Automation Is King

Almost every machine tool on display at PMTS doubled as an automation display. Automation has simply become so vital to production for both high-production facilities and job shops that OEMs must consider it when designing machine tools.

One interesting feature of automation at the show was the prevalence of integrated automation packages: machine tools sold with standard automation solutions as part of the package. Methods Machine Tools, for example, showcased the Robodrill Plus K Max package, which pairs a full five-axis FANUC VMC with a compact integrated robotic automation system. It comes standard with 90 pallet stations for small-to-medium sized parts loaded into the machine with a FANUC robot arm. It has a 90-slot tool magazine in addition to the 28-tool turret already in the machine tool’s work area. One uncommon feature of this package is that users can customize the tool and pallet stations, combining stations for larger workpieces or replacing tool stations with additional pallets. This customizability is designed to enable job shops to adjust the machining cell to the variety of jobs that come in.

Haas provided a novel high-mix, low-volume automation solution in its booth, one the company’s team designed specifically for the show. A UMC 500 SS milling tool had a station of high-mix parts with various features but similar sizes, as well as diamond-shaped dovetails in the base of each workpiece. Both the robot arm and workholding were designed to clamp onto this self-centering dovetail with specialized grips. The robot would transfer a workpiece from the staging area to the workholding, and then the machine tool would use a probe to determine the diameter of the hole in the dovetail the robot had been gripping. Different machining tool paths were programmed to correspond to different hole diameters, and the machine would load up the corresponding program based on the probe’s measurement.

Muratec showcased integrated automation in some of its turning solutions, such as the gantry-loaded MSR60 on display. The MSR60 is a single-spindle turning machine popular with job shops due to its gantry-loaded automation system, which provides the chance to automate both high-mix and low-mix part runs. According to the company, the gantry moves at 240 meters per minute thanks to its carbon fiber construction, which provides excellent durability at a low weight.

Tooling is the Slice of Life

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a trade show with so many Swiss-type lathes on display, tooling designed for machining minute features into small parts filled the show. Kennametal, for example, showcased a number of micro-tooling solutions that use through-coolant to manage heat buildup. This included the Kendrill Micro line of drills that range from 0.5 millimeters to 2.9 millimeters, all of which sportthrough-coolant channels despite the tiny size. Guhring also showcased a line of micro mills with through-coolant channels. However, Guhring places the coolant holes further up the shank from the cutting edge to accommodate the complex geometry of the cutting tool. Both solution

Novelty Never Ends

One aspect of trade shows that remains consistent is the neverending supply of novel machining solutions. Derek Korn from our sister publication Production Machining covered the Nano, a desktop Swiss-type lathe that uses fully functional guide bushings. Maintaining the rigidity needed for Swiss-type turning at that size is an accomplishment in and of itself, but this machine does so in a compact space that runs on only 120 volts of power.

I spoke at length with representatives from , a machine tool manufacturer that supplies compact machine tools to both grade schools and trade schools to grow the pool of workers for the industry. The EDU Mini Mill can fit on a workbench at less than 3 feet wide. Working off of a FANUC control, the mill can machine metal parts and help students learn the ins and outs of machining at an early age.

Every booth had an interesting perspective and interesting technology. Moreover, the sense of community fostered by the Precision Machined Products Association running the show provides genuine excitement in both the exhibitors and attenddees, which makes attending the show a joy year after year.

AI can enhance shopfloor operations in many ways, including by aiding in the creation of CNC programs. All images provided by Siemens. 

As the push for digitalization continues across all industries, data is increasingly becoming the lifeblood of modern manufacturing. Standing at the cusp of the AI revolution, this has never been truer. Different areas of the manufacturing process already produce and leverage huge quantities of data in a variety of ways. But the sheer volume of this data means that many optimizations and key insights are left on the table.

While there are concerns about AI replacing workers, applying AI to part manufacturing doesn’t mean automating away people and processes. Instead AI-powered programs can act as a force multiplier, improving efficiency and productivity by augmenting existing systems. An example of this is a copilot in a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system, which can automatically generate toolpath suggestions by analyzing the 3D model of a part. Combining traditional production processes with smart data collection, AI and the comprehensive digital twin will be instrumental in achieving the next generation of data-driven manufacturing.

The Need for Industrial-Grade AI

While AI offers many benefits to part manufacturing, it must be applied with care. In the consumer space, the occasional error or hallucination might be acceptable. But in industry, where vast sums of money and even lives might be at stake, any mistake in production could have disastrous consequences.

