america’s machine tool renaissance g ch ange me · the mms 2017 top shops benchmarking survey...

© 2018 Centrifuge Brand Marketing, Inc.

C H A N G EME

GA m e r i c a ’ s M a c h i n e T o o l R e n a i s s a n c e

The Move to a Greater Return on CNCRULES OF THE GAME ............................................. 2

TAKING CONTROL ................................................... 5

GAINING THE ADVANTAGE ................................. 8

FOUR INDUSTRY TRENDS .................................. 10

WINNING THE ENDGAME ................................... 15


Machine tool business owners need greater returns on their CNC-driven business investments to establish a game-changing competitive advantage.

Plan many moves ahead

The rules of the game are well established in the machine tool marketplace: Survival and growth require continuous planned investments in machines, people and operations.

The highest performing machine shops have stayed on top by investing in highly skilled people, empowered by advanced CNC technology. These shops have seen beyond their immediate moves, planning which investments to make and when to make them, always staying ahead of their competitors.

However, the marketplace is different today. The rules of the game are still the same, but the game board itself is in danger of being overturned.

Over 400,000 manufacturing jobs have been created in the U.S. since 2010, with an estimated 229,000 job openings left unfilled.1 Over the next decade, 3.4 million manufacturing jobs are projected to open up as baby boomers exit the workforce, with an estimated 2 million of those jobs going unfilled, especially the more skilled jobs that are required by machine tool manufacturing.2

RU L E S O F T H E GA M E

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The “G-code generation,” the skilled machine tool workforce of yesterday, is retiring. And the replacement workforce is neither attuned to, nor motivated by, CNC platforms that do not speak today’s digital language.

STEM the tide

For winning job shop owners, the answer is to invest in CNC that is both career building and business building. Shops that are investing in game-changing CNC are supporting America’s movement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Beyond jobs,

they are offering career paths to their new employees. For these shops, the challenge is to tap into a new generation of career-minded workers, with the offer of a truly advanced CNC platform that will empower them to become the most productive employees in the world.

nSTEM jobs are growing at 1.7 times the rate of non-STEM jobs4

nEmployers need career-ready graduates, not just applicants for basic parts cutting

nAmerica’s machine shops need advanced CNC technologynModern CNC technology that inspires and empowers today’s

digitally-attuned employees

Based on the pressing reality of workforce regeneration, machine shop owners are compelled to rethink their CNC investment strategies. The right CNC investment can no longer be measured solely in terms of price and availability — product features, functions, technology and the user experience must be considered. A greater return on CNC must be established across the entire business by way of higher returns on machine performance, improved operations, and especially a greater return on people.

Close the opportunity gap

An enormous divide impedes winning job shops from reaching their greater potential. On this side of the divide stand a workforce and machines

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“Digital disruption

of top incumbents across industries over the next 3-5 years.” 3

will displace nearly

40%


constrained by CNC platforms of the past; and in the distance stands a new kind of machine shop characterized by synergy and efficiency, powered by digitalized human-machine communication.

The leaders of America’s top machine shops know the time has come for digital advancements in machining that will attract and empower today’s digital workforce.

The time has come for machine tool business owners to insist on getting a greater Return on CNC — a return that will prepare their businesses for Industry 4.0 and America’s machine tool renaissance.

America’s manufacturing ROI

Higher returns: According to the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics, every dollar spent on improved manufacturing adds $1.37 to the U.S. economy, and

every 100 jobs in a manufacturing facility creates an additional 250 jobs in other sectors.5

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Return on CNC is a measure of business performance beyond product features and functions.

0.0 0.3 0.6

Return on dollars invested Return on jobs created

0.9 1.2 1.5 0 50 100 150 200 250


To stay in the game, most machine shops have made the seemingly safe move of investing in incremental CNC technology improvements. But research shows that America’s top shops have been following a very different strategy.

