Meccanotecnica s.p.a. realizes 10 times more productivity by using laser instead of machine tools.
Meccanotecnica is a book binding machinery manufacturer in Italy and has sales and service operation bases in Europe, the United States and Singapore.
www.meccatec.it
Machining processes reduced to 1/5, cutting time to 1/8
One of the parts of the book binding machine, cast iron side brackets, used to be processed by several machining centres and special purpose machines, with a total cycle time more than 2 hours. In order to minimize the cost of the brackets, they tried using plate steel instead of cast iron, so that a laser processing machine could be used to process these parts. As a result of their trial cutting, the bracket was processed in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds and met their accuracy requirements. This outstanding result made them decide to purchase a Mazak SUPER TURBO-X 510 Mark II for their factory in order to reduce processing time for higher production efficiency.
From forecast-based production to order-based production
Advantages of processing by Laser
- In addition to machining time reduction, process integration significantly reduced in-process inventories.
- Simplified material control, reduced material cost (castings > standard size work sheets)
- Considerable reduction in floor space requirements as well minimum tooling and fixture costs
- Thanks to minimum production lead-time, order-based-production has been realized and inventory has been eliminated.
Laser Endmill
Small diameter milling tools are difficult to use. Suppose you have to use a 0.5mm (0.02") endmill for cutting a part from stainless steel with cutting conditions approximately 0.5mm (0.02") depth of cut and feedrate of 60 mm/min (2.36 IPM). You must also carefully watch any workpiece vibration and tool wear.
MAZAK's laser processing machine (4kW) cuts 12 mm (0.47") thick stainless steel with a feedrate of 800mm/min (31.5 IPM). You do not have to be concerned at all about workpiece vibration or tool wear thanks to non-contact processing. By considering a laser processing machine as a machine tool with "Laser Endmill" may provide unimaginable productivity improvements.