I'm putting a proposal together to try and acquire new machines. I have 5 Hitachi-Seiki lathes that are old, beat, unsupported, and incapable of being retooled. The need to purchase new machines is due to obsolescence.
I don't know much about lathes. I come from mostly milling. We are a production facility that machines mostly cast iron but we do have a separate aluminum machining cell that machines extrusions. The aluminum cell also has a H-S lathe that's seen better days. The cast iron machining is mostly endbells for motors up to 360 frame size. So, it's shaft holes, bearing faces, and tenons. Then the parts get 2nd OP on a VMC for bolt, ground, mount holes.
I think I want to steer away from live-tooling just because we have tens of thousands of part families and it'd be easier to separate the 2nd/3rd OP to a mill with more tooling versus constantly having to change out live-tooling. I could be wrong. Plus, I can tool the lathes to accept all workflow instead of the way we are now with one machine doing one task. I hate to say it but with the amount of turnaround we have, I can't expect the operators to have a lot on their plate while machining. We do have one live-tooling Mazak and the operator is very proficient with the Mazatrol but if he disappears/retires, that machine is dead in the water.
I know I'm leaving out a lot more information but I just would like a point in the right direction on what machines to look at. In the entire facility, we have Doosan, Mori Seiki, Hitachi Seiki, and Mazak turning centers. Most seem to like the Mazaks. The other issue is we aren't able to make the decision at our facility. The decision to purchase machines are made at the corporate level. Apparently on the last purchase, the facility was wanting another Mazak but could only settle for the Doosan that was less than capable for what they were initially wanting. Most of the operators feel indifferent about the Doosan. We have mostly Haas and Hyundai VMC/HMC's and those are fine so was figuring the same for turning? Just trying to aim for practical but more importantly, something that's still supported and flexible.
I don't know much about lathes. I come from mostly milling. We are a production facility that machines mostly cast iron but we do have a separate aluminum machining cell that machines extrusions. The aluminum cell also has a H-S lathe that's seen better days. The cast iron machining is mostly endbells for motors up to 360 frame size. So, it's shaft holes, bearing faces, and tenons. Then the parts get 2nd OP on a VMC for bolt, ground, mount holes.
I think I want to steer away from live-tooling just because we have tens of thousands of part families and it'd be easier to separate the 2nd/3rd OP to a mill with more tooling versus constantly having to change out live-tooling. I could be wrong. Plus, I can tool the lathes to accept all workflow instead of the way we are now with one machine doing one task. I hate to say it but with the amount of turnaround we have, I can't expect the operators to have a lot on their plate while machining. We do have one live-tooling Mazak and the operator is very proficient with the Mazatrol but if he disappears/retires, that machine is dead in the water.
I know I'm leaving out a lot more information but I just would like a point in the right direction on what machines to look at. In the entire facility, we have Doosan, Mori Seiki, Hitachi Seiki, and Mazak turning centers. Most seem to like the Mazaks. The other issue is we aren't able to make the decision at our facility. The decision to purchase machines are made at the corporate level. Apparently on the last purchase, the facility was wanting another Mazak but could only settle for the Doosan that was less than capable for what they were initially wanting. Most of the operators feel indifferent about the Doosan. We have mostly Haas and Hyundai VMC/HMC's and those are fine so was figuring the same for turning? Just trying to aim for practical but more importantly, something that's still supported and flexible.