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EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine THE IDES OF EDM Today Magazine
CORNER
EXPERT’S
AUTOMATION
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
PART 2
by Feature Editor Brian Pfluger
EDM Today Magazine Introduction EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine
Brian Pfl uger is the EDM
A quick summary of the
Product Line Manager
Part 1 article aimed to
for Makino.
establish some basic
automation concepts and
Brian, who began his
introduced a structured list
manufacturing career as a tool
of items that need to be ad-
& die maker, has a wealth of
dressed BEFORE automa-
EDM experience and is one of
EDM Today’s “go to” experts.
Automation and robotics
He is also a regular contributor
are just tools in our manu-
to the OEM Q&A feature. tion can be considered.
facturing arsenal that are only effective when a proper plan is executed using a
stable process. As more shops consider and investigate automation, a reality
EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine article will dive deeper into automation styles and hardware and further defi ne
check is required with potential unrealistic expectations for automation to
be a universal solution to overcome all manufacturing problems. This Part 2
the potential shift in skill set requirements when integrating automation.
Before we examine more complex automation, we need to restate and stress
the fundamental need to establish stable manufacturing processes. This in-
cludes consistent programming and setup techniques, but also includes the
use of standardized and/or palletized work holding. There too exists a critical
importance in tracking and measuring machine utilization, because if you
don’t know where you are at, how can you make improvements and further
refi ne your methods? Tracking and measurement is the ultimate “proof” that
our manufacturing recipe is effective in completing our target tasks, but this
EDM Today Magazine in alignment to accomplish the end-goals to WIN! EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine
requires constant attention and reassessment! Every day/week/month is
like a new football game in the shop…we need to evaluate our team (people),
methods (game plan), and equipment (machines) to make sure everything is
Brian’s primary responsibilities
at Makino include providing
technical product information
and support to customers,
Automation – Level 1: Basic Automation
salesmen, and Makino
engineering groups. He also
collaborates with the Makino
one machine. The robot is considered a secondary device that is controlled
factory on new product design
entirely by the machine it is connected to. With this confi guration, the robot is
and technology developments. The most basic form of automation typically involves one robot serving
the slave and the machine tool is considered the master that controls every-
thing, meaning that the machine program sequences the entire job including
EDM Today Magazine
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today, Winter 2025 Issue
commanding the robot what/where/when to perform its duties.
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