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Departments: Quality Applications
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SPC Collection Software Saves Time and Reduces Waste

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Midwest Machining Company Implements Real-Time Process Control

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Height Gage Helps Pennsylvania Shop Raise Quality Levels

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Golf Club Manufacturer Implements Quality Management System

Midwest Machining Company Implements Real-Time Process Control
High Tech's Micronite

Gormac Products, located in Racine, Wisconsin, is a typical job shop with a mix of short run and high-volume jobs. Gormac operates more than 90 machines--including Swiss CNC lathes, Swiss automatics, centerless grinders, multiple-spindle diamond bore finishing equipment and machining centers--and manufactures high-precision turned parts for automotive, aerospace, fluid power, medical and other applications. Due to competitive demand for zero-defect product quality and improved productivity, Gormac began a search for a computerized process control system suitable for a diversified job shop.

Gormac selected the Micronite system, developed and marketed by High Tech Research Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois. Micronite's system provides protection against ordinary errors in tool adjustments and changes, and helps uncover and eliminate assignable causes of variation.

At Gormac, attaining top performance of precision turning operation for a complex close tolerance job requires unique control designs. The Micronite system, based on iPACT--intelligent process adaptive control technology--allows flexible product quality planning for each job, operation and characteristic, and adheres to three key rules for real-time process control:

The real-time machining model should recognize nonlinear, multistep mechanisms of tool wear. It should be able to predict the onset of excessive tool wear, probability of tool breakdown, edge build-up and tearing.

A makeover of every machining operation should be recognized by tool-grouped processes or a group of associated characteristics. If a finishing tool is cutting multiple characteristics, Micronite decisions are based on relative location, variation and tool wear rates of dependent characteristics. The system enforces inspection discipline by demanding inspection of all dependent characteristics after tool changes.

Micronite math models and expert rules generate separate messages for adjustments, compensations and tool changes. This enables users to avoid errors caused by adjustments or offsets that cannot bring all related characteristics under control.

The iPACT strategy is designed to control process quality by predictive modeling and arranging groups of software processing elements customized for individual characteristics, tools, operations, jobs and production plants. It provides real-time process control decisions and process optimization using dimensional and tooling data.

"Right now, I'm running a part with a pair of dimensions with a total tolerance of 0.0006 in.," says Val Gray, one of the first CNC operators to work with Micronite. "Before Micronite, we wouldn't see the interrelation of dimensions on parts of such tight tolerances. Micronite now tells me and the other operators exactly when I need to inspect my parts, stop the machine, make an adjustment or a tool change, and even how much to offset my tools. Micronite has never let me get too close to a spec limit or stopped me when everything was fine. We worked with SPC software before, but now that Micronite's been implemented, I wouldn't trust any other system."

The Micronite network has been utilized by Gormac Products for more than three years. Throughout this time, the management TOP/Station and operator workstations have been used extensively and not a single station has been down. The system is responsible for controlling of more than 1,000 jobs.

 

High Tech's Micronite

Benefits

  • Prevents scrap
  • Reduces unproductive labor
  • Reduces tooling costs
  • Reduces downtime and machine slow-downs

www.htrmicronite.com