The latest edition of Production Machining magazine features an article on Gent Machine and our automated CNC machining. To better serve our customers as well as help with the labor shortage, we have been looking for ways to automate a process. For one specific part, we purchased a Takamaz J-Wave which is an automated solution for turning smaller parts.

The Takamaz J-Wave has an autoloader with grippers that pick up the part off a conveyor. The gripper places the part in the main spindle collet and the machining process begins. After machining is complete the part is ejected down a chute or the gripper arm can pull the part out while placing a new part in the collet. In our specific application we chose for the gripper to remove the part from the collet while then putting a new part in the collet. Although this machine can turn, drill, bore, as a whole host of other operations we are just facing and drilling these parts.

We chose this machine because of it’s small footprint, it’s integration to a bowl feeder and it’s fast cycle time. As you can see in the article the machine uses a smooth transition of the bowl feeder onto the loading conveyor which makes the process seamless and running nearly non-stop. This machine is truly our first solution to an automated machining process.

A link to the article can be seen below. 

https://www.productionmachining.com/articles/high-volume-machine-shop-automates-secondary-ops

Press releases have been made and publications are picking up the story of Gent Machine purchasing NPP, Northern Precision Products. We announced the purchase several weeks ago and the Middle Michigan Development Corporation picked up on the news. From their release, the Big Rapids News website also released their own story, https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/news/article/northern-precision-products-leroy-sold-gent-18290138.php.

This is great PR for both companies. We expect the word to continue to travel around middle to Northern Michigan. The more publications and websites that pick up the story the better it is for name awareness of the both companies. This comes at a good time too as we see the economy begin to slow. Although we don’t expect a lot of work to be generated directly from the press releases we do hope this helps our linking campaign.

The owners of Gent Machine recently closed on the purchase of a company specializing in Acme screw machines. The company was Northern Precision Products, Inc. and is now, similarly known as Norther Precision Products, LLC (northernprecisionproducts.com), located in Le Roy Michigan.

Northern Precision Products (NPP) have been experts in Acme screw machining for over 30 years and hold a specific advantage of machining brass. The acquisition will allow both NPP and Gent Machine to learn from one another regarding machining best practices. Gent will be able to help with CNC machining and NPP will be able to assist with Acme machining practices. Each may also be able to fill any production gaps that the other may run into due to capacities.

NPP serves several industries but automotive is their largest market. Their largest customer makes sensors that go into all vehicles, gas powered and electric. The owners hope to infuse new work which will help diversify NPPs customer base. This would create additional stability, meaning if automotive slumps then another industry will keep NPP still working full time hours.

NPP has about 20 Acme machines and 4 CNC machines. The CNC machines are underutilized so the plan is to fill them up with work while the Acmes stay busy running 2 shifts. They also have one Haas mill which runs small jobs but the fact that NPP has a programmer/setup/operator well versed on this mill is half the battle. This is an area where Gent Machine lacks so NPP can fill this void for any milling work.

The company is lead by 4 well rounded individuals. Each person wears multiple hats to keep this operation of 25 employees running efficiently. The new owners will lean on this experienced team to continue their outstanding work and keep NPP the stalwart they’ve been but with an infusion of new work.

When a CNC machine is referred to as “dedicated,” it means that the machine is designed and programmed for a specific job. This is the case for four of our 11 CNC machines. Each of these four machines is dedicated to one customer and will produce that’s customer’s part(s) indefinitely.

This is not just good for business but great for the efficiency of output. Being a dedicated machine, we are able to study the job(s) over time by observing tool life and tool paths. Based on this data, we can make adjustments. These can include changing tool grade, tool geometry, machine speed, tool feed, depth of cut and many other factors. All of these variables can affect how many parts can be made off of one tool. At the end of the day, we want to change tools less frequently, produce the part as fast as possible and with the best efficiency.

Why can’t this be applied to all jobs, one may wonder? Orders that require just 500 pieces does not give sufficient time to study and make adjustments. Of course, there are additional factors that can contradict this statement but the majority of small orders like this are better off being setup quicker and therefore produced quicker.

As a high volume producer of precision turned components, Gent Machine is able to perform these studies on most jobs. This maximizes our output but this also means our customer expects a lower price since we will have the time squeeze every tenth of a second out of the cycle time.

In contrast, a general-purpose CNC machine may be used for a wide variety of tasks, but may not be as efficient or precise for any one specific task. Many shops operate this way and it can be very lucrative. Their setups are much quicker than a high volume shop and their orders will be complete faster. This is a case where the customer expects to pay a higher price because the customer knows they cannot capitalize on economies of scale.