Top Shops Executive Summary

2012

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Executive Summary MACHINING TECHNOLOGY L eading shops are more apt than lower-performing opera- tions to embrace advanced equipment even though the initial cost might be higher. These Top Shops also tend to spend more consistently in capital equipment and tooling as they invest in the continued success of their businesses. Virtually the same percentage of all shops surveyed use equip- ment such as VMCs, turning centers, and manual mills and lathes. However, the Top Shops are more likely to have HMCs than the other shops (nearly 53 percent versus 42 percent), which is similar to data collected in last year's survey. In addition, nearly 48 percent of the Top Shops use turn-mill machines versus just 29 percent of the other shops. For the Top Shops, this is nearly 15 percentage points higher than last year's survey, suggesting growing acceptance of the multitasking platform and possibly demonstrating that those complex machines are becoming easier to program and operate. Likewise, more of this year's Top Shops perform full five-axis con- touring work than the other shops, although essentially the same percentage of shops perform 3 + 2 machining. The Top Shops are more likely than the other shops to perform other advanced operations such as high speed machining and hard turning. A greater percentage of the Top Shops have equipment for cut- ting parts from sheet and plate material. Nearly 18 percent of the Top Shops use waterjet machines versus 9 percent of the other shops. For laser-cutting machines, those values are 15 percent and 8 percent, respectively. All of these percentages are either the same or higher than what was reported in last year's survey. 0 Prototyping High speed machining Hard turning Hard milling Large-part machining Lights-out machining Five-axis machining (full contouring) Five-axis machining (positioning only) Cutting to zero stock (moldmaking) Micromachining Other 0 46.1% 47.6% 47.5% 37.9% 38.9% 40.0% 35.0% 35.6% 25.0% 28.7% 28.3% 37.5% 25.6% 26.9% 30.0% 21.5% 22.4% 20.0% 20.2% 20.2% 17.4% 17.5% 17.4% 15.0% 11.7% 12.0% 5.0% 9.1% 8.7% 10 20 30 40 50 Top Shops Other Shops All Shops 60 70 Which of the following machining strategies does your business employ? 10 20 30 40 50 50.0% 56.2% 55.5% 60.0% 60 70 6 2012 TOP SHOPS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY mmsonline.com/topshops

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