Make the next move wisely

Since 2011, annual surveys conducted by Modern Machine Shop and Gardner Research have documented a clear correlation between technology investment and “Top Shop” performance — performance measured not just in the area of machine ROI, but holistically by way of higher returns on machines, shopfloor operations, human resources and overall business strategies.

When it comes to making the best shop-wide investment, the smart move is to look for a greater Return on CNC.

The MMS 2017 Top Shops benchmarking survey found that “Top Shops” continue to invest more in new capital equipment, with a 2016 median investment of $388,500 versus $150,000 for other shops. This investment in new technology is one reason why they reached a higher growth rate of 9 percent, compared to other shops at 1.5 percent. A high percentage of these top shops are investing in what is for them more game-changing four- and five-axis machining, multi-tasking machines, and hard turning, which can eliminate secondary grinding operations.6

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TA K I N G

C O N T R O L


Think synergistically

In the MMS 2017 Top Shops survey, “spindle utilization” was found to be a key performance indicator. Top shops reported a median spindle utilization of 72% compared to 60% for other shops.

This metric is especially telling, because it is a measure of Return on CNC across the entire shop, encompassing increased machine uptime, plant-wide improvements in machine-to-machine operating efficiency, and such employee productivity uplifts as accelerated programming, setups and operation.

In fact, the survey found that the top shops tend to be more focused on lean manufacturing and have cultures of continuous improvement, as 54% of these shops have developed a formal 5S improvement program, compared to 46% of other shops. Other strategies used by the top shops included continuous-improvement programs (72.3% vs. 61.7% others), value-stream mapping (35.4% vs. 25.7% others), and just-in-time (JIT) movement of material (40% vs. 32.4% others).6

Return on Machines: “Our feed rates have already approached two hundred inches per minute and what comes out of the machine is a part cut in much less time, and that offers repeated high quality to the customer. This is directly related to the power and performance of the CNC investment choice.” — Tim Rietsma, True Die, Inc.

Return on Operations: “Our CNC technology purchases are based on where we want to be in ten years. It’s about an operational platform that won’t deteriorate. It’s people and technology paired together that become the backbone of the organization.” — Tim Smith, Smiths Machine

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Return on CNC brings higher returns to all areas of the business.


Return on People: “The machinists who run our machines are professionals, they’re not button pushers. We rely on them to control and program certain parts right on their machines, while we programmers work on the more complex projects.” — Tim Hayden, Major Tool & Machine, Inc.

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Game-changing ROI: Holistic investments in CNC technology will hereafter be measured

based on returns in three areas: increased machine capabilities, improved shop-wide operational

efficiencies, and a greater return on people.


For many machine tool professionals, “the control makes the machine.” Yet the choice of CNC control often comes down to a machine builder’s availability, a dealer’s inventory, or purchase decisions of the past.

Exercise freedom of choice

Many of the machines distributed into the US are not marketed to provide a choice of CNC control brand. Several machine builders offer only proprietary (in-house) brands of CNC. Other machine builders market only one brand of control. Still others carry two or more control brands, but in practice tend to market only one brand through importer and dealer channels in the US.

Over the years, machine shop owners have grown accustomed to buying “what comes with the machine.” Even when given a choice of control brand, many shop owners have tended to go with the flow of past purchase decisions.

In a recent survey of shops conducted by Harbour Results, Inc., 78% of the shops surveyed said the choice of CNC control was important when buying a machine. However, the top two reasons for selecting a particular control brand were said to be: 1) the capability of the CNC, and 2) the shop’s familiarity with the control.8

This underscores the Catch-22 many American machine shop owners have faced over the years: To bring on board a more capable control brand, they may need to go against the flow of their current supply channel; and

GA I N I N G THE ADVANTAGE

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they may also need to go against the flow of an internal shop culture that is anchored to a legacy brand of CNC.

Rather than go against the flow, many shops have accepted whatever control is offered to them, so long as that control brand “matches what was in there before,” and is deemed not to cause operational disruptions, employee resistance, or change a shop’s way of life.