To reap the benefits of AI in industry, the AI itself must be industrial grade. Answers returned by the model must be robust, reliable and repeatable so users don’t second-guess every result. Some features that set industrial-grade AI apart from other AI include continuous testing frameworks to ensure models are still giving expected results, automated processes that can check for correctness and software designed to keep humans in the loop for critical tasks. With a strong foundation in place, industrial-grade AI can then be leveraged in three ways to enhance part manufacturing: to optimize manufacturing processes, analyze manufacturing data and processes and generate manufacturing gains.

AI Optimizes Manufacturing

AI can accelerate many tasks in a machine shop or other production environment to reduce waste in labor and materials while improving production efficiency. AI is now being applied in many areas, including:

• Natural language processing (NLP) for interacting with maintenance manuals, production data and more through tools such as Siemens Industrial Copilot
• Energy optimization to generate data-driven insights that enhance the understanding of energy usage across production processes
• AI-driven CAM operation editing for faster completion of jobs

These are just a few of the ways AI is even now helping improve production efficiency. And as shops continue to invest in digitalization, the benefits of AI will also increase.

The Insights Hub Production Copilot from Siemens simplifies insights and quickly identifies root causes to prevent losses, as well as provides clear operator guidance, eliminating guesswork on next steps by recommending actions based on data and experience.

Analyzing Data for Bigger Gains

Connecting more advanced AI with shopfloor, design and production data will enable optimizations of everything from workflows to ergonomics through powerful analytics. Connecting all this information within tools like Siemens Insights Hub allows AI to be applied to everything from quality control reports to shopfloor production schedules for deeper analysis, which in turn unlocks new optimizations.

One big way AI can help improve production efficiency is through predictive quality. By analyzing defect data and correlating it with the production and performance data available from smart machines, it is possible to build an AI model that can identify key indicators of defects early in the manufacturing process. Catching these errors early will decrease waste of both time and materials. For example, chatter during a machining operation results in a sub-par surface finish and reduced tool life through uneven tool wear and tool breakage. Chatter marks are visible on machined surfaces, often showing as wave-like patterns or regular marks. AI algorithms can analyze data from various sensors measuring vibration, acoustic emissions, forces, current and more in real time to detect the onset of chatter. This allows for immediate adjustments to machining parameters before chatter becomes severe and affects part quality.

In addition to analyzing huge data sets, AI can expedite time-consuming analysis of specialized data and use cases, such as improving ergonomics for human workers. Repetitive motions can be physically taxing, especially if they require bending or reaching in awkward ways. While there is a certain amount of intuitive analysis that any person can do when it comes to repeated motion, assessing the long-term impact can be harder. By applying an AI model trained on ergonomics data and information about the mobility of the human body, we can assess the ergonomics of a particular set of movements from a single picture. AI-driven human simulation can analyze high-risk scenarios effectively. This information can then be fed back into the comprehensive digital twin to quickly and easily design a workstation that is both healthy and efficient to use, with parts and tools placed in intuitive, easy-to-reach locations.

The copilot in NX CAM automates the NC programming process, saving up to 80 percent of engineering time.

Generating Manufacturing Gains

One of the newest and most well-known forms of AI is generative AI, with its unprecedented ability to converse in a human-like way. In industry, generative AI is positioned to stand as a bridge between people and technology, making complex tools easier to use. Going forward, generative AI will likely be a key component of no- and low-code platforms, allowing users to program complex machinery through NLP. 

An AI-driven copilot can also significantly accelerate the creation of CNC programs, calculation of speeds and feeds, and validation of tool paths. Today, using CAM software to go from a 3D model to usable G-code can be a complex and time-consuming task requiring significant expertise in both CNC machining and the specific software. While the need for a human CNC expert isn’t going to change any time soon, AI, in the form of a CAM copilot, has the ability to speed up this process by making the tools more accessible while automating many of the labor-intensive manual steps. A CAM copilot can help to automate the creation of machining strategies for CNC machines, cutting programming time from hours to minutes.

By simply selecting a feature on the 3D model, a CAM copilot can produce several suggested combinations of operations, tools, feed rates and more for user approval before automatically filling in all those values within the software. At the same time, it can be trained to understand the production machines, instantly validating if a given design and tool path could be safely produced on a particular machine. 

