The Changing Business of Machine Tools

At the recent Chicago Innovation Days 2016 event that was held May 17-20, DMG MORI USA (Hoffman Estates, IL) presented 33 high technology machines, including two U.S. premieres: the SPRINT 32 | 5 Swiss-type machine and the CTX gamma 2000 TC Second Generation turn-mill machine.

Each day began next door at BIG KAISER Precision Tooling, Inc., where visitors were treated to breakfast and technical presentations on tooling solutions at the Breakfast & Learn 2016 event. Attendees then witnessed live equipment demonstrations inside an exhibition space of more than 42,000 sq ft in the Hoffman Estates facility. Aside from the advanced technologies being displayed on the show floors, daily seminars were held by key industry experts on the latest trends and developments in manufacturing, providing answers to the questions of digitization through seminars on IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) or Industry 4.0, where manufacturing gets “smart” through the networking of digital technologies and the Internet to the machine production. Attendees also learned how to fully synchronize their machine tools using the exclusive CELOS® control.

DIRECT-TO-CUSTOMER: THE CHANGING BUSINESS OF MACHINE TOOLS 
A new customer hospitality area was unveiled in the Hoffman Estates site, where visitors learned more about local production and networked with direct sales and service teams as part of their new Direct Sales and Service initiative geared around “Where Global Technology Meets Local Demand,” which began back in October 2015 when DMG MORI USA raised the standards and challenged the industry by announcing a strategic direct-to-customer approach that adapts to a changing machine tool industry that is becoming more globalized.

Along with the direct-to-customer announcement last year came the appointment of DMG MORI Manufacturing USA, Inc., chief executive officer Mark Mohr and chief operating officer Zach Piner, both dedicated to offering customers comprehensive local service and support for the highest quality of U.S.-made machine tools. Since the launch of the new direct sales and service business model, the company has demonstrated its commitment to the customer on both a global scale and at the local level. Shops now have better access to the most complete, high-quality line of machine tools globally, as well as exceptional service with direct sales and service teams, local production, and global factory support.

The Innovation Days event emphasized the opportunity for these shops to meet with their local sales and service teams and discuss manufacturing solutions. This foundation was laid for direct sales and service in the United States back in January 2015, when the company began to sell directly in the New England territory. Now they offer direct sales throughout the U.S., with the exception of four regions: New York and Pennsylvania (Boldt Machinery, Inc.), Colorado (Triad Machine Tool Co., Inc.), Utah (New West Machine Tool Co., Inc.), and Arizona (Ellison Machinery Company).

DMG MORI USA plans to have 28 Technology Centers throughout the U.S. by the end of 2016 and since October 2015, they have expanded rapidly, hiring many U.S. employees for a total of over 750. Of these, 250 application and service engineers are available nationwide to support the customer and respond quickly to service requests. Each of the technology centers has regional directors and area sales managers. Additionally, the 28 technology centers are split into six sales regions with managing directors to support each sales region. This sales structure equips the company with the right resources and provides shops with:

• Direct access to qualified and professional specialists that promises greater transparency, fast and efficient communication, and the tailoring of products and solutions to meet specific shop needs.
• Complete solutions provided by quick, autonomous decision making.
• Expert support provided by 28 sales locations, including the Davis Manufacturing facility and Dallas Spare Parts Center.
• Direct connection to a global knowledge base.
• Highly specialized application engineers to optimize production processes and intelligent software solutions.

LOCAL MANUFACTURING: THE ANATOMY OF A MACHINE TOOL
The North American manufacturing facility of DMG MORI opened in Davis, CA, in July 2012. With a production capacity of up to 100 machines per month, the plant currently manufactures and assembles the NHX 4000 Second Generation, NHX 5000 Second Generation and NHX 6300 40-taper horizontal machining centers; the DMU 50 five-axis universal milling machine; and two ECOLINE models, including a vertical mill and turning center: the ecoTurn 450 and ecoMill 1100 V.

Design and production activities in California offer North American shops not only some of the world’s best CNC hardware, but also provide price-competitive, customized technical solutions to today’s most demanding production problems. At Innovation Days, attendees not only experienced live demonstrations on locally built machines from Davis, they could also take a virtual tour through the factory itself to watch the machines being built seamlessly, from design to production, to learn more about the anatomy of a machine tool and the advanced benefits that are embedded under the covers. They also learned more about operations in Davis, including:

• The employment of sophisticated automation for unattended, in-house machining of the most critical components for the machines produced in Davis.
• A machining system that includes four machining cells, eight CNC machines, more than 100 machine pallets, and seven robots to complete the washing, cleaning and material handling.
• DMG MORI cell control software (LPS) that manages all of the machining programs, production schedules and provides all necessary control of production; monitoring and reporting of machine status is performed by Messenger software.
• 100 percent component inspection of all critical components during the assembly process, including accuracy, coolant leaks and function tests to ensure the product meets the highest standards.
• Each product completes 100 hours of running tests in order to make certain the machine is ready for any type of production environment.

DMG MORI USA, 2400 Huntington Boulevard, Hoffman Estates, IL 60192, 847-593-5400, us.dmgmori.com.