Alternatively, higher performing machine shops have learned that inertia becomes the enemy of success.

Break the inertia

In today’s profoundly technology-driven machine tool industry, high-performance shops expect more from their CNC investments. To achieve a higher Return on CNC, they are asking more from dealers and machine builders. They are evaluating the major CNC technology trends that are shaping the future of the machine tool industry to make the wisest of CNC investments — knowing that to manage growth requires managing change.

To prepare their organizations for CNC-driven changes, machine tool leaders are bringing forward the business case for why a company’s people should welcome a new CNC platform. The rationale cannot just be the allure of easier-to-use CNC, when from the organization’s perspective, the easiest way forward is to continue to use the CNC systems and procedures that are already in place. To lead change, management must instill a sense of urgency, challenging the disruption of status quo performance to reach a far greater potential.

The most motivating rationale for change is empowerment — for both the individual and the company. The most significant CNC trends in recent years can all be traced to the convergence of people and machines, whereby the organization’s productivity, capabilities and capacities are expanded and whereby all stakeholders can benefit from a CNC-driven American machine tool renaissance.

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When a CNC platform holds a business back, inertia becomes the enemy of success.


4p.10

INTUITIVE HMI

AUTOMATION

OPTIMIZATION

DIGITALIZATION

Removing the barriers to advanced technology application

Enabling the most effective use of your resources

Applying new technologies to maximize production efficiencies

Integrating information and technology for enhanced performance

Making the business case for change. A greater return on CNC capitalizes on four precision machining industry trends: Intuitive HMI, Optimization, Automation, and the move towards Digitalization.

FO U R INDUSTRY TRENDS

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© 2018 Centrifuge Brand Marketing, Inc. p.11

Across your shopfloor, a universal HMI brings a singular interface to milling, turning and grinding, as well as uniformity to all levels of operation, from basic-to-advanced, 3-axis to 5-axis. Without a universal HMI, machine shops experience varied operational procedures, fragmented workforce knowledge and a range of related costs. With a universal HMI, learning and relearning costs over time are also minimized.

With an app-like CNC, machine shops can speak the language of brevity and speed. Production is accelerated by graphical interfaces, integrated help menus and the instantaneous application of immense data. App-like CNC is steadily replacing G-code programming and removing the constraints it presents. Skillset evolution is supported by an open and modular CNC platform that is no longer subject to early obsolescence and costly re-invention.

Universal HMI: from machine to machine

App-like familiarity

Visual verification

Speaking the language of today’s digital workforce

Beyond being easier to use, today’s evolved CNC platform is intuitive. Engineers, operators and maintenance professionals are empowered by a human-machine interface that accelerates operations and amplifies performance. Intuitive HMI goes beyond the basic visualization of a part, it enables a machinist to use 3D visualization — at the control — to optimize a complete range of operations surrounding the production of that part. With the advent of the universal HMI, emerging career-minded machinists can move from basic to advanced machining, using the same CNC interface.

1. INTUITIVE HMI

Today’s advanced machine tool controls go beyond basic visual verification. They offer 3D graphical verification of programming, tool and spindle setups, part probing, and tool path efficiency, supporting a range of new capabilities made feasible by visual verification. In addition, the same visual verification experience can be had across the shop, from 3-axis to 3+2 and on into full 5-axis machining.


According to the 2016 MMS survey, a higher percentage of Top Shops use turn-mill, multi-tasking machines compared to other shops. A machine using mixed technologies, such as combined milling and turning, can do the work previously done by two or more machines. Advantages can include the production of complete parts, simplified scheduling, minimized work in process (WIP), fewer setups, and reductions in the number of times a part is touched during production.9

The move from 3-axis to 5-axis has increasingly become a means to business survival. High-speed, 5-axis machining can produce complex part geometries quickly, accurately, and in a single setup. Rather than produce a part on a 3-axis machining center using several setups, a 5-axis single setup dramatically reduces cycle time. Meanwhile, the shop has the flexibility to deploy 3 of the 5 axes to economically machine a particular surface or feature of the part; or to economically produce other less complex parts.

