“5ME to demonstrate break-through technologies at IMTS”

5ME brings its cryogenic machining technology and productivity-boosting software solutions to IMTS 2014, with demonstrations in the Advanced Manufacturing Center (W-10), Okuma (S-8500) and Makino (S-8700) booths.

The company's display in the Data Driven Manufacturing section of the AMC booth will demonstrate how cryogenic machining technology optimizes productivity, cost and resource control to produce higher quality parts with shorter delivery times and lower environmental impact.

Cryogenic machining on compacted graphite iron (CGI) produces up to a five-fold increase in finishing cutting speeds, and as much as a two-fold increase for semi-finish cuts on titanium. Its sustainability advantages include elimination of mist collection, filtration and waste coolant collection equipment, reduced energy costs and a safer, more healthy work environment. "Cryogenic machining reduces cycle times and energy consumption, while increasing throughput and tool life," said Pete Tecos, Executive Vice President Marketing and Product Strategy for 5ME. "It is a data-driven process because we can monitor temperature, flow rates, speeds/feeds, tool life, removal rates and energy consumption to enable greener, cleaner and more profitable production of hard-to-machine materials."

The Okuma and Makino exhibits will feature the new Freedom eLOGTM Dashboards module that allows users to create personalized views of shop floor asset data, as well as e$CORETM - a new report that provides a monetized version of manufacturing performance. A new user interface for manual stations and Andon status display stations will also be demonstrated. The interface uses the station's stack lights to indicate the current state of the machine, and make material or maintenance calls.

Freedom eLOG automatically extracts critical manufacturing data to produce web-based reports and analytics on asset utilization, availability, performance, quality and OEE. It is brand, asset and process agnostic and is MTConnect-compliant. The software integrates seamlessly with ERP, MES, maintenance and quality business systems and can be accessed anytime via smartphone or tablet device. "Customers using Freedom eLOG have reported productivity improvements of up to 50 percent," added Tecos. "The software provides real-time monitoring and analysis, machine diagnostics, and a comprehensive array of manufacturing metrics. The new e$CORE module demonstrated at IMTS provides users full transparency into manufacturing gains or losses in terms of dollars. The amount of money being saved or wasted in the manufacturing plant is at management's fingertips without effort."