SHOP SOLUTIONS s Problem Solving on the ShoP · PDF fileMarch 2016 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 45 ... Investing in Mastercam has raised profit on the back end. Director of operations,

March 2016 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 45

CAD/CAM Software Crafts Fine Edge Custom Knives

R ick Hinderer Knives (Shreve, OH) is well known within

military and law enforcement circles for its custom-

designed and expertly crafted knives. The company began

29 years ago as a one-man operation (Rick Hinderer) that

Read more, P46

Medical Device ShopThrives with Multitasking

C onstant innovation is the life force behind business

success at Conmed Orthopedics in Largo, FL. The

company specializes in medical devices for orthope-

dic, arthroscopic, and laparoscopic surgery.

Read more, P49

Mobile Robots IncreaseWorker Productivity, Safety

A mobile fleet of Universal Robots now receives daily work

orders to solve ever-changing tasks for high-mix/low-

volume electronics manufacturer Scott Fetzer Electrical Group

(SFEG; Fairview, TN).

Read more, P52

sSHOP SOLUTIONSProblem Solving on the ShoP Floor

Hinderer’s basic XM18 folding knife is made from titanium and

stainless steel and currently sells for $425 vs. $390 10 years ago.

Investing in Mastercam has raised profit on the back end.

Director of operations, Matthew Bush, programs Waldo, the

UR5 robot from Universal Robots for new tasks at Scott Fetzer

Electrical Group.

Conmed produces medical devices for many areas of minimally invasive

surgery from gynecology and general surgery to products for shoulder,

knee, and hip.

46 AdvancedManufacturing.org | March 2016

fashioned knives by hand from horseshoes in a shop lo-

cated within a chicken coop on the family farm. Before long,

Hinderer’s reputation as a skilled designer and producer of

custom knives grew. After purchasing his first CNC ma-

chine, Hinderer realized that a CAD/CAM software pack-

age would streamline the process further and allow him to

design and manufacture his knives more uniformly, ensuring

better quality.

At the same time, Hinderer was

launching his own business. He was

also designing knives for a well-estab-

lished knife manufacturer and working

within Mastercam CAD/CAM software

by CNC Software Inc. (Tolland, CT).

After trying out a few entry-level pack-

ages in his own shop, and experiencing

frustration at their design-to-manufac-

ture limitations, Hinderer invested in a

seat of Mastercam.

“Establishing optimal cycle times

wasn’t really the reason I chose Master-

cam. I found that no matter how many

design ideas I might have in my head,

I needed to be able to put them in a

format that we could manufacture from.

The entry-level software we were work-

ing with did not have the tools to allow

me to figure that out before the part was

sent to the machine. Mastercam makes

it easier to do that,” Hinderer said. Ease

of use was also important to this self-

taught CNC knife manufacturer. “I’m not

a trained machinist, so when I started

programming parts and discovering what

Mastercam offered, I found that I could

try different things to produce more ac-

curate parts and higher quality knives.”

While Hinderer is designing his

knives, he can also program the part

for production. If something looks off,

he can change the parameters on each

toolpath with a few clicks of the mouse.

While he is quick to point out that he

will never sacrifice quality to boost pro-

ductivity, it does, in fact, allow Hinderer

to optimize quality, material removal,

and reduce tool wear simultaneously.

Hinderer has become a big fan of the

roughing toolpaths incorporating Mas-

tercam’s Dynamic Motion technology

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SHOP SOLUTIONSContinued from P45


because it automatically adjusts tool motions according

to conditions ahead of the tool to maintain a constant

chip load. This allows him to maintain optimally high

material removal rates without the risk of burying the

tool. He also said that these tool motions seem to be

more efficient—cleaning up one area of the part before

they move to another and minimizing air cutting time.

As for cutting tool costs, Hinderer said, “I know that my

cutting tool costs have gone down. It is strange be-

cause production has gone up quite a bit. So whatever

my guys are doing, they are doing it right.”

Hinderer Knives produces all of its knife

components at its Shreve, OH location. There are

approximately 30 parts in each knife, depending

on which variation of the basic model is being

manufactured. According to Hinderer, each and

every one of those components must be designed

and manufactured to exact specifications to ensure

accuracy of the part and knife operation.

“We make 100% of the parts,” said Hinderer. “That way

I can control the quality. If I contract out, I can tell someone

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SHOP SOLUTIONS

From within the Mastercam CAD/CAM programming environment, Rick

Hinderer has been able to program his equipment and indulge his cre-

ative side, resulting in the steady growth of his customer base.


plus or minus a half thousandth of an inch, but when you re-

ceive 4000 parts are you really going to get that?” The other

reason Hinderer produces everything in-house is because it

affords him the freedom to design his own parts rather than

being boxed in by equipment limitations of contract manu-

facturers. Further, a nice byproduct of having the option to

do everything in-house is being able to generate a prototype

in days rather than weeks.

