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END USER: Holmatro USA, (410) 768-9662, www.holmatro-usa.com. CHALLENGE: Maximize productivity by facilitating tool acquisition and application. SOLUTION: Electronic tool catalog and application recommendation software. SOLUTION PROVIDERS: Iscar Metals Inc., (888) ISCAR88, www.iscar.com/ita or www.iscarmetals.com
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Founded in the Netherlands, Holmatro is a global company with three manufacturing operations, one in the U.S. and two in Europe. Holmatro supplies hydraulic tools and systems for rescue, industrial and marine applications. The tools range from spreading and cutting equipment used in vehicle rescues to massive leveling cylinders employed when constructing offshore wind power projects to sophisticated winches for racing yachts.
At the company’s Glen Burnie, Md., facility, manufacturing engineer Chuck Cain said products are manufactured from start to finish, excluding injection molding, welding, painting and plating operations. Typical parts include check valves, valve bodies and cylinders. Materials machined include nickel-chromoly steel, low-carbon steels and aluminum alloys. “We are about 60/40 in ferrous and nonferrous,” Cain said.
Courtesy of Chuck Cain
Hydraulic equipment maker Holmatro employs Iscar Tool Advisor (ITA) Web-based tool selection software to handle tool ordering and other tasks. The user enters a tool description, finds a part number and then orders parts through Iscar’s electronic catalog directly from an iPhone or other Web-enabled device.
Hydraulic components demand tight tolerances. “We are required to hold 1µm for true position,” Cain said about some parts.
Cain estimates the facility machines about 5,400 different part numbers, with typical production runs of only 50 or so units. Inventory of completed parts is kept to a minimum. “Every tool and pump being produced in our facility has a customer attached to it,” he said.
One key to maximizing efficiency is having most of the shop’s 12 machine tools in production 21 hours a day, with the remaining 3 hours used for setup, Cain noted. Seven machine tools can run unattended.
As part of a continual effort to improve productivity, Cain visits Iscar Metals Inc., Arlington, Texas, yearly to attend turning and milling seminars and learn about new products. At an event he attended last summer, Iscar introduced the Iscar Tool Advisor (ITA), a Web-based tool selection software program. The software enables users to search the toolmaker’s electronic catalog for inserts and tooling components by entering a variety of criteria. By analyzing user-entered data, software algorithms recommend cutting parameters and provide other application information. The ITA can be accessed online or via an application uploaded to an Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
When Cain heard about ITA, “I went right to the Apple app store, and before I got on the plane to come home I already had it on my iPhone. I also use the ITA on my desktop PC, but when I’m on the shop floor I can use it at any piece of equipment, mill or lathe.”
Jeff Giambalvo, Iscar sales and applications representative, said Cain’s immediate adoption of mobile ITA is no surprise. “Chuck is always out there searching for a better mousetrap,” Giambalvo said. “He’s always looking for ways to work smarter.”
Cain handles a variety of tasks via ITA, including, for example, ordering a missing screw for a toolholder. “I can hop on the ITA, put in an insert description and start going backwards,” he said. “I point to the picture of what I have, pick the toolholder and get the part number for the screw.” The ITA enables Cain to order parts directly from the iPhone after finding them in the catalog. “I can e-mail the distributor for a quote,” he added. If more research is required, Cain prints the appropriate screen for further review.
The ITA also recommends cutting parameters. “A lot of things you know, but when Iscar comes up with a new grade or a new chipformer, you don’t necessarily know what it’s capable of,” Cain said. He enters criteria, such as the feature being machined, workpiece material, tool in use and machine power, and receives recommended starting speeds and feeds.
To solve metalcutting problems, Cain said he has used both sides of the ITA application. When an insert was chipping, for example, he identified the tool through the catalog, switched to the software’s speed and feed section, plugged in the tool and indicated the workpiece material. By changing the feed rate, Cain solved the chipping problem and also reduced cycle time.
The ITA also expedites direct Iscar customer support. “If Chuck goes into ITA and finds something that he hasn’t tried before, he and I might have a conversation about testing those tools,” Giambalvo said.
“We are in business to solve problems,” added Steve Bauers, Iscar regional technical specialist. “ITA is a nice service for those who use our e-catalog.”
Cain said adoption of advanced technology such as the ITA can also produce opportunities for new work. Previously, Holmatro USA made parts exclusively for the U.S. market. Last year, Holmatro’s manufacturing operation in the Netherlands asked the U.S. operation to bid on work that was being subcontracted to European job shops. Holmatro USA’s high productivity enabled it to win contracts for the work. As a result, the shop has produced about 35 new products, “with probably another 70 plus to go,” Cain said.
Related Glossary Terms
- alloys
alloys
Substances having metallic properties and being composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.
- aluminum alloys
aluminum alloys
Aluminum containing specified quantities of alloying elements added to obtain the necessary mechanical and physical properties. Aluminum alloys are divided into two categories: wrought compositions and casting compositions. Some compositions may contain up to 10 alloying elements, but only one or two are the main alloying elements, such as copper, manganese, silicon, magnesium, zinc or tin.
- chuck
chuck
Workholding device that affixes to a mill, lathe or drill-press spindle. It holds a tool or workpiece by one end, allowing it to be rotated. May also be fitted to the machine table to hold a workpiece. Two or more adjustable jaws actually hold the tool or part. May be actuated manually, pneumatically, hydraulically or electrically. See collet.
- feed
feed
Rate of change of position of the tool as a whole, relative to the workpiece while cutting.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- lathe
lathe
Turning machine capable of sawing, milling, grinding, gear-cutting, drilling, reaming, boring, threading, facing, chamfering, grooving, knurling, spinning, parting, necking, taper-cutting, and cam- and eccentric-cutting, as well as step- and straight-turning. Comes in a variety of forms, ranging from manual to semiautomatic to fully automatic, with major types being engine lathes, turning and contouring lathes, turret lathes and numerical-control lathes. The engine lathe consists of a headstock and spindle, tailstock, bed, carriage (complete with apron) and cross slides. Features include gear- (speed) and feed-selector levers, toolpost, compound rest, lead screw and reversing lead screw, threading dial and rapid-traverse lever. Special lathe types include through-the-spindle, camshaft and crankshaft, brake drum and rotor, spinning and gun-barrel machines. Toolroom and bench lathes are used for precision work; the former for tool-and-die work and similar tasks, the latter for small workpieces (instruments, watches), normally without a power feed. Models are typically designated according to their “swing,” or the largest-diameter workpiece that can be rotated; bed length, or the distance between centers; and horsepower generated. See turning machine.
- low-carbon steels
low-carbon steels
Group of carbon steels designated by American Iron and Steel Institute numerical classification as AISI 1005, 1006, 1008, etc., up to AISI 1026, for a total of 16 grades. They are softer and more ductile than other carbon steels. Composition of low-carbon steels is 0.06 to 0.28 percent carbon, 0.25 to 1.00 percent manganese, 0.040 percent (maximum) phosphorus and 0.050 percent (maximum) sulfur. See high-carbon steels; medium-carbon steels.
- metalcutting ( material cutting)
metalcutting ( material cutting)
Any machining process used to part metal or other material or give a workpiece a new configuration. Conventionally applies to machining operations in which a cutting tool mechanically removes material in the form of chips; applies to any process in which metal or material is removed to create new shapes. See metalforming.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- milling machine ( mill)
milling machine ( mill)
Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.
- toolholder
toolholder
Secures a cutting tool during a machining operation. Basic types include block, cartridge, chuck, collet, fixed, modular, quick-change and rotating.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
