MCM designs and manufactures high-performance HMCs, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and customized solutions for aerospace, automotive, energy, oil & gas and industrial components.
MCM offers three lines of HMCs: Clock, Tank and Jet Five, covering machining volumes from 800 mm up to 12 meters and configurable in 4 or 5 axes with milling, turning and grinding capacity. MCM machining centers are available in single-, twin- and multi-pallet versions or can be connected to each other in an FMS. The software solutions provided by MCE, the IT Division of MCM, are exclusive tools for production management.
At IMTS, MCM will display live and under power a portion of an FMS consisting of CLOCK EVO HMCs, RGV pallet storage system, loading/unloading stations, machined parts washing unit and centralized tool storage and management system (patent pending), offering maximum flexibility for real-time production.
The entire system is designed, built and installed by MCM as a one-source supplier. MCM is able to provide all FMS items, from machines in mirror right- and left-hand configuration to the Super Tool management system. The entire FMS is managed through the jFMX Supervision and Predictive Maintenance Software that allows complete unmanned operations and management along with planning of all resources.
PBC Linear Case Study
The story of PBC Linear began with an innovative solution and patent to solve the common problem of failing linear ball bearings. Forty years later, that successful bearing design is now part of a larger family of inventive products and services related to linear motion technologies.
Recently, PBC needed a way to manage a large number of codes for small to medium batches (volumes) that required complex fixtures and high accuracy. PBC was considering an FMS that would be expandable in the future with all the machines ready to perform all necessary machining operations. To meet the requirements, it was important to have a system capable of sharing pallets and tools.
The solution developed in cooperation with MCM involves the use of an FMS consisting of four MCM CLOCK 1200 EVO machining centers in a mirror configuration, where each couple of machines can have a shared tool magazine with 399 sockets for HSK-100 toolholder type. The total number of components that PBC needs to produce on this FMS is very high and requires a large number of tools. MCM solved this issue by including a centralized tool room with 796 tool capacity. Two SuperTool shuttles automatically connect every machine tool magazine. In this way, the four machines in the FMS will have a total of 1,500 tools available for production.
A further extension will not be a problem since the system has the capacity to receive additional machines in the future. Arrangements have been made to add another four machines for a total of eight in the system.
The components that PBC will machine on the MCM system require high accuracy, therefore all the CLOCK 1200 EVO machining centers will be equipped with the high accuracy package. Each machine has had about 200 hours of scraping operations to perfect the alignment of axes guideways. The machines will also have direct measuring systems on all axes and a thermostabilized coolant system to keep constant the temperature of the machine structure and main axes motors.
At IMTS in booth 339153, MCM in cooperation with PBC will showcase a portion of this FMS. The system features several items normally not available from a one-source supplier: MCM mirror right- and left-hand machine configurations; SuperTool management system with tool sharing between machines; and a centralized tool room storage system. The entire system is under the jFMX MCM supervision software with the integration of the jFRX platform that allows for predictive maintenance.
FMS Configuration
Four CLOCK 1200 EVO 4-axes machining centers configured with:
- Strokes: X-axis 1,200 mm (47.2"), Y-axis 1,000 mm (39.3"), Z-axis 1,100 mm (43.3")
- Fully CNC rotary table with 3,600,000 positions encoder
- Electro-spindle (ISM) HSK-A100 with 14,000 RPM max. speed
- Shared mirror tool magazine with 399 tool sockets
- Two-position pallet changer (APC)
- FANUC CNC 31i-B5
- jFRX data collection and analysis unit.
One MIA LP 90|3 - MCM Intelligent Automation configured with:
- One RGV shuttle with backpack PLC
- 90 storage places on three levels
- 98 pallets 630 mm x 630 mm (24.8" x 24.8") capacity
- Two loading/unloading stations
- One roto-tilting loading/unloading station
- One washing machine
- jFMX Supervisor System
One SuperTool system configured with:
- One centralized tool room with 796 tool sockets
- Two SuperTool shuttles.
The system will also include a washer that will clean and rinse the machined parts. The washing machine integrated into the FMS system will handle the pallet directly from the FMS with the ability to tilt it by 90° and rotate it by 360°, improving the washing capacity. At the end of the cleaning cycle the parts will be dried by a blow of compressed air. All washing areas are sealed, and a chip conveyor will ensure the cleaning of the washing machine from any residual chips.
The entire FMS system is managed and controlled by jFMX, a supervision platform software designed and developed by MCM.
The supervision software works in real time on a network structure (intranet) and reflects the actual status of the FMS with the possibility to interface with various applications or support programs such as VeriCut, SPC Support and Net Part Programming (NetPP). Direct adaptations to the most popular ERP systems are also available.
This system includes NetPP, a patented MCM programming system used for optimizing the part-program execution sequence according to the number of parts loaded on the fixture and the tools available in the tool magazine.
jFMX and jFRX are real-time systems based on Java. jFMX is the MCM suite for the storage, management and control data relating to tools, part programs, pallets, equipment and workpieces in order to better manage all production batches, regardless of their size. At the end of the batch, the system will provide information for various evaluations, for example machine downtime and related causes, error messages, etc.
jFRX is the MCM suite for data collection and analysis that allows end users to plan preventive and predictive maintenance measures and keep constant machine accuracy and performance, thereby avoiding down-time and scrapped parts.
For more information contact:
Marco Maggi
MCM U.S.A. Inc.
215 Fifth Ave.
Chardon, OH 44024
419-340-1052
m.maggi@mcmspa.it
www.mcmspa.it
IMTS South Building, Level 3
Booth 339153
IL, WI, IN, IA
Dick Ragnini
RBR Machine Tools
630-971-8729
dickr@rbrusa.com
Tim Stellmacher
PBC Director of Sales
PBC Linear
6402 Rockton Road
Roscoe, IL 61073
tim.stellmacher@pbclinear.com
www.pbclinear.com