Okuma America Empowers Shops to Embrace Forward-thinking Possibilities
In the metal-cutting industry, where there are several machine tool builders that build excellent and precise machine tool products, customer service becomes a major… The post Okuma America Empowers Shops to Embrace Forward-thinking Possibilities appeared first on Fabricating & Metalworking.
In the metal-cutting industry, where there are several machine tool builders that build excellent and precise machine tool products, customer service becomes a major differentiator, noted Brandon Glenn, director of sales for Okuma America Corp. (Charlotte, NC). For shop owners it comes down to who you can trust to be your business partner, now and decades down the road.
Okuma America manufactures a variety of lathes and machining centers. It is the U.S.-based sales and service affiliate of Okuma Corp., a world leader in CNC machine tools, controls and automation systems. The company is the only single-source provider of CNC machines, controls, drives, motors, encoders, spindles and automation systems, all manufactured by Okuma.
Case in point regarding the importance of service after the sale, Okuma America announced at IMTS 2024 in Chicago that it is constructing a new global service and repair facility, set to open this year. The facility is an expansion of Okuma America’s campus in Charlotte.
The 35,000-square-foot facility will house Okuma America’s Technical Services and Support group, which will provide service and support for mechanical and electrical component exchanges, repairs and upgrades. Replacement components for Okuma legacy technologies will also be created at the facility. The warehouse will carry thousands of parts.
To further support its customers with innovative and leading-edge machine tools, controls and more, Okuma America spearheads the Partners in Technology network, a collaboration of more than 45 companies that service the metal cutting and manufacturing industry.
The network is known as the “Ultimate Machining Playground,” where partners create integrated manufacturing solutions and explore the metalworking industry’s next big ideas. Partners are involved in automation, chip conveyors and bar feeders; coolant systems; gauging; software; tooling and tool holders; workholding and rebuild services. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was announced as the newest member of the network at IMTS 2024. At IMTS, ORNL demonstrated Okuma’s MU-4000V 5-axis multitasking machine as part of ORNL’s integrated, multi-process convergent manufacturing Future Foundries platform. This platform is expected to open doors for hundreds of thousands of small- and medium-sized companies to join the convergent manufacturing revolution (which is one connected platform featuring subtractive, additive and monitoring processes, among others).
Okuma America also offers seven technology centers located throughout the Americas, one of which is the Okuma Factory Automation Division in Charlotte. The company has also placed its lathes and machining centers in more than 100 educational institutions across the Americas.
In addition to its customer services and industry and educational partnerships, Okuma America continues to innovate and offer cutting-edge machine tools and technologies.
“We’re really the only major machine tool builder that builds both the mechanical parts of the machine, as well as the electrical parts of the machine,” Glenn said. In fact, Okuma’s logo represents the merging of mechanical and electrical design to offer customers a complete machine tool solution. Since its founding in 1898, Okuma has grown into the single-source global leader in CNC machine tools.
“There is a great legacy and heritage that we stand on and in the CNC world, we are a premium class of machine tool,” Glenn said. “We hold ourselves to a very high standard on performance and precision and durability.”
Okuma America has maintained partnerships with some of its distributor partners for more than 40 years. “I don’t think there’s another builder-distributor relationship in the country that is that long standing,” Glenn said. There are nearly 2,000 sales, service, application engineering, and back office personnel that comprise the distributor network — all of whom are backed up by service staff and engineering experts based in Charlotte.
What this means for customers is the opportunity to scale up when it comes to machinery purchases to meet their needs as they expand their business. Metalworking shops can begin with entry-level, small and economical machines. If customers need lathes today and require machining centers tomorrow, they can do so through Okuma, Glenn pointed out. What’s more, customers benefit from the use of the same CNC machine control across all of Okuma’s platforms, which enables efficient cross training as a metalworking shop adds more equipment to accommodate its workload. Okuma has built its own CNC machine control since the 1960s, Glenn added, ensuring the machines perform well and last longer than other machine tool brands.
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Own an Okuma
Okuma’s newest control, the OSP-P500, made its debut at IMTS 2024. “Along with that new control, we have a new look and feel of the machine tool product in general with new paint, new color arrangements, and new panels on the exterior,” Glenn said. “It all feels a little bit more modern and appealing.”
