Turkish tool manufacturer is building a smart factory

Article from ANCA

Its latest investment in the MX7 Linear is grinding high-quality tools 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tarık Öztürk, production manager at tool manufacturer Turcar, said: “Turkey is experiencing phenomenal growth and it is important to keep a close eye on trends so that you can take advantage of the opportunities. Aerospace, automotive defence and engineering industries are booming and I am happy that we have managed to grow with these markets.”

The company is a family business that was founded in 2005. In addition to solid-carbide cutting tools, it offers carbide inserts, tool cutters and toolholders to be the first Turkish company of its kind to offer a full range of services to its customers.

^{Photos courtesy of ANCA}

Öztürk continued: “Over the years we have changed our strategy to service the market, and, until 2013, we mainly produced special tools. The regrinding of cutting tools is still a very important area in our company but at that time we realized that there is a growing interest in standard products. Our customers also wanted to purchase Turcar products in series, which led us to invest in mass production.

“In addition to our cutting tools, we have begun to offer tool holders and holders, which we have been a successful range for us," he added. "We have more than 6,500 products and being the first and only Turkish company to offer such a broad product range has shaped our reputation as a leading Turkish toolmaker. Modern production technology is key to our success and why we have been able to successfully service these growing markets. As the leading tool manufacturer in Turkey, we use the latest technology to ensure we are producing tools of the highest quality.”

Turcar purchased an ANCA MX7 Linear, which includes the linear motor feature. Added to this is the RoboMate loader, which means the MX7 is the right machine to process large orders quickly and efficiently.

Solid-carbide drills have tight-tolerance requirements. For serial production of solid-carbide drills, Turcar equipped its new MX7 with iView and a P-axis. Through this investment, they are producing tools more economically.

iView is a measuring system that measures the ground tool in its original clamping inside the grinding machine. An image of the ground tool is taken by the iView camera, then compares the ideal overlay shape, which is generated by the iView software. The grinding cycle is then automatically compensated. The P-axis allows automatically repositioning of the tailstock for different length tools without manual intervention.

Öztürk continued: “Just as important as the technology is the knowledge and motivation of your employees. We are very proud that our employees are specialists and are skilled in both regrinding or grinding of highly complex cutting tools. This way no matter what the request we can deliver an effective solution for our customers.

“The RoboMate automatic tools loader has helped our employees focus more time on product development and research. That's why we also chose the RoboMate loader for our second machine. With the help of the LaserPlus option, the process is very stable, the measurement is done automatically, then compensated if necessary, thus we have extremely low waste.”

The RoboMate Loader is a standard automation system for use on the ANCA tool grinders. The automatic loader increases capacity and reduces training with its commonality across several ANCA machines. This means new staff can be trained faster and existing staff can use the automation system on several ANCA machines after being taught one product. Specialist knowledge loss due to employee absence can then is less of an issue.

Öztürk said: “There are a lot of advantages of the RoboMate. The biggest advantage is that instead of a machine standing idle, automation means production can be significantly increased. Process accuracy is another advantage of this technology and the accurate surface finish is why our customers choose to work with us.

“We attach great importance to the accuracy of the grinding geometry and all our tools are measured and recorded using state-of-the-art machines. This data is then recorded and processed in our enterprise planning software. With these developments we are moving towards operating as a smart factory which has numerous benefits.”

He added: “With the installation of the production and machine monitoring software REDAX , we have expanded the possibilities of data analysis more than ever. Thanks to this excellent software, we are able to track our production planning more accurately. It means we can track the current status and activity of our machines and use the data to plan our production processes. For example, based on the C_p and C_pk values and the spindle temperature values, we can intervene quickly and prevent possible errors during production.

“We are keeping a close eye on ANCA’s ongoing product developments. Their content updates across social networks gives me insight into what is coming next or how to get the best out of our machines, which enables us to take on new projects,” he concluded.