Mixed-technology machining

Moving to 5-axis

Kinematics

Maximizing your resources: machines and people

Powered by a dynamic CNC platform, a new generation of hybrid machines can now not only perform 3+2 axis and 5-axis machining, but a 5-axis machine can also simultaneously perform turning and grinding tasks in a single setup using interchangeable head systems. Operations can be integrated and accelerated using singular clamping schemes. Mill-turn/turn-mill, additive-subtractive, material handling, part inspection, and other emerging motion solutions are logical extensions, putting increasingly greater productivity at the fingertips of the machine tool operator.

2. OPTIMIZATION

Today’s advanced CNC controls optimize program creation by simplifying the mastery of kinematics (the geometry of motion) that goes into the programming of machines. This approach allows the same program to run across multiple 5-axis machines that have different kinematics without the need for a separate post-processor for each machine tool. Known as kinematic-independent programming, the CNC programs generated are also machine-independent, resulting in greater flexibility for 5-axis machining.


The earliest examples of synchronous CNC have been the integration of robotics for material handling that are controlled by the machine operator at the control. This strategy is similar to resource optimization, which centers on the multi-functional design of the machine itself, except that synchronous CNC allows for the seamless control of additional systems developed by other innovators and integrators. An example of this is an automated vacuum system that tracks behind a cutting tool.

A common secondary process is part deburring. Many shops have found that their investments in high-speed, 5-axis machining immediately removed the need for this separate step and its associated costs. Beyond higher productivity at the spindle, today’s advanced CNC platform extends an operator’s control to integrated part testing, component assembly and other process steps.

Synchronous CNC

Secondary processes

Streamlining your production processes and reducing costs

The forces driving machine tool automation are cited within this paper and well understood among leading machine shops. The skills gap is perhaps the most obvious, compelling business owners and managers to explore automated ways to produce. A second strategy is to integrate and simplify operations using mixed technologies, 5-axis machining, and robotics, whereby a machine can do much more in much less time, and rapidly shift from one part number to the next. In addition, job shops and smaller manufacturers are learning how to adapt the automation practices of larger manufacturers. Here the objective is to eliminate costs by eliminating variations in production processes, including variations in setup time and machine utilization.

3. AUTOMATION


Today’s CNC platform can facilitate open, clear and concise communication between design and manufacturing. Efficiencies brought about by digital breakthroughs can be applied to any stage of part or product development. Designs are virtually tested to optimize design-for-manufacturability and beyond.

Machine tool builders are now using the virtual, “digital twin” concept to more quickly, reliably and cost-effectively respond to market requests for more productive machine designs. Using a digital twin, a machine’s design can be tested and optimized in far less time than previous make-it-and-break-it product development cycles. Today’s most advanced CNC platform supports this efficient process, including virtual machine commissioning to greatly reduce the cost of prolonged, real-life commissioning.

From design through production

Digital twin

Networked NC program management

Shaping the future of manufacturing today

The digitalization of precision machining and manufacturing has been spurred globally by the development of digital technologies that not only improve a machine’s performance, but accelerate the use of information and the Industrial Internet of Things to improve the performance of machines, people and processes in ways never before possible. Today, the most empowering CNC platform is one that can immediately and easily leverage these ever-emerging, digitally-driven, machine tool systems and products.

4. DIGITALIZATION

Lean manufacturing is imperative in today’s highly competitive environment. Linking the CAD-CAM system and the CNC together streamlines data management and mitigates mistakes by centralizing all data related to the operation. Staff can access prints, part programs, approvals, and inspection reports from any PC or networked CNC machine. The result is faster setups and increased manufacturing efficiencies.


Return on CNC supports a greater return on the future: Shops will soon be changed forever by what has been called “Digitalization,” “Smart Manufacturing,” and the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” or “Industry 4.0.”