Another is being able to dive in to critical areas of the part

and refine its dimensions to improve knife performance. He

cited the pocketknife’s locking mechanism as an example.

If it is off even a little bit, the knife lock can fail. Hinderer has

developed several mechanism designs that incorporate small

pockets in the blade to improve locking performance. Of

course, these add more machining time to the process, but

cycle times aren’t Hinderer’s highest concern. He is most

focused on creating high-quality knives.

“We are constantly optimizing the programs. We will never

sacrifice quality for cycle time. We have certain parameters

that we stay within for surface finish and, if we need to slow

the machine down, that’s what we will do,” said Hinderer.

Modifying the existing program to improve quality can be done

quickly and easily in Mastercam because it merely involves

finding the critical operations on the part in each toolpath and

adjusting them as necessary.

Hinderer Knives has grown from a one-man operation

in a chicken coop to a 14,000 ft2 (1300 m2) shop with 15

employees. “The popularity of one of our products, the XM18

folding knife, has brought us here. We have added five new

machining centers to the production line and we marvel that

we are still making the same knife,” Hinderer said.

Now with 10 CNC machines, Hinderer wants others in the

shop to become proficient Mastercam programmers. With this

in mind, his Mastercam Reseller, FASTech Inc. (Findlay, OH)

has become an important resource. A number of operators

and machinists in the shop have attended Mastercam training

classes at FASTech and the Reseller is available by phone and

the Internet to provide advice and programming assistance to

everyone on an as-need basis.

Hinderer has been pleased with the result so far. “They are

getting up to speed with it really well. They have only worked

with Mastercam, but knowing what my own learning curve

was, they would probably be lost in other software programs.”

FASTech will also play a part in helping the company integrate

Mastercam with the Citizen Swiss and the OMAX waterjet

machines in his shop.

Mastercam plays a significant role in Hinderer Knife’s ongo-

ing success. The company’s basic XM18 folding knife, made

from titanium and stainless steel, currently sells for $425. Ten

years ago it sold for $390. “By investing in Mastercam, we

were able to raise our profit on the back end rather than rais-

ing prices much. You don’t need to grow your profit by raising

the price,” he said. From within a single programming environ-

ment Hinderer has been able to indulge his creative side,

program his equipment, and grow his customer base.

For more information from Mastercam/CNC Software Inc.,

go to www.mastercam.com or phone 860-875-5006.

Continued from P45

Medical Device ShopThrives with Multitasking

Constant innovation is the life force behind business suc-

cess at Conmed Orthopedics in Largo, FL. The company

specializes in medical devices for orthopedic, arthroscopic,

and laparoscopic surgery. Conmed Largo currently manufac-

tures about 4300 different part catalog numbers and intro-

duces many innovative new products each and every year.

Competition is tough, and Conmed must continuously boost

efficiency and shorten product development lead times to get

its innovations to market as quickly as possible.

Conmed produces both disposable and reusable surgical

instruments. Many are medical hand tools, but the company

also produces pneumatic and battery-operated power hand

tools, as well as the implants that are put into the body us-

ing those hand tools and other instruments. The company

develops products for many areas of minimally invasive

surgery from gynecology and general surgery to products for

shoulder, knee, and hip.

Aluminum makes up about 40% of the parts the shop

machines, stainless steel another 40% and brass and titani-

um the remaining parts. Conmed makes implantable anchors

from materials that include a poly lactate acid material the

body absorbs after a certain amount of time, PEEK plastic,

and special grades of titanium. All products are manufac-

tured utilizing LeanSigma methodologies, and Conmed

precision machining typically holds machined part tolerances

of ±0.0005" (0.013 mm).

In the past, the company organized its shop floor into

dedicated production departments based on single machin-

ing operations, e.g. milling, turning, grinding etc. But such


part processing was slow in terms of response

time and involved a lot of WIP, as well as signifi-

cant amounts of required inventory. So to improve

operational efficiencies and boost production re-

sponsiveness, Conmed—as part of its lean manu-

facturing initiative—added new advanced machine

tool technology and transitioned to extremely

flexible precision machining flow cells.

Conmed precision machining has 30 flow

cells, each of which it describes as a one-person

autonomous machine shop. Components enter

the cells as raw material and exit as completely

finished parts ready for their particular surgical

device assembly. Not only do the cells perform all

machining operations, but also secondary pro-

cesses such as deburring, cleaning, and honing

and any others that are required are performed.

Many of Conmed’s precision machining flow cells hinge

on multitasking machines from Mazak Corp. (Florence, KY),

including the shop’s two newest cells. One of which has been

designated as a “developmental machining cell.” At the heart

of Conmed’s developmental cell, or rather its one-machine

prototyping cell is a Mazak Integrex

i-100S multitasking machine. It features

twin turning spindles and a 12,000-rpm

milling spindle with B-axis capability, in

addition to a 72-position tool magazine.

