In an era of outsourcing, DuPage Machine Products Inc. keeps more jobs inhouse nowadays and plans to remain in that mode. The shop specializes in highprecision turned parts made into end products for the mobile hydraulics, automotive, medical and other industries.
According to Dave Knuepfer, president of DuPage Machine Products, the secret to avoid having to farm work out is plain and simple: Incorporate machines that can do more to make you more competitive and able to bring value to your customers.
“We never stop seeking newer and better ways,” he said.
One of the shop’s “newer and better” ways involves several Index six-spindle turning centers that handle barstock diameters of 32 mm and 52 mm. The machines knock out more finished parts in less time, and with less changeover and set-up time consumed.
“Typically, we were out there competing for the same largequantity jobs as many other shops. With these machines and their faster set-up times, we can actually run smaller quantities and still be extremely productive,” Doug Halenza, applications engineer at DuPage Machine Products, said.
Halenza said that the Sinumerik 840D CNCs from Siemens Energy & Automation Machine Tool Business on the Index machines has a major role in making fast-paced production turnover possible. The controls do so by converting design programs quickly into live machining. Siemens drive systems are also onboard the Index machines.
Each job at DuPage Machine Products begins with a print from the customer.
Using Partmaker CAD/CAM software, shop personnel develop programs, run them through post processing and feed them through a DNC system and right to the CNCs on the Index machines. Conservatively, Halenza estimates the Index machines outperform the shop’s conventional lathe technology by a factor of 4 to 6 times.
He further points out that the Siemens CNCs are Windows based. That allows the shop to cut and paste to create its subs and cycles, and to keep everything in a packaged file.
“All the geometry offsets and tooling assignments are accessible in each program, plus the CNCs operate the automatic bar feeders,” Halenza said.
The shop also uses Artis monitoring as part of its overall toolmanagement system, as well as robotic articulation on several of the Index machining centers. The CNCs oversee all the operations and maintain the data for each program run on the machines. And while Index provided machine training, Siemens also gave direct support for the CNCs, Halenza said.