These types of generative AI tools can also serve as a knowledge base, learning from expert users and past work to use manufacturing methods based on the shop’s best practices. A strong industrial-grade AI deployment keeps proprietary knowledge secure and makes it more easily accessible to new hires and veteran employees alike, while also ensuring that valuable know-how isn’t lost as employees move to new roles or retire.

Analyze, Optimize and Generate with Industrial AI

As the digitalization of manufacturing continues, it will become increasingly important that companies big and small are able to leverage their data to achieve quality, sustainability and efficiency goals. AI is and will increasingly be an important way of analyzing, optimizing and generating manufacturing improvements. With everything from simple insights to full-featured assistance, AI will be a vital part of bringing data-driven manufacturing to life as it can turn otherwise unused data into a goldmine for improving efficiency across the board.

One of my colleagues has always impressed upon me that the impact of surface finish is all around us — whether it be how items look (being smooth with a shine), how well the paint covers the item, how smooth an engine performs or even how well medical implants slide against each other.

Being this is a column for machine shop manufacturing parts, we have dedicated many topics to learning how surface finish works, the need for its measurement and the various standards and parameters available for proper surface texture analysis, either with contact or optical tools. However, there is another area of a modern machine shop where the measurement and control of surface texture are beginning to make inroads. It is becoming apparent that surface texture control will affect the look and performance of a concrete floor.

Walk into any newly constructed machine shop, manufacturing facility, big box discount store or modern auto showroom, and the first thing that might strike you is how good the concrete floor looks. There are many looks, from semi- to high-gloss finishes. But there has to be a balance with the roughness of the finish to ensure they do not become slippery when dry or wet.

Until now, the flooring industry has mostly been driven by how well a floor appears — using visual tools, such as gloss meter or comparison patches, to achieve the finished product. Customers may describe a finish as honed, semi-polished, highly polished or a mirror finish. The problem is that these are highly subjective terms based on visual “feel,” and often have different impressions from one viewer to the next. I hear that millions have been lost and enormous time delays have occurred because the involved parties could not agree on the finished look of the final product.

Today, the concrete flooring industry is beginning to realize the importance of surface texture and how it impacts the look and performance of concrete flooring. The good thing about surface texture is that it is measurable, quantifiable and even traceable measuring process.

The manufacture of concrete final finish, a polishing process with different grit sizes of abrasive medium, is used to achieve a finer and finer surface. Even with concrete, this finishing process produces peaks and valleys, just as with the honing or polishing processes used in the machining industry. As such, it becomes evident that standard surface texture parameters may be used to qualify concrete floor texture.

The most common parameter for roughness measurement is Ra. Since Ra is the Arithmetic Mean roughness of the surface, it may be a viable option for quantifying the finish of the concrete. As the parameter specification notes, it measures from a mean line between the highest and lowest point on the sampling length. Thus, Ra provides the average height between the sample peaks and mid-line in qualifiable units in inches or mm.

The ideal feature of today’s surface finish equipment is their portability. Modern, handheld instruments produce lab-grade measurements anywhere they can be placed. So, they are ideal for carrying to the work site and providing test results as the process is being performed.

As various sections of the new flooring are being worked on, constant measurements can be easily made, monitoring the process and ensuring that only the time needed to achieve the results is spent, saving unnecessary finishing. Once the results are achieved, measurements can be saved as a quantifiable number, and even a trace is available as a recode of the results.

While the industry may not have completed the standardization process for using Ra surface texture as the standard for flooring qualification, it is being looked at and worked on. Maybe someday a portable surface gage will be a common tool in the concrete flooring process. Processes must be developed to determine where and how often to measure the desired results for the various finishes, and under what conditions they are made. But like so many processes in the past, unless one can standardize, quantify the results and document them, only then do they really know and understand the requirements.

Concrete flooring is just another reminder that surface finish has a role in everything we see and touch.

Launched in 2011, Top Shops is an annual benchmarking program that identifies the key shopfloor practices and performance metrics that drive world-class competitiveness in discrete parts manufacturing. The personalized benchmark report you’ll receive is an opportunity to guide your shop’s improvement efforts and see where you rank among industry-leading machining businesses.

Companies ranging from mom-and-pop shops to large, captive operations can compare their performance against similar leading businesses and consider what changes they might make to emulate those top performers. 

