Today’s competitive talent marketplace requires small and medium contract manufacturers and OEM’s to make the most of the talent they have. Skilled, experienced machinists are hard to find and having them tied up hand-loading parts into a lathe is seldom the best use of talent. So – how does a successful small to mid-sized shop meet their customers’ production requirements with the existing talent pool?
With the right contract, the right parts (or families of parts), and the right equipment a shop can successfully use automation to compete. But integrating automation into a shop can be a challenge – most small shops don’t have the expertise or budget to embrace large scale automation.
This is where a Vertical Pick-up Lathe comes in. EMAG’s VL and VT lines provide fully integrated automation as a standard part of the machine. No robots to program, no special guarding or advanced grippers – just simple, productive automation native to the machine. Once you adjust to the fact that the part is being held vertically, a VL lathe is set up and programmed similar to a standard horizontal lathe. The big difference comes when you start running the machine, the operator can load up to 30 pieces (depending on size and machine) and then be free for other work as the machine turns your parts. This is ideal for castings, forgings, shafts, or saw-cut slugs.
With these vertical machines, changeover is no more complicated than changing a horizontal lathe, this means
the benefits of automation can be utilized for even the smallest production runs. For longer production runs part feed systems can continuously feed the spindles and multiple machines can be linked together in the same cell.
With the VL & VT lines, EMAG brings the competitive advantage of automation with ease to any production shop – from the biggest OEM’s to a small, family run contract manufacturer. How can we help you be more productive?
