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Word Count: 641 Words
Key Takeaway: We've earned machine shop leader trust one robot at a time for more than fifteen years.
Technology and Change In Machine Shops
Richard Kegg might not be a familiar name to you. But you are familiar with his 1952 invention: the CNC machine. Five years later, Kegg patented it. That Cincinnati Milarcon on the map and his invention forever changed machine shop life.
You probably can't imagine running your machine shop on analog mills and lathes that count on people for everything. How could you possibly compete with the rest of the market?
Yet, people couldn't imagine using CNC machines for almost thirty years.
Why wasn’t the CNC machine immediately recognized for its incredible innovation?
- Too complicated!
- I've never done that before.
- I've always done it this way; I don't want to change.
- What if it doesn't work? Then what?
- What about the people? What will they do?
Times change, minds change, and ideas change.
Today, we hear some of the same questions about CNC machine-tending robots.
Legitimate questions? Yes! Legitimate answers? Absolutely!
In some ways, that is not surprising since we are fifteen years into a thirty-year acceptance cycle. Fifteen years ago, a small European machine shop needed a way to compete on the global stage.
We were tired of losing to companies in low-wage countries. We knew we needed a robot to regain what we lost, but no one made robots for CNC machines.
So, we did it ourselves. The rest is history.
Our robot seems to be catching on faster than the CNC machine did. When the CNC machine was invented, the ATM wouldn't exist for another eighteen years. In the beginning, even ATMs were questioned. Yet, today, could you imagine doing business with a bank with no ATM network, no drive-through, and only lobby-based tellers?
When the automated bar feeder was first released, it wasn’t widely accepted. Even that took time to be embraced. Today, we better understand automation in all forms.
We have more than 1,800 robots bolted in front of CNC machines, churning out pristine parts daily. Those robots belong to more than 400 customers and are spread over 500 locations in 13 countries.
No one has more purpose-built, CNC machine-tending robots in place.
No one!
Not even the competitors that we spawned.
Every day more machine shop leaders trust us to help them solve their production and cost problems. There are many reasons why machine shop leaders see value in what we do. The wide range of capabilities within our robot is one reason.
Take the example of our raw and finished parts table. It is compact and positioned to give your machinist complete access to the work table. Your machinist has ample room to get in and change a collet or a cutting tool. They can get in and run a prototype or a job, and the robot doesn’t hinder them in any way.
That same raw and finished parts table also works in conjunction with our Windows-based, icon-driven, drag-and-drop software. After entering the raw and finished parts dimensions and the number of parts you want to run, the software lays out the optimal placement of raw parts so you can maximize the run time before reloading raw stock.
No one in the industry can match that. Not even close.
We know we are making a difference for machine shops when one buys a robot and tells us, "If the installation goes smoothly, we might buy another one."
Then the last day of the installation, you get a call that asks, "How soon can you get us another one? We aren't waiting. We are ordering another one, NOW!"
Machine shop leaders trust us because we work extremely hard to under-promise and over-deliver.
After all, your reputation and ours are at stake.
We take that very seriously.
Ready to start your automation journey? Call us at 866-952-9020 and then press 1 to start the conversation.