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Each year, hundreds of shops across the U.S. participate in the survey and answer questions covering key aspects of their businesses. These responses reveal insights into the technologies, processes and tactics used by leading companies. After the survey closes on April 30, we will tally the responses and use the scores to determine the top 20 percent of shops, which we call the “Top Shops” benchmarking group.

Respondents are urged to complete the core survey by April 30, 2025, in order to receive a free, customized benchmarking report. Participating also gives your shop the chance to earn coveted “Top Shop” status and be recognized as an Honoree.

This year’s Top Shops Honorees will be not only be featured in the October print edition of 91��Ƶ��վ��, they will also be recognized and celebrated at our at the NASCAR Hall of Fame this November 11 – 12. This year’s event is set to be the biggest in the history of the program. 

I urge you and your shop to participate in this year’s survey. If you’re still not convinced, check out Making Chips’ episode above. In fact, the Making Chips team has to showcasing the Top Shops program and the benefits that it provides shops of all sizes. Put simply, 91��Ƶ��վ��'s Top Shops program is a pathway to excellence.

Machining 101: What is Turning?

Source: Getty Images

Turning uses a lathe to remove material from the outside of a rotating workpiece, while boring does the same from the inside of a rotating workpiece. Learn more in this article about the basics of turning. 

Source: PM

This Swiss-type requires only 120 volts of power, basic compressed air supply, weighs in at 150 pounds and needs a table that’s just two by four feet. Learn more about this desktop lathe from APSX in this article. 

Choosing Your Carbide Grade: A Guide

Source: MachiningDoctor.Com

Without an international standard for designating carbide grades or application ranges, users must rely on relative judgments and background knowledge for success. In this article, we breakdown what constitutes a carbide grade and how each element influences different aspects of machining.

Source: PM

In this article, Vallorbs Jewel Company gives their suggestions on training employees on a Swiss-type lathe. 

 

Second B-Axis Improves Efficiency of Swiss-Type Machining

Source: MMS

In this article, learn how a  highly stable, fully programmable B-axis on the subspindle of Nomura DS’s 20J3XBTC enables users to more quickly machine complex parts complete.

 

Source: GFH GmbH

This technology uses a laser to act as a cutting tool to "turn" parts from solid barstock. This high-speed precision turning machine is especially useful for micromachining, enabling high accuracy for small, complex parts that are often delicate and difficult to machine when implementing conventional turning processes.

 Buying a Lathe: The Basics

Source: Getty Images

Lathes represent some of the oldest machining technology, but it’s still helpful to remember the basics when considering the purchase of a new turning machine. 

Source: Tornos

In the late 1800s, a new technology — Swiss-type machines — emerged to serve Switzerland’s growing watchmaking industry. Today, Swiss-machined parts are ubiquitous, and there’s a good reason for that: No other machining technology can produce tiny, complex components more efficiently or at higher quality.

How to Start a Swiss Machining Department From Scratch

Source: MMS

When Shamrock Precision needed to cut production time of its bread-and-butter parts in half, it turned to a new type of machine tool and a new CAM system. Here’s how the company succeeded, despite the newness of it all. 

Source: PM

There can be hidden issues using legacy cam-driven lathes that can be overcome using new CNC technology. Here are three to keep in mind.

The Metalworking Index rose above 50 in March to indicate market expansion for the first time since February 2023. The reading of 50.7 now makes six consecutive months of improving conditions for the metalworking sector. This month’s increase, like many before it, was driven in large part by significant gains in new orders and production, while other index components saw modest improvements or remained relatively flat. All components saw growth over the previous month and only exports failed to exceed March 2024 readings.

The GBI Components Scorecard reports the monthly change rate of primary metalworking market factors contributing to the overall monthly index reading.

Reading the Scorecard:

• Color indicates where a component value falls relative to 50 for the current month. Green indicates expansion, and red indicates contraction.
• Shade indicates a value's distance from 50. The darker the shade, the further from 50.
• Direction indicates a value’s change versus the previous period. Pointing up is always better.

The GBI Future Business Index is an indicator of the future state of the metalworking market from industry respondents regarding their opinion of future business conditions for the next 12 months. Over 50 is expansion, and under 50 is contraction.

The outlook from the Future Business Index has declined from early-year optimism amid concerns over tariff legislation, but remains relatively strong.

Find the latest metalworking market research and reporting at .

