With the ongoing push to lean manufacturing and the elimination of excess capacity, reliable machine performance has become extremely critical. Manufacturers can no longer risk relying on machines that may not meet performance standards.
A Machine Tool Health Assessment is the machine tool equivalent to a medical physical examination. It is a series of non-destructive tests and observations specifically designed to identify the current condition, accuracy, expected future performance and ongoing reliability, including any recommendations for corrective actions.
The tests performed vary depending on the type of machine, accuracy designed into it and the physical work envelope. The following list provides examples of the type of procedures that might be used to perform a given machine health assessment.
Ballbar analysis Oil analysis Interferometer laser profile Vibration analysis Spindle error mappingElectronic monitoring Electronic levels Visual inspection Operator interview
Generally, there are two reasons for performing a Machine Tool Health Assessment. The first is to verify a machine’s condition at the time of purchase, transplant, rebuild or as a pre-purchase evaluation of performance specifications.
The second reason is to benchmark machine performance. This will assure high accuracy and reliability for a planned production run, especially small lot size runs, tight tolerances and demanding specifications.
Machine Tool Health Assessment is just one of the Field Services offered by ATS. We provide many key elements of production equipment maintenance to customers throughout the U.S. on a project or contractual basis. With each of our Field Service products, we provide the expertise, discipline, processes and systems to help our customers increase productivity and reduce costs.