Manufacturing Engineering recently sat down with two imX eXperience partners to discuss manufacturing trends and the future of the industry. Both topics will be salient to imX. The article appears in the August 2011 issue and features interviews with Dan Janka, President of MAG IAS, LLC and Tomo Ishibe, President and CEO, FANUC FA America. Read a portion of the interview below:
Manufacturing Engineering: What is the market asking for with regard to new machine tool technology?
Dan Janka: We regard the machine tool platform as the basis for any complete solution for our customers. It’s critical that machine tool technology is dynamically designed to enable high-precision and high-speed machining that optimizes processes to reduce overall cycle time.
Tomo Ishibe: In the last ten or fifteen years, we have focused on high-speed machining. In fact, that was my focus when I was a software engineer working in the FANUC laboratory. Today, that is still true, with the addition of five-axis machining and multitasking machining.
ME: What educational activities are you planning for imX?
Janka: We’ll highlight real-world cryogenic machining for difficult-to-machine materials like titanium, Inconel, hardened steel and CGI. We’ll also feature multifunction machining of extremely large parts, and tie in the importance of volumetric accuracy in production of large, high-precision complex parts.
Ishibe: Our goal at imX is to educate end users, machine tool builders, and distributors on how the integration of cutting edge CNC and robotic technologies can increase their productivity. One important point that will be discussed in our learning labs at imX is that our newest technology provides the most cost-effective solution when measured by the total cost of ownership (TCO) and life cycle of machines.
ME: What outcomes do you expect from imX?
Janka: We’re looking for quality interaction with our customers and manufacturers that will lead to a much greater influence in their investment decisions as they look to improve their productivity. We’re looking to not only inform and provide meaningful ideas about our innovations, but we’re looking forward to closer ties, especially when they make future inquiries.
ME: How has FANUC recovered from the recent tragic events in Japan?
Ishibe: FANUC HQ executives worked quickly and diligently with each of our component suppliers and were able to secure a sufficient inventory of components by the beginning of June. Additionally, FANUC FA America sources quality components locally which also minimized the impact of any parts shortage.
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