While the term “digital twin” is widely understood within the manufacturing industry to be a digital representation of a machine tool and the physical objects located within its work area, the term is less specific than many realize. “Digital twin is not my favorite wording,” say Satoshi Tanaka, GM of Technium USA, a DMG MORI company. “It can mean too many things.” For example, how is the data feeding the digital twin being collected? Is it using visual scans or touch probes? Is it using CNC data? Is it importing CAD data from a machine library? And that is not even touching on the variety of purposes companies have designed digital twins to fulfill: Some are intended purely to analyze tool paths for collision prevention, while others can also validate programs to prevent part errors.

, a company based in Aachen, Germany, opted to use a direct connection to the CNC to collect data, and the direct access to machine kinematics and axial movement has enabled the company to not only validate tool paths ahead of machining, but also provide real-time feedback on part quality.

Digital Accuracy

Gemineers began as joint project between RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology. In 2019, the project spun off into a company focused on providing an advanced digital twin capable of more than collision detection. To do this, the company developed software that collects data such as axial positioning or even vibration (where possible) directly from the CNC, then combines that data to calculate second order information such as pressure on the cutting tool. Gemineers then shows this informationon a digital screen connected to the CNC by an ethernet cable, making installation fairly simple.

Early in its life as an independent company, Gemineers connected with DMG MORI through the latter company’s longstanding relationship with the university. “DMG MORI immediately saw the promise in this technology,” Tanaka says, and Gemineers saw the promise in partnering with DMG MORI. “Because is connects directly to the CNC,” Tanaka explains, “the accuracy of the machine tool directly correlates to the accuracy of the digital twin.” . The system tracks real-time data, including exact locations within the work envelope, axial and spindle loads, positional errors, and how closely the part is to spec, all with an accuracy of ±10 microns and displayed on a screen next to the machine tool. This level of accuracy provides numerous benefits, enabling the user to not only validate the tool path, but to identify errors in the profile of the part as they occurr.

Tanaka demonstrated the system’s error-catching functionality to me using a captured tool path. Because the system archived the tool path and part data, he went through the tool path and identified the precise movements that occurred when the part failed to achieve tolerance. Additionally, the user can look at the axial positions, G code, spindle load, spindle speed and axial load at that moment to identify the problem with as much accuracy as possible. “The user can look at this data and make an informed decision about what the fix should be,” Tanaka says. 

For example, a user experiencing cutting tool breakage can look at the data and identify the moment in the tool path when the spindle load spikes, then adjust the program to avoid that spike and save the company the costs of broken cutting tools and scrapped parts.

The system is not only useful for catching errors, however, as its detailed breakdowns of machining conditions provide multiple opportunities for machine shops to operate more efficiently.

More Than Error Prevention

According to Tanaka, the Gemineers digital twin can greatly benefit prototyping. “If you’re prototyping and want to validate two or three different tool paths, we can capture all of them,” he says. The user can then look at the actual cutting conditions and features, identifying which tool path is more efficient while still machining parts to tolerance. Additionally, when unanticipated errors occur, the shop can more easily identify the point of error and adjust the tool path or machining parameters.

Indeed, shops that work with prototyping may see the greatest benefit from this system, as it greatly speeds the process of diagnosing errors. Moreover, it may prevent machinists from discarding approaches to machining a part during the prototyping phase by clearly identifying failure points in a way that enables the machinist to subtly adjust the tool path instead of completely reworking it when failure points are difficult to find.

Additionally, Tanaka says that Gemineers’ digital twin can achieve high enough precision to minimize the need for quality inspection. “Obviously, shops will still need QA,” he explains, “but for certain parts the role of QA may shift. For example, parts that require multiple gaging and verification steps can derive a great benefit from validating during the machining process.” This means possibly eliminating steps that require machinists to halt machining to apply gages and measure specific features.

Of course, such benefits depend on the quality of the data provided by the CNC. “Because the data gathered comes directly from the CNC,” Tanaka explains, “machine tools with less accurate designs will provide less accurate data.” This means that features like heavy machine beds, damping systems, cooling systems in the machine body that prevent thermal distortion, and excellent kinematics are necessary to reap the greatest benefit from this system. “Not every machine tool is equipped to benefit from this digital twin,” Tanaka says, “but for those that are, the benefits are very exciting to us.”

As with any new technology, prospective users should prepare by educating themselves and making necessary changes in their business to ensure the implementation is successful.

AMRs, such as the ones in this demo at KUKA’s Automation Tech Days, are a flexible form of automation that is well-suited to material handling tasks in manufacturing facilities. All photos provided by MMS. 

