Toolmaker upgrades capabilities with Mazak VMC

Toolmaker SJ Dimmock has upgraded its manufacturing capabilities with the purchase of the company’s first UK-made Yamazaki Mazak VCN 530C vertical machining centre.The family-owned firm, based in Dunstable, was set up in 1985, since building a reputation for manufacturing high-specification injection moulding tools for the aerospace, medical, food and drink, automotive, and Formula One industries.

Company director Jamie Dimmock says: “Following the retirement of one of our long-serving employees, I found myself in the position of having three machines that I’d need to train myself to operate. As they were older machines, I thought it would be more effective to sell the machines to finance a new, larger vertical machining centre.After a lot of careful consideration and time spent evaluating the performance of comparable machines, I chose the VCN 530C vertical machining centre from Mazak. Each day that goes by confirms it was a fantastic decision.”

The VCN 530C is a high productivity vertical machining centre made at Mazak’s European manufacturing facility in Worcester. Equipped with a 40-taper spindle, Mazak says the machine excels at delivering high-speed machining with maximum stability and rigidity thanks to its heavy-duty casting.

Typically, SJ Dimmock is working to exceptionally tight tolerances of ±0.005 mm to meet the surface finish requirements of its customers. Here,Dimmock says the VCN has transformed the company’s machining operations. “We’ve replaced three machines with one and vastly improved the surface quality of the moulds, while reducing the volume of second operation work. The processing speeds are exceptional with the Mazak, which has not only helped with the quality of work, but has also doubled our capacity.”
For further information www.mazakeu.co.uk

Perfect 10 for MACH Machine Tools

MACH Machine Tools, a supplier of CNC and manual machine tools to UK, Irish and European component manufacturers, and part of the Vigilance Group, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary in September.Over the past decade, the Bristol-based company’s product portfolio has increased and improved significantly, and its range of CNC machines today focuses exclusively on the DynaPath control. MACH Machine Tools is now looking forward to the next 10 years, starting off with MACH 2024 in April where the company will be introducing a new range of 6”, 8’ and10” chuck slant-bed DynaPath-controlled lathes.
For further information www.machmt.co.uk

Software platform boosts machine tending

Universal Robots, the Danish manufacturer of collaborative robots (cobots), is releasing a new software platform specifically for machine-tending tasks. The name is PolyScope X and, through a customisable user interface, UR says it will add new levels of flexibility to high-mix, low-volume machine tending automation.With PolyScope X, machine shop operators can achieve changeover times of less than 10 minutes – far below what is possible today with any other software, reports the company.This capability will empower users to run more batches in a day and in a more strategic and flexible way.

PolyScope X arrives at a time when manufacturers all over the world are looking for increased flexibility to handle shifting and increasingly diverse orders. At the same time, the new software platform introduces a powerful reworked programming experience and toolset. This enables integrators and OEM partners to structure their program code in a way that makes each operation simpler to understand, maintain and troubleshoot.

“PolyScope X is a landmark development in machine-tending automation,” says Anders Billesø Beck, Universal Robot’s vice president for strategy andinnovation.“The simplicity of the user interface and the much faster changeover times will provide manufacturers with a whole new set of possibilities regarding how they automate their machine tending tasks.It will allow them to break some of the barriers that are holding them back today.”

PolyScope X for machine tending is initially available in Germany, the UK and Denmark.
For further information www.universal-robots.com

Cognex vision system enables AI-based inspection

Cognex, a specialist in industrial machine vision, has released the In-Sight 3800 vision system. Designed for high-speed production lines, In-Sight 3800 offers an extensive vision toolset, powerful imaging capabilities and flexible software to deliver a fully integrated solution for a range of inspection applications.

“The In-Sight 3800 offers twice the processing speeds of our previous systems, performing tasks like quality inspection in as little as one-third of a blink of an eye,” says Lavanya Manohar, vice president of Vision Products. “This added power allows users to maximise throughput and accommodate faster lines while delivering the high accuracy that they have come to expect from the In-Sight product line.”

The new system features an embedded set of vision tools that includes AI-based edge learning technology and traditional rule-based algorithms. Easy-to-use edge learning tools solve tasks with high variability and are set up in minutes with just a handful of training images. These industry-proven, rule-based tools are suited to solving deterministic tasks with specific parameters. Customers have already begun using the In-Sight 3800, with impressive results.

“When we selected Cognex, we were under the assumption that the processing time of the In-Sight 3800 would be 30% faster than the current In-Sight 7900 vision system in use,” says Nicolas Chomel, technology development director at SIDEL, a provider of equipment, services and solutions for packaging consumer products. “However, during qualification tests, the In-Sight 3800 proved to be 50% faster in our application.”

In-Sight Vision Suite software, a common platform across all In-Sight products, powers the In-Sight 3800,offering both EasyBuilder and Spreadsheet development environments.
For further information www.cognex.com/in-sight-3800

Exotec manufactures milestone 5000th robot

Exotec, a global warehouse robotics provider, has manufactured its 5000th robot, just three months after the production of its 4000th model. This is the shortest time yet between manufacturing milestones, signifying a growing business momentum driven by the increasing demand for warehouse automation. The 5000th robot carries the name ‘Monu’ (short for ‘Monumental’).

Romain Moulin, CEO and co-founder at Exotec says: “We continue to see a strong demand for scalable and proven warehouse robotic solutions. We have a track record of serving the world’s largest brands, which places Exotec at the heart of the explosive growth of the global warehouse robotics market, which is expected to be worth $16bn by 2031.”

In 2022, Exotec signed its first major UK customer – multichannel fulfilment and returns expert iForce – and is already deploying two additional large customer projects in the UK.
Exotec has made significant strides in making warehouse jobs easier and less physically demanding. To this day, Exotec robots have saved warehouse workers from having to walk at least 16 million miles, which is the equivalent of going to the moon and back 33 times.

This year, Exotec is continuing its track record of innovation by investing in R&D. Since its inception, Exotec has doubled its R&D spend every year, and the company also commits 10% of all sales towards the development of new products.As of today, Exotec holds 26 granted patents with 68 patent applications still pending. The company filed almost 50% of all patents in the past six months.
For further information www.exotec.com