Total lifecycle support
When purchasing a new machine tool, it's extremely important to ensure you have the right maintenance package in place. We take a look at what's available from MAG Industrial Automation Systems.
Many machine tool manufacturers provide product support; Cincinnati Machine, via its service division Maintenance Technologies (MT), delivers structured programmes that reduce unplanned downtime, improve part quality, reduce part costs, prolong machine life and reduce overall maintenance costs. MT offers a single source for maintenance and productivity solutions.
Operating as part of the MAG Industrial Automation Systems group, it has extensive process knowledge and a multi-industry experience base that serves Cincinnati Machine and all other members of the MAG group. Its philosophy is to provide comprehensive long-term support to maximise equipment availability and productivity, whilst maintaining the lowest cost of ownership throughout the machine life cycle.
MT’s Ian Curlett comments: ‘We can provide a complete lifecycle support package to protect a customer’s machine tool investment. This portfolio of products and services is extensive and significantly different from most machine tool suppliers.’ This philosophy sees MT working on all three phases of the machine life cycle.
The first phase is the machine build, design and installation; here Cincinnati Machine can guarantee a smooth integration of the machine into any environment. The package provides interactive technical support, machine certification, machine monitoring, spare parts packages, technical training and application services. Following machine integration, Cincinnati Machine and MT support the machine operation by offering service parts, machine repair service, continuous oil monitoring and health checks, on-site maintenance contracts and predictive/preventive maintenance contracts.
‘We can provide our own team of resident technicians and parts to look after the customers machine tools.’ He cites an aerospace customer that wanted to increase the productivity of its machine tools. ‘We introduced a regime of regular preventative maintenance to ensure the machinery was available for production. After one year this customer has realised 3,000 hours of additional machining capacity as a direct result of our involvement and this is improving further in the second year of the contract,’ says Curlett.
When the Cincinnati machining or turning centre has served the end user for some time, the third element of the MT programme is implemented. Not only can the company supply the end user with machine control and drive upgrades but also perform engineering, rebuild, retrofit, re-manufacture, repair and exchange services as well as installation, relocation and rigging services, and supply of pre-owned equipment.
Reliability and machine build quality mean that Cincinnati Machine has many longstanding machine tools in the marketplace. For customers with concerns over the age of these machines, Maintenance Technologies has an extensive archive of machine drawings and manuals to support all products.
Looking to the future of machine tool maintenance Ian Curlett concludes: ‘Provision of machine tool maintenance is moving beyond just reactive services and many customers are asking Maintenance Technologies to work with them on productivity improvements in their manufacturing process.
'In response to this we have developed a product called Freedom E Log to monitor any machine tool and display the data gathered to develop improvements in OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness). We are pleased to talk to any machine tool user who is interested in using Freedom E Log to increase machining capacity.’
