Report on JIMTOF

Manufacturing Engineering, Jan 1999 by Aronson, Robert B

Innovation continues despite political problems

Japan's 19th International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF) ran from October 28 to November 4 with a total attendance of over 120,000 of which nearly 8000 came from other countries. Divided into 10 halls, the 76,000 m^sup 2^ area contained exhibits from 763 manufacturers. In addition to Japanese machinery, the show presented equipment from 18 countries including 79 exhibits from Germany, 39 from Switzerland, and 47 from the US.

Market History. Japan's machine tool industry has been battered by troubles not of its own making. Confused banking and government policies are blamed for the industry's problems.

In 1990 Japan's machine tool industry recorded record sales of $12 billion. By 1993, this had slipped to $4.6 billion. A partial turnaround occurred by 1997 when sales reached $9.8 billion. Increases for 1998 are expected to be moderate, with orders for the first half of the year totaling $4.5 billion. That's down from 1997. Meanwhile the number of workers in the machine tool industry fell a whopping 28% from 1997, the last available data.

Despite continued instability in banking and political circles, most Japanese manufacturers seem confident of a turnaround within two years. Not all believe there will be a return to the previous sales volume. Local markets, chiefly simple one and twoaxis machines have been hit hard.

To save and expand their markets, Japanese machine tool builders are pursuing the following tactics.

Stress giving the customer what he needs. Stay away from unnecessary bells and whistles.

Take advantage of concurrent engineering.

Stress quality and safety.

Consider the environment.

Reduce cost.

Stress higher accuracy.

Develop open architecture.

They are looking at 50,000-rpm machines as standard with feed rates at 60 m/min and linear motors increasing feed rate to 100 m/min. The old accuracy of 10(mu)m is now passing, with 1(mu)m not uncommon, and some specialty machines achieving 0.1(mu)m.

Japanese machine tool manufacturers have conceded the loss of much of their domestic market, and plan to make up that loss through sales of more sophisticated products that will appeal to the US and European markets. (See comments by Masahiro Murakami on p. 64.)

Here are some example of how they plan to do it.

Keep it clean. When ISO 14000 is enforced, companies will need to be very careful of contributing to pollution- particularly disposing of contaminated coolants, swarf, and chips.

One of the ways to avoid contaminated cooled is through dry machining using tools with special coatings. The indications are that a number of these coating configurations will be acceptable for the Japanese and European market. But the US may be slow to come along, because the problem of disposal here is not as severe as in Japan. Machine tool makers in Japan are now investigating both advanced coatings that extend tool life and water-based coolants, which represent a reduced disposal problem. They are particularly interested in dry machining for die making. One of the favorite coatings is a blend of titanium and aluminum, a material the Japanese have been working on for some time.

One of the ways to avoid chip problems is to sweep them up at the cutting face. Sumatomo and Mitsubishi both now offer versions of such equipment. A sweeper/spindle combination picks up chips at the cutting face. The Mitsubishi design comes in different versions for all the major metals.

Hitachi Seike's Eco-Eco design includes self-lubricating way bearings. All the oil needed is carried in a pad on the bearing. This eliminates oil drip and minimizes coolant contaminaion.

"Wind tunnel cooling" of the motors replaces a Freon gas and oil system formerly used. It reduces both pollution and operating cost. The same design minimizes machine distortion by mounting the coolant tank near the rear of the bed, distributing any temperature increase to the front and rear of the head stock. Consequently, the entire bed maintains thermal balance.

Better Measurement. A family of CMMS from Mitutoyo can link directly to a HMC for real-time correction of a machining operation. After the operator loads parts on the machining fixture, the CMM measures rough parts to check their location and calculate offset. These offsets go to the CNC while parts are being machined. Finished parts go to the load station and are measured. Trend data on surfaces, edges, and locations are indicated to the machine tool CNC for verification after every cycle. There is no off-line inspection and process feedback is continuous.

Much More Precise. Mori Seiki is also working for higher precision. Two of their more high-tech units will be offered in the second half of 1999. One, the HVM 600 horizontal machining center, will employ linear motors made through an agreement with Ingersoll. It will have a traverse rate of 76.2 m/min and an acceleration rate of 1 g in X and Y and 1.5 g in the Z axis.

The company's CH-400 compact horizontal machining center will come equipped with a magnetic spindle. The table will be fixed and the spindle, capable of a top speed of 12,000 rpm, will move in three axes.