Left – A year ago, CenCal CNC had no Swiss turning. Today, they have four Citizens; two L20s and two L32s. Right – Darren Moench heads up the turning department. The four Citizen Swiss machines have been lumped in with traditional Mazaks and he was tasked with figuring them out. Having never run a Swiss before the new challenge has lit a fire in him. He has been most impressed with overall efficiency. One operator can run all four machines thanks to the integrated bar feeders and finished parts being dropped.
Kingsburg, California’s CenCal CNC was last featured in the July 2011 issue of CNC West Magazine, and a lot has changed since then. In 2011, Josh Wiebe was a recent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate with a degree in industrial engineering. Today, he is leading the team as president of the company. “We’ve undergone a huge transformation in the last 15 years,” says Josh. “We are still a family-owned and operated job shop, but we are embracing more and more automation as we look to expand our customer base.”
CenCal’s Mazak VTC 200G is one of the largest enclosed mills in the valley. Using their new Fulcrim ERP system, Josh Wiebe and one of CenCal’s operators discuss their newfound data collection. Each team member now has their own tablet to better track production.
Abe Wiebe started a company called Agdesign back in the 1990s just down the road in Reedley, California. He catered to local agricultural companies throughout the Central Valley, building fruit packing house equipment such as conveyors, bin dumping stations, and fruit washing systems. At the time, he relied on manual machines but opened CenCal CNC in 2005 to support Agdesign and try his hand at owning a CNC job shop.
Growing up, Josh and his younger brother Nick worked summers and school vacations at CenCal. “It was important to my dad that Nick and I held every position in the company,” Josh explains. “He knew the best way to build a foundation was to understand the ins and outs in every department. That meant winter breaks milling, summers in QC—you name the job, we did it.”
Left – CenCal have a variet of press brakes. Their Bystronic ByBend Star 80 just came online and is decked out with a robot. Right – The BLM Lastertube L7 was being installed during our visit. It is CenCal’s newest machine tool.
CenCal moved to its current location in 2008 and currently operates 73,000 square feet of manufacturing space with 83 employees running two shifts, five days a week. They are a true job shop, running all types of materials ranging from plastics to superalloys. Their customer base varies from local agricultural work to medical and automotive. They are ISO certified and can handle everything from Swiss turning to sheet metal fabrication and assembly.
CenCal’s sheer size and capabilities exceed what most people think of when they hear the term “job shop.” “We will run anything from a single part to 10,000 units,” explains Josh. “Our CNC mills and lathes are primarily Mazak. We picked Mazak because of their reputation in the industry, and we’ve largely stuck with them. With 20 of their mills and a dozen lathes, we have a wide range of capabilities. We can turn up to 26 inches in diameter and cut 12 feet on our largest mill. The Mazak VTC-200G is one of the largest enclosed mills in the valley, and it runs almost nonstop.” When CNC West was last here, CenCal had just purchased its first horizontal Mazak HCN-5000. Now they have four of them connected to a Palletech high-rise 24-pallet system. “Having the pallets and four horizontals gives us so much-needed flexibility,” adds Josh. “We can leave some of our production-type jobs set up and ready to go and still knock out one-off runs without missing a beat. It is important for us to have that ability in a work environment like ours.”
One of the challenges Darren has faced learning to program the Swiss turning centers is thinking about simultaneous machining. Timing is everything when it comes to a part finishing both spindles at the same time. Each spindle is running its own code as you can see in the inset.
Along with the Mazak mills and lathes, CenCal also operates a pair of Mazak Optiplex 3015 fiber lasers. “We have a 20-shelf material tower that feeds our 6kW and 10kW lasers nonstop,” continues Josh. “It is fully automated and can handle up to one-inch-thick material. We also have a Flow waterjet and multiple Amada press brakes. Our newest press brake is a Bystronic ByBend Star 80 that just came online and is equipped with a robot. It is a little smaller than our others, with an 80-ton capacity and a 5-foot table, but setup for the robotics is quick and easy.”
Even with CenCal’s extensive variety of machine tools, there were still areas of the market that remained untapped. Swiss turning, in particular, kept topping CenCal’s wish list when it came to expanding capabilities and exploring new revenue streams.
“We saw a lot of potential in Swiss turning,” says Josh. “Swiss is a different type of beast, so it took us a while to pull the trigger. We had done our research and had our eye on a couple of Citizen models before reaching out to Aaron Johnson at Spinetti Machinery. Aaron was able to answer all our questions and steer us in the most viable direction.” Like most of their other equipment purchases, the decision was based on long-term potential rather than a single job. “We ended up deciding the Citizen L32 XII was the best option for us to dip our toes into Swiss turning,” Josh explains. “We are big on redundancy, so we ordered two of them to get started. We have a very good reputation in the industry thanks to our quality and delivery, so it didn’t take long to fill the spindle time. As the workload grew we ordered two more. The second two machines are both L20 XIIs.” All four machines are equipped with Citizen’s 12-foot bar feeders and LFV (Low Frequency Vibration) technology. CenCal also opted for expansion packages, increasing the maximum diameter to 1.5 inches on the L32s and 1 inch on the L20s. “The expanded range opened up more possibilities for us,” says Josh. “We were able to move some jobs over from our traditional lathes to the Swiss machines because of the added diameter capacity. They are running faster and better than ever, dropping finished parts in one operation. Cycle times have been reduced by half in many cases because of the simultaneous machining.”
