Gear Production
Issue link: http://gear.epubxp.com/i/155418
F E AT U R E "Gears," Warns says, "are one big compromise from design through manufacturing. You have to end up with a design that can be manufactured, and it has to be tolerant to what your manufacturing process errors allow. What I am trying to say is that you can have a design that will function and transmit power, but is quite diffcult to manufacture. There is a big balancing act that you are always doing." Brian Wade sums it like this: "When design and manufacturing work in harmony, you can achieve all the metrics you want. You can deliver products GmbH & Co KG. He is, says Richard Gilchrist, president of Felsomat USA (felsomatusa.com), the kind of man who looks at the way something is done, and then asks whether there isn't a better way. Historically, Felsomat has been known for its automation products—loading and unloading equipment—not for machine tools. And Jäger has looked at the whole machining process and determined that the way machining is ordinarily performed includes too much idle time, or time when machines aren't removing metal. So The Felsomat FlexTurningCenter (FTC). This dual-spindle machine has a modular design for gear-making operations. It can be used for green machining prior to heat treating or located for hard turning after the parts have been carburized. Inside the FHC 180 hobbing machine. The FHC is designed for dry cutting. It has two spindles so that hobbing can be performed on one spindle and rolling, deburring and load/ unload on the other. in high volume that are economical and suitable for the application. We like to say that if we do our jobs right, the customer doesn't know we exist. We don't want the gears to make any noise. We don't want the gears to ever fail." Given the recent $374-million investment, the folks at Chrysler Kokomo are doing their jobs right—and then some. Felsomat entered the machine building part of the business, with an emphasis on using twinspindles rather than one. This, Gilchrist explains, allows cycle time reduction. "We're not cutting chips any faster than anyone else," he says. "We're just eliminating idle time. Richard Apanasiewicz, Felsomat process project engineer, amplifes, "The machines are 15 to 20 percent faster because we have two spindles. What others do with 12 machines, we do with eight." And the machines that they're focused on The Lean, Systemic Approach to Gear Making Helmut F. Jäger is managing director of Felsomat 12—GEAR Production Supplement