Editor’s comment for January 2021

I’m a firm believer in automation.

Actually I’ll rephrase that. I still reminisce about the days when big manufacturing companies reigned, employed tons of people and every process was predominantly manual.

But that’s just me being nostalgic. I like the idea of businesses being the focal point of communities. I like the idea of everyone being gainfully employed, doing a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay and having job security for life irrespective of academic ability. How things have changed.

Of course in days of yore, because every other business was in the same boat it worked. But technology always drives change and the global market now is much more, well, global. My rose-tinted view of the working world may have been fine in 1960 but it just doesn’t cut the mustard today. Now it’s all about maximising productivity, connected manufacturing and upskilling – and automation of course.

Back to present day. Sometimes in this job you come across things and think ‘why hasn’t someone else thought of this before’ and I had such a moment recently when I visited NCMT in Coventry to take a closer at its Armroid-enabled Okuma LB3000EX II Space Turn II lathe. NCMT is the exclusive distributor for Okuma in the UK.

So what has all this got to do with automation I hear you ask? Well, that’s what’s so different about Armroid because the robot is an integral part of the machine tool itself – designed as a single entity from the ground up and in operation, programmed from the same control panel using the same software. The robot folds conveniently away inside the machine when not in use.

Okuma claims it’s a world first: it was initially unveiled at EMO 2019 but COVID-19 came along and totally kiboshed plans for the global rollout. In the UK NCMT has been itching to give it the launch it deserves and plans to do so early in 2021.

It’s a relatively common sight nowadays to see a robot loading a machine tool – but the same can’t be said about an integrated machine/robot combination. However we need to bear in mind the intended applications are distinctly different.

Because while many forward thinking companies have been using robots extensively for lights-out operation, Armroid machines are designed for high mix, low volume production rather than churning out large quantities of the same part. The ethos behind the concept is to free up the operator during a shift so he or she can do something else – setting up another machine for example.

The benefits of Armroid machines are obvious: no external systems integrator is required; the overall footprint is much smaller and the machine tool and robot share a common operating interface. And everything of course is designed and built by one company – in this case Okuma – so seamless operation is guaranteed.

If high mix, low volume turning is your thing, give NCMT a shout to arrange a demo. For more details, read my article here.