Adding Swiss turning to a job shop like CenCal required changes in both production and inspection processes. “We required training,” Josh says. “The Spinetti team was very understanding of our situation and did their best to prepare us for the new endeavor with valuable training. We gained a lot of knowledge before we even turned the machines on.” One of the biggest adjustments was learning to think in terms of simultaneous machining. “Being able to program the front and back spindles so they finish at about the same time was new to us,” Josh explains. “We are making progress every day.”
Darren Moench, head of the turning department, quickly embraced the new technology. “I was very excited to get the first batch of Swiss turning centers,” says Darren. “We are used to getting new machines, but completely different technology is huge for us. Having a new challenge really sparked a fire in me, and I’m enjoying it.” Programming with Alkart CNC Wizard, Darren adapted to the new workflow. “As Josh mentioned, getting the front and back spindles to finish at the same time required a shift in how I think,” he says. “But once it clicks, the gains can be significant.”
When CNC West was last here CenCal had just purchased their first horizontal Mazak HCN5000III. Now they have four of them connected to a Palletech High rise 24 pallet system. Having the pallets and 4 of the HCN5000III horizontals gives CenCal needed flexibility of switching between jobs as needed.
Citizen introduced its LFV (Low Frequency Vibration) cutting technology about a decade ago, and it is widely considered one of the defining features of modern Swiss-type turning centers. At CenCal, they initially weren’t sure if it would be a gimmick or a game changer, but once they began producing parts, it quickly proved its value. At a basic level, LFV solved one of the biggest problems in Swiss machining: long, stringy chips wrapping around the tool, guide bushing, spindle, or part. That may sound minor, but it can quickly lead to downtime or even crashes during unattended operation. In conventional turning, the cutting tool remains continuously engaged with the material. LFV changes this by making the cutting motion intermittent. Citizen synchronizes small oscillations of the servo axes with spindle rotation, causing the tool to move in and out of the cut in a controlled pattern. During those brief moments when the tool separates from the material, chips break naturally into small segments instead of forming long ribbons. Citizen refers to this as introducing brief “air-cutting” periods during machining. Newer LFV systems, like those on CenCal’s L20 and L32 machines, can apply this motion simultaneously on multiple axes, including X and Z on both the main and sub-spindles. “It takes a little fine-tuning to find the sweet spot,” Darren explains. “You have to balance speed, depth of cut, and the right insert. Most of our parts run in the 3,000 to 4,000 RPM range, and that balance changes depending on the material.”
With multiple servo motors controlling the motion simultaneously, the process becomes as much art as science. “It’s something I’m still learning,” Darren adds, “but we are getting good tool life, and parts are coming off clean. Even with deep drilling, chip evacuation is something we rarely think about. We’re only about a year into running these machines, and we already see the value in LFV. I don’t have anything else to compare it to, but as a job shop constantly switching materials—stainless, copper, titanium, even plastics—it handles everything without a fuss.”
It comes as no surprise that efficiency is Darren’s favorite aspect of the Swiss department. “One operator can easily run all four of our Citizen machines,” he says. “Once the setup is complete, we load the bar feeders and let them run. I’ve also been really impressed with how well the bar feeders are integrated. You can tell a lot of engineering went into making the machines and feeders operate as one system. That’s not always the case with third-party setups.”
CenCal has a pair of Mazak Optiplex 3015 fiber lasers. They have a 20 shelf material tower that feeds the 6kW and the 10kW lasers.
The past year has brought a wave of new technology into CenCal’s facility. “Along with the Swiss department, we had to upgrade our QC lab to support smaller parts,” Josh says. “Our Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex CMM is great, but it is often tied up with larger parts, so we added a Keyence IM-8001 for smaller, high-precision components that are difficult to measure by hand.”
Another major addition is a BLM LT7 Lasertube system, currently being installed in a separate building. “It’s an exciting addition,” Josh explains. “It’s a fully automated tube laser capable of processing round, square, rectangular, and open profiles up to six inches in diameter or 8.5” diagonal. It will be online soon, and we’re looking forward to the opportunities it will bring.”
Like many manufacturers, CenCal continues to face challenges in workforce development. While employee retention is strong, finding skilled applicants can be difficult. In response, CenCal has focused on in-house training and building relationships with local educational programs. “Reedley College has a great manufacturing program,” Josh says. “We work closely with their instructors and students through internships. It allows us to evaluate potential hires while giving students real-world experience. If it’s a good fit, we bring them on full-time after graduation. It’s a win-win.”
The right tool for the right job remains at the core of CenCal’s philosophy. As a job shop, they don’t always know what that tool will be—but that doesn’t stop them from exploring new technologies and finding ways to make them profitable. “We’ve built a reputation for delivering quality parts on time,” Josh concludes. “To do that, we need great equipment and a great team. My dad started the company by investing in respected machine tools, and we continue that tradition today. We’ve added a lot of capability over the past year, and there’s still room to grow. When CNC West comes back in another 15 years, I’m sure you’ll see familiar faces, a lot more automation, and the same commitment to taking care of our customers.”
CenCal’s Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex CMM is great, but they needed something to measure the parts coming off the Citizens. The Keyence model IM8001 fit the bill particularly for its ability to handle the smaller parts they couldn’t easily measure by hand.