Finding a Task

The first step in implementing any new technology is finding a task for it. According to Volcic, the primary function for AMRs in a manufacturing facility is material handling. “I'm always amazed when I walk through a factory and see the amount of material that's moving around the plant,” he says. When raw material arrives at a manufacturer, it’s unloaded and often moved to storage until it’s needed. Then it moves to the shop floor, where it might go through multiple processes on different machines before it’s packaged and shipped out. He suggests that, in addition to providing a more flexible option for material handling than conveyors, AMRs are a safer option than other methods such as forklifts. “People are always moving in a rush, so you have a lot of injuries that can happen with forklifts,” he says. “AMRs have safety systems built into them, so if they detect obstacles in their way, like people moving in front of them, they'll stop safely and then proceed once it clears.” AMRs could also be used for tasks such as delivering tools to machines, moving away scrap or moving a robot between machines.

KUKA offers its KMP AMR platforms in 600-, 1,500- and 3,000-kilogram payload capacities. Two KMP3000 AMRs working together can handle a 6,000-kilogram payload, and the KMP3000P has omnidirectional capabilities for additional flexibility.

Choosing an AMR

With a task identified, manufacturers can select the best AMR model for that task. KUKA offers its KMP AMR platforms in 600-, 1,500- and 3,000-kilogram payload capacities. Furthermore, two 3,000-kilogram AMRs can link up and work in tandem mode to handle a 6,000-kilogram payload. “It really opens up kind of the sphere of things that we can move in a plant,” Volcic notes. Additionally, the KMP3000P has omnidirectional capabilities. “It can move or crab in any direction, which gives it a lot of flexibility as well,” he adds.

Material-handling AMRs are very flexible and can operate in many ways. For example, they can “tunnel” underneath the container that’s being moved and use an integrated lift system (such as the one that’s standard on all KUKA AMRs) to pick up the container and move it to the next location. The AMR platform can also be equipped with a conveyor that links up with other conveyors on the shop floor, and, using the power from its own battery, move items from the end of one conveyor to the conveyor on top of the AMR. It can then transport these items to their next location and load them onto another conveyor. Volcic says an integrator can evaluate a potential user’s application and requirements to design an AMR top module solution that is best suited to their specific needs.

Be Prepared

Prospective AMR users also might need to take a few small steps to ensure their facilities are ready for AMRs. Ron Bergamin, KUKA’s key technology manager for machine tool automation, says shops first need to ensure that the pallets, bins or other material containers are compatible with the chosen AMR base. These are usually easy, inexpensive changes that an integrator can facilitate. Volcic also encourages shops to identify aisleways for AMRs to drive through, though KUKA’s AMRs need comparatively little space to maneuver. “One of the big design decisions we made was to create low-profile, very compact, autonomous mobile robots,” Volcic explains. The compact configuration can navigate more spaces to improve flexibility, and it can essentially execute a 360-degree turn on the spot. “It takes a minimal amount of area to move around and to be able to adjust its orientation and move in different directions,” Volcic adds. While not required, he does suggest segregating forklift traffic from AMR traffic for safety and smoother operation. Finally, the shop needs to ensure its WiFi signal is strong enough across the entire plant for the AMRs to operate. 

Fleet management software, such as KUKA.AMR Fleet, facilitates AMR “missions” and tracks AMR status to prevent conflicts.

Programming and Management

AMRs are controlled by fleet management software. This software coordinates and monitors the activities of AMRs, ensuring they operate seamlessly and without conflicts. This includes tracking the location, status, battery level and mission status of each robot. Volcic says that KUKA’s fleet management software, KUKA.AMR Fleet, is designed to be easy to use. It walks users through the process of mapping out their factory with LiDAR, establishing where the AMR will travel, setting up the charging stations and defining the location of products that need to be moved. Then users can create workflows in a no-code environment. “One of the big advantages is that you don't have to be a programmer to implement it,” Bergamin says. Users will see the most benefits from integrating the fleet management software into their existing production systems, according to Volcic. “You want to connect up to the MES or the warehouse management system,” he notes, “because that's ultimately what's going to be driving the tasks and the missions that the AMR is going to be executing.”

The ease of use is also a point of flexibility. “Small- to medium-sized enterprises don't have a lot of staff that can be dedicated to high-end programming, taking weeks to integrate something and deploy it,” Volcic says. “So having any simple system that's easy to deploy is really important for factories in general.”