Prepare now for Industry 4.0

The fate of a machine shop has long been tied to the direction, twists and turns of a few key customer relationships. The 2016 MMS Top Shops survey found that for all shops surveyed, on average 80% of sales were generated by 24.9% of their customers.

In 2015, PwC conducted a global Industry 4.0 survey of more than 2,000 companies from 26 countries encompassing the CNC-driven manufacturing sectors. One-third of the participants said their company had already adopted a high level of digitalization and integration, and 72% expected to reach this level by 2020.10

Machine shops that want to remain relevant to their core customers must also move into the Industry 4.0 marketplace and they will do so guided by the need for a higher Return on CNC.

Plan for meaningful change

Industry 4.0 is happening now for two reasons: 1) A range of transformational digital technologies has finally come to maturity, and 2) manufacturing leaders

W I N N I N G T H E E N D GA M E

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know that the integration of these technologies will bring significant competitive advantages.

These advantages include unprecedented efficiencies, major cost reductions, and uplifts in revenue that will not otherwise be achievable. Digital technologies being integrated include robotics and artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, data analytics, and digital fabrication — including 3D printing. The integration of these and other maturing digital technologies will address the following core areas of need among industrial manufacturers:11

End-to-End Data: Centrally and holistically managed “big data/smart data” supports all processes from product development and manufacturing through customer services, establishing an efficient communications infrastructure based on networked data exchange.

Network Security: Reliable security solutions ensure the protection of trade secrets in a networked and online business. All data is protected from external threats and from data loss or disruption.

Output to Customer: Integrated digital technologies increase the net output of the business, the ongoing development of products and services that bring measurably greater value to customers.

Changing minds: Industry 4.0 requires seismic organizational change, including the integration of IT architecture and data management to create a digitally oriented culture that is centered on and guided by data analytics.12

Invest in the future

Return on CNC is integral to a successful Industry 4.0 strategy. Hereafter, the CNC investment decision will no longer be confined to a discrete, stand-alone machine choice. Shop-wide digitalization and integration will be supported by a CNC platform for growth in every area of the business — machines, operations and people.

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Machine shops and their key customers must move together into Industry 4.0, guided by the need for a higher Return on CNC.


The gap is already closing

The CNC technology platform of the future is here and now.

The game changing trends in human-machine communication are well underway. Intuitive HMI, resource optimization, automation and digitalization are the driving forces of today’s truly advanced CNC technology platform.

The decision to pursue a greater Return on CNC is a decision to change. To close the opportunity gap before them, shop owners are challenged to rethink their traditions around control acceptance. Rather than accept the control that comes with the machine, shop owners are challenged to take ownership of a business decision that is now of paramount importance.

The decision for many is whether to invest in a control platform that is incrementally adequate and familiar, or to invest in a control platform that is game changing for the business, because it optimizes the potential for human-machine communication.

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1 Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Data

2 Bloomberg BusinessWeek, March 16, 2017; citing a 2015 study by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte LLC: The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing 2015 and beyond.

3 Digital Vortex: How Digital Disruption is Redefining Industries Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, 2015

4 Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Data

5 Ibid.

6 Top Shops 2017 Executive Summary / Modern Machine Shop / Gardner Research

7 Ibid.

8 2016 Harbour / IQ Market Study / Siemens Industry Harbour Results, Inc.

9 Top Shops 2017 Executive Summary / Modern Machine Shop / Gardner Research

10 A Strategist’s Guide to Industry 4.0 / Strategy & Business, Summer 2016

11 The Magazine for the Digital Enterprise / January, 2016 / siemens.com/magazine

12 Ibid

The “4th Industrial Revolution”

Commercial Steam Engine and Mechanical Loom 1700s

Electricity and Mass Production Early 1900s

Computerization and Internet Late 1900s

Interconnected Digital Technology (Industry 4.0) Early 2000s

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