ONE-MACHINE SYSTEMS UNLOCK ONE-HIT SAVINGS.

The flexibility of individual machines with power driven tooling and second-operation stations is a phenomenon of recent machine tool design. It has led to the concept of 'one-hit' machining: the ability to complete a part on one machine. At Renishaw Metrology in Gloucestershire, for example, the technique has resulted in the average number of operations on 400 probing equipment components being reduced to 1. 8 compared with four/five. The single-machine cell is even challenging the multi-machine flexible machining cell. At automotive sub-contractor Ketlon, in Kent, a five-axis, stand-alone twin-spindle Wickman Bennet Lathe costing POUND 185,000 has replaced a POUND 1. 2 million four-machine FMS and is producing 80 percent more gear blanks.