Among its updated features, Okuma’s next generation CNC machine control offers greater processing power with dual-core computer processors; it also offers embedded cybersecurity features to protect operations and data; and on-board energy management to support eco-friendly machining capabilities. A Windows-based open-architecture platform enables ease of integration with applications at the Okuma App store and beyond. A full-color touchscreen is available in two sizes: 15” or 21.5”, depending on machine model.
Okuma’s OSP suite of controls also includes Okuma Connect Plan machine status and performance monitoring software, collision avoidance systems, and energy management capabilities.
The Okuma Factory Automation Division team in Charlotte is also developing and fostering the benefits and advantages of automation in the metalworking industry to support its customers. At IMTS 2024, Okuma America launched a proprietary new line of automated robotics — the Okuma Robot Loader (ORL) series. The ORL product series includes three products, all of which are designed to seamlessly load and unload workpieces from new and existing Okuma machines. With their compact footprint, each product utilizes FANUC industrial robot arms and grippers, which can hold a payload of up to 25 pounds.
The three ORL products are:
- ORL-D (Drawer) – A drawer-style workpiece storage unit with a standard template that holds up to 92 workpieces. An optional template can be purchased that holds up to 180 smaller workpieces.
- ORL-R (Rotary) – A disc-style workpiece storage unit with a variety of template options that can hold up to 166 workpieces.
- ORL-MC (Machining Center) – A workholding and workpiece storage unit for up to 288 workpieces. Patented MultiGrip
workholding allows users to automate multiple OP10/OP20/OP30 part numbers in high-mix, low-volume manufacturing.
Glenn said Okuma America’s goal with automation is to provide solutions direct from the factory that take the intimidation factor away by offering entry-level automation options. Shop owners do not need to jump into a cell that costs millions of dollars, Glenn noted. Once shop owners and operators familiarize themselves with entry-level machines they can take the steps toward customized automation cells.
Building on its history, Glenn pointed out that Okuma America continues to develop new automation packages and technologies. Many customers don’t know that Okuma America has offered factory automation systems in various forms for more than 30 years.
“One of the best values in our [automation] product lineup for machining centers are the pallet systems,” Glenn said. “It is a bulletproof system. It provides a great stepping stone into automation at a low cost. Operationally, it is flawless.”
Richard Childress Racing has historically been a job shop, which focuses on high-mix and low-volume manufacturing. Adding an Okuma pallet pool allowed the company to face challenges faster and more efficiently. It was able to reduce some of the setups from two hours down to 15 minutes. The net impact to the company’s productivity has been significant, Glenn noted.
When it comes to its machine tool line up, Okuma America spotlighted three machines at IMTS 2024, which made their first-time appearance in the Americas. The machines included the MA-4000H Horizontal Machining Center; the LB2000 EX III Horizontal Lathe; and the LB4000 EX III Horizontal Lathe.
The MA-4000H machining center is designed for heavy, high-performance metal machining for both mass production and variable-volume production runs. It is designed with one of the largest machining areas in its class, while also maintaining a compact, space-saving footprint. It is also equipped with Okuma’s proprietary “sludgeless tank” chip and coolant management technology.
Equipped with an A2-6 spindle, the LB2000 EX III Horizontal Lathe is designed to create finely tuned small parts or complex components when paired with optional MYW (milling, Y-axis, and sub-spindle) offerings. The machine is also equipped with a high-power, high-torque PREX motor built to deliver powerful, high-quality machining for heavy and high-speed cutting. This, in combination with Okuma’s Thermal-Friendly Concept that minimizes thermal growth during the machining process ensures machining accuracy and thermal stability.
The LB4000 EX III Horizontal Lathe is a 4-axis turning center that shares many of the features the LB EX Series is known for its strength of construction, thermal stability, box slant bed and operator-friendly design. It features a larger spindle and sub-spindle with increased power and capacity for turning and milling, making it ideal for demanding turning applications.
The LB-EX series is Okuma’s flagship lathe series of machines, Glenn said. “There is this trend amongst our lathe users to where they want more and more functionality,” he said. “Years ago, we built lathes with milling capability, and then we added milling with a Y-axis, and then milling with a Y-axis and sub-spindle to get more capability.”
