As a manufacturer, you come to a point when you realize you need to grow your business with capital equipment. With new technological advances taking place every day, just staying up to date on the latest and greatest can become a daunting task. Just the thought of the financial, technical and logistic burdens sends you into a whirlwind of mixed emotions and fears.

So, what happens inside the minds of a machine tool builder when they come to that point? Most people would say something like the following.

“They’re a machine tool builder; all they have to do is use their machines to build more machines, right?”

Wrong. Just like any other manufacturer, a machine builder has to take a step back and look at the big picture. They need to make decisions that will allow them to achieve their goals efficiently, productively and with the best ROI. Which is where Haas Automation found itself in March 2004. Haas, as everyone knows, manufactures CNC vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, CNC turning centers, rotary tables, and more, for a worldwide market of job shops and manufacturers.

Goal: Ship 1000 Machines a Month

The machine tool orders coming into Haas’ factory in Oxnard, CA, were increasing every day. To meet the demands from their customers, Haas set a goal of building 1000 machines a month. However, with this new goal in place, it became apparent they would need to add more capital equipment and automation. Bob Murray, Haas general manager, was in charge of spearheading the project.

“Our primary objective was to expand our machining capacity and to reduce cycle times and costs,” he says.

Haas wanted to do this without expanding its facilty.

Out for Bid

To get going, Haas sought out different machine tool builders and distributors to make a bid on the new automated equipment it needed.
Ellison Technologies was one of those distributors. Ellison Technologies, Santa Fe Springs, CA, is a locally owned and operated subsidiary of the Ellison Technologies Group of Companies, a large, North American integrator of automated industrial and capital equipment. Ellison includes a staff of consultants, engineers, sales, service, and training professionals to support the needs of manufacturers throughout California and Nevada.

Fraser Marshall, Ellison director of operations, put together a business case based on Haas’ requests.

“In our booth at Westec 2004, we showcased a Mori Seiki horizontal machining center with a linear pallet pool (LPP) system,” says Marshall. “With the goals that Haas needed to achieve, only lights-out manufacturing could accomplish those results, and this type of flexible manufacturing system would be our case.”

Evaluating Options and Configurations

It was a 5-month decision process. Ellison put in many long hours assessing the project and developing the solutions that would meet and even exceed Haas’ expectations.

“We went straight to the source,” says Marshall, “We made a trip to Japan to fully understand the system, spoke to the engineers, worked out all the logistics so that we would be able to better manage the project.”
In the end, two systems were needed. The first system would include five Mori Seiki NH6300 horizontal machining centers with 138 pallet stands, six loading stations and an integrated wash station—and only five weeks to install.

The second system would follow with two Mori Seiki NH8000 horizontal machining centers and 44 pallet stands —with only three weeks to install.
“The final decision was not easy,” explains Murray. “A deciding factor was our relationship with both Mori and Ellison. We enjoy an excellent working relationship with Ellison. They have proven themselves over many years with consistent quality service on a number of projects.”
Determining how to pay for the new capital equipment can often be a deal breaker. The good news is it doesn’t have to be. With the new advances in machine technology, often times the equipment’s ROI can be achieved in as few as two years. Many options are available for manufacturers today, including differing types of loans and leases for financing the equipment.

Murray adds, “These cells have allowed us to bring some contracted work back into the factory.”

Making Space

For most manufacturers available space in a facility is hard to come by, and gets even harder the older the business. Haas needed to add the maximum number of machines and pallets in the square footage it had available.

“It seems like there is never enough space,” says Murray, “but this project was important, and space was made available.”

With a March completion of Haas Automation’s latest expansion, building 4, the Oxnard, CA, facility, a one million square-feet of manufacturing and warehouse operation, was chosen as the site for the project.

Lights Out Operation

Another major factor to consider during the buying process is labor. How do you add to your shop floor but not add to your labor costs?

With the LPP system, Haas’ approach was to achieve 16 hours of unattended operation. The key to making that approach possible is to be able to predict tool life. If a tool fails during unattended operation, cutting can stop. If you’re not cutting chips, you’re not making money.

Since Ellison doesn’t employ psychics, the distributor enlisted Mori Seiki’s CAPPS-TMS (tool-management and scheduling-software). With the software and a Parlec tool pre-setter, Haas’ day shift would be able to run a systems check on the cell’s tool-life. By running this check, they would know what needed to be replaced before lights-out.

“People expected a great deal in the way of tool management and job scheduling from the cell controller, and all expectations were met,” says Murray.

In order to keep everything on schedule, Ellison held weekly project management meetings—a critical factor for an installation of this magnitude.

“Ellison met their schedule for delivery and installation. We are very satisfied. Most of our goals have been achieved,” concludes Murray.

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