low-wage manufacturing economies. We calculate that our DockLock systems will pay for themselves in less than two years. As we get better using them, changeover times continue to decrease. What can be better than that?"
In addition to the DockLock Zero Point positioning system, Kurt provides integrated custom engineered workholding systems and custom gaging systems for automated manufacturing. Both workholding and gaging are designed around a customer's requirements with systems available for many industries including automotive, medical and aerospace applications. |