Glenn pointed out the next evolution in the lathe category is the MULTUS series of machines, which are multitasking machines. They are lathes with a true milling spindle in the middle. “This combination of lathe and machining center is really the ultimate in multitasking,” Glenn said. “Today, more and more customers are willing to take that jump into the multitasking line by going to the MULTUS product.” Okuma offers the MULTUS B Series and the MULTUS U series.
There are many reasons for the move to multitasking machines, Glenn said, including price, automation and efficiency pressures, making more parts with less floor space, and making more parts with fewer operators, and operators with limited technical knowledge. “There are constraints everywhere they turn,” Glenn said. “There is this evolution in the industry where six or eight years ago, if I mentioned to a customer, ‘have you thought about going to a multitasking machine,’ they would say ‘I am not ready — let’s not even talk about that.’”
Okuma’s series of machining centers consist of the GENOS-M series and the MU-V series. Glenn said the best-selling machining center is the GENOS M560-V, a 3-axis machine. Its structural and thermal integrity is unmatched, resulting in reduced thermal growth and improved machining performance. It can handle a variety of materials ranging from titanium to aluminum, without sacrificing finish quality or productivity.
Today, the demand for 5-axis machining centers continues to increase. The GENOS-M series led to the creation of a new model, the GENOS M560V-5AX series. “It is essentially the same machine design, except with a trunnion on it,” Glenn said. “Again, it’s being able to do more metal cutting, more machining, with fewer operators, fewer machine tools — less of everything really.
“We want to give customers options to grow their business and their capability,” Glenn continued. “We want to enable them with this stepping stone kind of strategy.”
When Quality Service and Machining (QSM) of DePere, Wis., accepted a bid to manufacture an impeller out of zirconium for an industrial pump to serve an oil and gas industry customer, the company was confident in not only its team’s skills but also in the abilities of its Okuma MU-6300V 5-axis machine tool.
QSM took on this tightly spec’d impeller that other companies were not willing to manufacture due to the topography complexities and the highly flammable nature of the zirconium material. Not only did the impeller have a very unusual radius on the central hub, but other companies were not confident in their ability to provide enough coolant on the material itself to keep it from catching on fire during the machining process.
“The narrow nature between the fins and the radius on the inside of the fins required an extreme comfort level of working with 5-axis contour,” said Kyle Pizzey, CEO of QSM. “We were more than confident that our Okuma’s full-contour 5-axis features along with the thermal stability nature of the machine tool would allow us to make the impeller with no difficulties.”
After working around the clock, the QSM team not only determined how to successfully machine the impeller but achieved it on the first attempt — delivering a finished part within 79 hours. During this process, the Okuma MU-6300V provided QSM with the advantage to manufacture such a complex part with the zirconium material.
Future-focused: Embracing What’s Next
“I think it’s a fun time to be in manufacturing because you have a couple of things that previously did not exist,” Glenn said. He is referring to additive manufacturing and the “giga casting” manufacturing concept.
Okuma America offers an additive manufacturing line of machines. “We are going to be able to expand the scope of things we can make through additive technology — there is no doubt about it,” Glenn said. “But subtractive type of machining and metal cutting will always be required to make those parts or to finish them to some degree.”
For example, a vehicle chassis may have hundreds of parts or components. “Well, today, [with giga casting] manufacturers can make a very complex casting and reduce it to five pieces instead of 500,” Glenn said. (“Giga casting” is an advanced form of die-casting and uses high-pressure molds to form large parts.) “But that is going to then require a lot of very intricate and specific finish machining, too.”
Glenn said these two processes create an environment and mindset of very high performance, high precision metal-cutting machines to finish additive and cast parts. “And that is what we do: very high precision, high performance, high nickel alloys, and difficult to cut materials,” Glenn said. It requires processes that “Okuma America does and has done very well for the last 40 years. A lot of the industry is coming right into where we already are.”
Additive and giga casting manufacturing are changing the mindset of Okuma’s customers about how to process parts, and about what is possible. “We’re going to make all this new and interesting stuff in these new and interesting ways, and then we are going to automate it,” Glenn pointed out. “So, the frontier is wide open.”
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