Expansion Through Support

After a little over 20 years working in his father’s shop, Mark Rohlfs founded East Coast Precision in his garage and basement at the start of 2006. He and his brother-in-law would handle machining and quoting, while his sister Nancy Rohlfs, East Coast Precision’s co-owner and treasurer, would handle marketing and accounting. Despite the effects of the Great Recession on the industry as a whole, they were able to attract and keep a large enough customer base to grow, moving into a 5,600-square foot location only a few years into the shop’s life.

Nancy and Mark both credit some of this growth to the shop’s location in southern Connecticut. “Connecticut has a long history of manufacturing and machine shops,” Nancy says. “We have Pratt and Whitney here. We have Sikorsky. We have Electric Boat General Dynamics.” These companies and their support network form a manufacturing ecosystem, but many of these companies specialize in metal, not plastic. When plastic parts arrive — especially high-value plastics like Vespel, which Mark quotes at around $85 an inch before COVID-19 destabilized prices — shops often don’t want to undertake the necessary, yet expensive experimentation to ensure smooth part production. Instead, they can turn to East Coast Precision.

The shop specializes in small parts, ranging in size from a grain of rice to the palm of a hand. Even the smallest of these parts can require holes with tight tolerances, sometimes down to several ten-thousandths of an inch. Part quantities range from 50 pieces to 40,000, and typically fall into the medical or semiconductor industries, with some parts for the chemical industry and the occasional bobbin for electronics in the aerospace industry.

This range of clients has helped the shop weather downturns in any one market. This includes the pandemic, when a surge in the medical market helped make up for lower demand in other markets — and for the challenges of moving into and renovating its current 10,000-square foot facility, which Mark and Nancy had only just purchased at the start of 2020.

Retention Above All

Material sourcing became a universal challenge in the aftermath of the pandemic, affecting East Coast Precision just as much as other shops. The shop is usually able to maintain a turnaround time between four and six weeks, but Mark relates one recent incident where one of its suppliers ran out of a needed material, delaying the job for three months until it made a new batch. Rather than attempt to hide this from the client, Mark immediately let them know and explained the circumstances. As he puts it, clear communication is important no matter whether news is good or bad — and the shop’s communication strategy helps it maintain trust and win repeat business.

Mark and Chris Marchand, East Coast Precision’s shopfloor manager, respond to orders and requests for quotes within a day of their arrival, calling and emailing customers themselves from the shop floor. Recently, some of these quotes have needed adjustment as more customers request paperwork and raw material testing certificates. About half of the shop’s customers now require first-article inspection paperwork, according to Mark, and there have been several occasions when filling out the paperwork for a low-volume run of parts can take longer than the part’s machining cycle. All the same, the shop continues to use its combination of QuickBooks and Excel to manage accounting and scheduling, though it has contracted with a company for a custom ERP system to further smooth out the production process.

East Coast Precision has also taken steps to smooth over the recruitment process. The shop maintains an internship with a local high school and keeps a close eye on Connecticut’s aptitude testing, with both providing long-term employees. Ultimately, though, Mark says that the shop’s secret to personnel success comes down less to initial recruitment than it does to retention. This need is heightened by the fact that East Coast Precision must train even experienced hires in the particularities of plastics machining. As such, Mark says that he and the team try to maintain a friendly environment for employees. This comes through in the shop’s flexible work schedule between 6:00 in the morning and 6:00 at night, which only requires that employees get in their hours, as well as regular check-ins with Mark to ensure that employees have the tools they need to complete their jobs. While the shop does not have a formal upskilling program, it maintains a relationship with a local community college to support employees who do wish to develop new skills.

Efficiency On and Off the Machine

East Coast Precision’s machine lineup focuses on traditional lathes from Hyundai and Hardinge, Swiss-style lathes from Citizen, FANUC RoboDrill mills and mill-turns from Miyano and Star. Many of these machines were present during our visit to East Coast Precision’s previous facility in 2016, but since then, Mark says the shop has added lathes with bar feeders and 3+2-axis mills with indexers. The 3+2 mills have improved efficiency by about 30%, according to Mark, by enabling more complex work in a single setup, but he says the bar feeders on the lathes have been even more impactful, doubling efficiency by enabling overnight automation. These gains don’t have large impacts on the shop’s lead times, he says, as sourcing materials and figuring out the order to run jobs are the largest factors in scheduling, but they have enabled the shop to take on more work.

