Guiding the clients’ choice in identifying a correct investment is one of the main tasks we dedicate ourselves to.
The production variables are: material, the origin of the raw material, and the size and critical tolerances of the workpiece.
Very often today a family of pieces is submitted whose characteristics are similar to each other.
The examination continues with the analysis of quantities and the normally annually estimated production batches. The available production hours may offer an initial figure regarding the average required cycle time.
For each workpiece, a work cycle is identified with technological phases and parameters which take into account the characteristics of the raw material and the relevant tolerances. This will create a unitary cycle time which, compared with the average cycle time required, provides an indication about the correctness of the choices made.
Going into more detail, the production flow is now assessed which manifests itself trough the sequence of batches of pieces with the relevant quantities. We can establish the time necessary for the production of a single batch and the retooling frequency.
Therefore, the more numerous the batches, it becomes indispensable to forecast the optimised overall retooling times which define an aspect of the machine’s flexibility level.
Once the production batch is known, the retooling time provides the unitary retooling time which will be added to the workpiece cycle time.
Materials that are difficult to machine may create undesirable production shutdowns in order to substitute tools or for the generation of long chips in the machining process.
After having equipped the machine with all devices to extend tool life, tool life can be envisaged based on experience. For machines not equipped with a tool magazine, downtime may be expected during the execution of the batch. The machine downtime must be referred to the unit time of the workpiece and added to it.
For machines fitted with tool change, “places” in the magazine could be available for twin tools and therefore the cycle time already includes tool replacement.
Long chip generation can be avoided with our technology which minimises the phenomenon.
Automation and integration of secondary operations in a work island which is part of a more complex plant, represent the final activity in which the arrival modes of the pieces must be studied compatibly with the autonomy required from the plant, the cycle gram compatible with the machine cycle time and the time for auxiliary operations, if present, and the output modes of the pieces.
The partial synthesis of these activities (cycle time necessary to meet customer needs) is illustrated in the diagram representing the link between the machine model offered by us, the volume of pieces to be produced and the cycle time necessary for satisfying the customer’s needs.
With Picchi, each company can count on a wide range of custom designed machines for each specific need.