The second cell incorporates two

Mazak machines—an Integrex 200SY

multitasking machine with twin spindles

and B axis and a Vertical Center Nexus

(VCN) 410A vertical machining center

that provides Conmed fast, efficient

setups and ample worktable space for

various part fixturing, including rotary

indexing units.

William Mazurek, Conmed direc-

tor of continuous improvement, said

“leveraging the precision machining

flow cell methodology together with our

rapid developmental cell we continue to

maximize our customer as well as our

business responsiveness. The precision

machining factory operates three shifts,

five days a week, so most of its cells—

the Mazaks—basically run 24/7.”

“Our goal is to achieve the high-

est levels of equipment utilization we

can. We focus on waste elimination,

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SHOP SOLUTIONS

Conmed’s disposable and reusable surgical instruments as well as implants

are precision machined on Mazak multitasking production flow cells which

the company regards as “one-person autonomous machine shops.”


faster setups/changeovers and less operator intervention.

And multitasking capability gained from our Mazaks helps

us accomplish all these objectives. Plus, the machines are

extremely accurate, provide more part processing flexibility,

and fit well with our production flow cell

concept,” Mazurek said.

Once Conmed models a new

product in CAD and proves out

feasibility, that product segues

to the design phase and into a

developmental cell. These cells

determine manufacturability and

ensure a smooth transition of a new

product and its components into full

production. Conmed runs parts in

developmental cells until the product

matures, after which the product’s

components will move to production

flow cells to step up throughput and

meet the growing market demand.

“Developmental machining cells

get us to market with new products

as quickly as possible, while flow cells

provide speed and efficiency once those

products are in full production,” said

Rob Kalo, factory manager and chief

engineer. “During product develop-

ment, we generate a lot of iterations to

achieve optimum designs, and using our

dedicated development cell we provide

flexibility and speed. Speed is critical,

and the Mazak Integrex i-100S develop-

mental cell provides that by allowing us

to process very complex components

on one machine and in single setups.”

“Our goal is to keep job changeovers

in our cells to a minimum,” said Kalo.

“Non-cut times are just as, if not more,

critical to us than part machining times.

We constantly evaluate exactly how long

machines sit idle because the longer

they do the more our efficiency suffers.”

Conmed runs its most recent Mazak

production flow cell in two-shift opera-

tions. Parts enter the cell as raw material,

go from the Mazak Integrex 200SY multi-

tasking machine to the three-axis VCN 410A, then to EDM and

honing machines, if needed, and finally to secondary operations

such as tumbling surface finishing, washing, and anodizing. All

gaging, measuring, and inspection are also done within the cell.

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The cell processes a variety of parts, all of which are alu-

minum. On average, about nine different jobs run through the

cell, and job changeovers typically can occur multiple times

within the same day to every three or four days depending on

business needs.

According to Mike McCool, senior manufacturing engineer,

production flow cells let them divide part processing among

multiple machines that perform the various required machining

operations simultaneously. This, he said,

makes for faster throughput, and mul-

titasking machines contribute further to

that output by providing shorter overall

part-machining cycle times.

Companywide, Conmed employs

a total of 3600 people, and 1100 of

those work at the Largo, FL, facility.

In the past, the company had one

factory and one plant manager but

now has nine of what it calls focused

factories at the Largo location. Largo

precision machining has 18 Mazaks

currently being utilized in its cellular

manufacturing arrangement.

“We really benefit from the Mazak

controls,” said Kalo. “With both new and

many vintages of Mazaks in our facility,

the common control platform is such

that our machinists can move from one

machine to the next and seamlessly run

each of them. Our operators are not

dedicated to one piece of equipment, so

the control commonality helps us very

much in cross training our people.”

For more information from Mazak

Corp., go to www.mazakusa.com, or

phone 859-342-1700.

Continued from P45

Mobile Robots Increase Worker Productivity, Safety

A mobile fleet of Universal Robots

now receives daily work orders to

solve ever-changing tasks for high-mix/

low-volume electronics manufacturer

SHOP SOLUTIONS


Scott Fetzer Electrical Group (SFEG; Fairview, TN). Supplied

by Universal Robots USA Inc. (East Setauket, NY; Odense,

Denmark), the collaborative UR robots have optimized

production by 20%, taking over monotonous and potentially

hazardous tasks from employees now reallocated to more

rewarding jobs.

SFEG was formed in 2010 to bring together the capabilities

of three Scott Fetzer Company businesses: France Power So-

lutions, Northland Motor Technology, and Kingston Products.

Located on the outskirts of Nashville, the company designs

and manufactures electrical power products, including trans-

formers, power supplies, motion controls, and drive systems.