The shop’s layout and penchant for buying more machines than it strictly needs have also played into its growth. Mark says East Coast Precision operates with a 1:5 operator to machine ratio, and the floor is laid out so that operators can run four machines at once — a design influenced by the shop’s snug origins in Mark’s basement and garage, as well as by its variable cycle times from 50 seconds to 20 minutes. As for purchasing enough machines that the shop can leave several idle, Mark says this is particularly useful for adjusting to the ever-shifting workload the shop sees, with parts essentially able to swap between different mills as needed. For some repeating parts, Nancy says the team is also able to leave a setup in a surplus machine, cutting down on setup time once the repeat rolls back around.

Many of East Coast Precision’s machines are used and refurbished. Of the 34 machines on the shop floor, Mark says that perhaps only seven are new, bought in response to urgent orders that would ensure quick return on investment. The shop has bought the rest of its machines used and sometimes in need of repairs. Mark and Nancy both see this as a worthwhile tradeoff, as the repairs for the machines they choose are often less expensive than a new machine — to the point where Mark sees East Coast Precision’s willingness to invest in and refurbish machines as a competitive advantage.

By contrast, East Coast Precision pays a premium for its tooling. With parts as small as the shop makes, it needs drills that can be smaller than most tool presetters allow, and which are sharp enough to handle all manner of plastics. While the relative softness of plastics results in less tool wear than when machining metal, the flexibility of plastic and its tendency to bend rather than break means every bit of wear has outsized consequences. This means that the lights-out capability of its lathes does carry a caveat, though the shop has long-standing relationships with tooling suppliers it trusts for sharpness, and East Coast Precision does have some proprietary techniques for keeping its tools’ edges sharp. Unlike during our last visit in 2016, these tools are now often standard, requiring less customization on East Coast Precision’s tool grinder and relying more on operator skill when cutting difficult-to-machine shapes.

Life in Plastic

Our previous articles about East Coast Precision have detailed many of the techniques the shop has learned and honed for working with plastic parts. Recent years have made several stand out, and during our most recent visit in December 2024, Nancy and Mark called attention to where general trends in the industry might fall short for their needs, or when seemingly innocuous issues can become outsized issues.

Packaging has long been important to the shop, as its soft parts and their tight tolerances can be fragile. But Nancy noted that the shop has had to reject several boxes of material after material rods punctured the box, as even harder plastics are still soft enough to dent—and dented plastics are useless for the shop’s needs. To avoid causing this issue themselves, East Coast Precision now bubble wraps the small plastic bags in which its parts travel, and the shop invests in higher-quality boxes to minimize the risk of damage.

As mentioned earlier, the shop also is unable to use presetters for many of its smaller tools. Mark says that the presetter they bought is too heavy for these tools and runs the risk of chipping the point of its tools, which would essentially make them useless. He is open to buying a new presetter, but notes that it would need to be lighter duty than most presetters on the market. Vision systems are also not quite fully compatible with the shop’s parts. Out of every hundred parts, Mark says that perhaps 15 can be fully inspected by the shop’s vision system, another 45 can be partially inspected, and the last 40 will be entirely incompatible. Instead, the shop must continue to rely on its toolmaker’s microscopes and gage pins. The latter have their own difficulties due to plastic’s tendency to deform and move on contact, but when handled gently enough, can measure bores.

Vapor polishing has also emerged as one of the shop’s specialties, especially with plastic medical parts. Nancy says that the process requires special care for acrylics and polycarbonates, and that the best results require parts to already have an excellent surface finish. As many metalworking shops do not have the equipment or expertise for this process, Nancy says East Coast Precision wins a lot of vapor polishing work from them. This dynamic tends to lead to deeper business relationships with and further work from these clients, especially when Mark and Nancy note that their shop’s specialty in plastics means a lower risk of tool marks on the part (which vapor polishing cannot remove) and that East Coast has more ability to ensure parts meet the surface finish requirements for vapor polishing.

This symbiotic relationship has helped East Coast Precision grow as a small business, with the shop’s ever-growing experience in its niche helping it stand out to metalworking shops and OEMs alike. This focus on being a reliable partner for companies, a reliable employer for its staff, and a skillful provider in an underserved niche has ensured it survives during difficult business conditions and thrives during better years, lessons shops in any market can use to learn and excel.