When the first UR5 robot arrived at SFEG, it was quickly

named “Waldo” inspired by the popular Where’s Waldo

books featuring a friendly fellow that keeps appearing in new

places among crowds of people.

“One day, Waldo would be bending sheetmetal, the next

day he would be performing pick-and-place tasks, and the

third day we would take him to Manufacturing Day at the

local high school,” said Matthew Bush, director of operations

at SFEG, a manufacturer of a wide range of electrical motors

and components.

The UR robots are a new type of robot classified as col-

laborative due to their interactive design. Collaborative robots

are easy to set up for a new task and feature built-in safety

systems that enable the robot arm to automatically stop

operating if it encounters objects or people in its route.

Bush came across this new automation solution as he

was looking for ways to make SFEG more competitive on the

global scale, while taking more advantage of existing machin-

ery. “One of our biggest challenges as a high-mix/low-volume

producer is that most of our lines don’t run all the time. Trying

to find a way to put robots on the line in the traditional sense

was a very big challenge,” said Bush.

“We wanted to build a mobile, flexible robot force, and

the only way we would accomplish this was with a col-

laborative robot. We only saw a couple of offerings and the

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Continued on P99


UR robot was the only robot that we thought could do the

job. It’s got the speed and precision of a standard indus-

trial robot with the ability to move around and work next to

humans,” said Bush.

SFEG placed the UR robots on pedestals with wheels

and is now building the fleet of mobile UR robots deployed

throughout the sheet metal department. The robots are being

integrated into the entire production cycle from cutting the

initial blank on the blanking press to forming, folding and final

assembly of the electrical components. Additional robots are

planned to help tend the turret presses and press brakes.

General Manager Rob Goldiez said, “We’re seeing about a

20% increase having a pace setter with the Universal Robots

working hand in hand with our people.” The UR robots work-

ing the motor field line are a UR5 and a UR10 robot named

after their payload in kilos. The robots all feature

0.1-mm repeatability and span in reach from 19.7

to 51.2" (500–1300 mm).

The UR5 is placed at the end of the line right

next to an employee that hands the robot a motor

field part. The UR5 picks up the part, puts it in a

holder, picks up a wire cutter to trim the wires, and

then places the part for the UR10 robot to pick up

and place on a conveyor for final assembly.

“We can interlock multiple robots together and

read through Modbus the TCP connections and

robot status. We can also pass information along

to other software packages, and collect data. It

opens up a lot of doors to do a lot of things we’re

just now beginning to look at,” said principal engi-

neer Jamie Cook.

A UR robot comes with a touch screen pen-

dant that all programming is done through. Direct-

ing the robot arm can be done either through ar-

row keys on the screen, or by simply grabbing the robot arm

and “teaching” it the desired moves between waypoints. That

eliminated the structured text programming Cook usually had

to code when working with traditional robots.

“It was really easy to learn and it went much smoother

than I anticipated. I would say it took a third to half of the

implementation time out of it based on previous experiences

I’ve had,” Cook said.

As SFEG looked for tasks to automate, eliminating mo-

notonous and potentially dangerous tasks was the number

one priority. Another task now handled by the mobile UR

robot fleet is filling epoxy into circuit boards.

In the past, employees would make up a big batch of

circuit boards and would stand there and manually fill them

with two-part epoxy and send them down the curing line.

Today, the robot does that all day long enabling us to go to a

one-piece flow. Safety hazards are now avoided on the mo-

tor field line by having a UR robot handle the wire cutting.

“It’s a potential carpal tunnel syndrome application cutting

about 16,000 wires a day by hand. So we thought that was a

great place to put robots—let them get carpal tunnel!”

“We’re seeing about 1 to 1 movement of people from

where we put in a robot that allows us to move a person

to another area of the business. We have 14 robots from

Universal Robots right now and as we have all those

implemented, we expect to be able to reposition 14

employees,” said Goldiez.

One of the next robot tasks currently being developed at

SFEG is putting c-clips on armatures. At the varnish oven,

two UR10s will be loading and unloading baskets with mo-

tors. One UR10 is already deployed at the end of the varnish

conveyor, working as a simple transfer station, moving bas-

kets between lines.

“We’re looking at everything we’re designing now new to

make sure we can assemble it with a robot. If we can’t put

that together with a robot, we’ve got to go back to the draw-

ing board and try again.”

For more information from Universal Robots USA Inc., go

to www.universal-robots.com, or phone 631-610-9664.

SHOP SOLUTIONSContinued from P53

“Thelma & Louise” UR5 and UR10 robots move motor field parts through a

wire cutting application and onto a packaging conveyor for final assembly

working in tandem with their SFEG human colleagues.

Documents

SHOP SOLUTIONS s Problem Solving on the ShoP · PDF fileMarch 2016 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 45 ... Investing in Mastercam has raised profit on the back end. Director of operations,