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Machining businesses have been changing ownership or leadership with greater frequency in the last couple of years than at any other time during the quarter-century I’ve been watching metalworking. We are in a season of fundamental change for machine shops — change at the tops of these enterprises — and that change continues today. The most recent example I encountered was a soft transition, a shop owner I regard highly describing to me his determination to step back and let his daughters now run things. Other cases have involved more formal acquisitions and mergers. I can’t prove the claim I am making here; machine shops are often small, independent businesses, and I do not know of a data set that quantifies their rate of ownership change. But anecdotally, the conclusion has been hard to miss. I see shops today more frequently brandishing new names or taglines indicating recent ownership change or working through ongoing ownership transitions.
Mike Budde, who in the past has worked for other manufacturers, became a manufacturing business owner when he purchased the former Toolrite Manufacturing and turned it into Budde Precision Machining. His story is one of our cases of machine shop ownership change.
We wanted to understand and bear witness to this. Several recently posted articles (and one video) all report on machine shops that have freshly gone through a change in ownership. The types of these changes vary: We found examples of a merger, acquisition, generation change, a shop owned by one company being bought by another, a shop being purchased by another shop, and a shop that has been purchased by an entrepreneur.
Why is this happening? I believe several factors are coming together at once, some of them obvious and some less so. The aging into retirement of shop owners of the Baby Boom generation is obviously a contributing factor, but perhaps less of a factor than we might imagine. Industry as a whole, across various market sectors, has been slowly changing in the way it views, values and organizes manufacturing and machining. That, combined with demographics, as well as technology, is producing these shifts in who owns and runs machine shops.
What follows is a bigger picture. Here are more of the factors I believe contribute to this trend:
We all understand this one. A large cohort of the population, including a large share of machine shop owners, was born between 1946 and 1964. They are at or close to retirement age now.
This transition has come more slowly than expected. Wisdom in how to size up a machine tool or a machining job, as well as the trust of connections who are sources of machining work, all are assets that improve with age. Some shop owners approaching 65 found themselves at the most valuable parts of their careers, so they continued.
The way the leaders of machining facilities think about these organizations has fundamentally changed in some cases. Is a machine shop a collection of machine tools run by skilled people adept at applying them? Maybe yes. In this view, the machines matter a great deal in defining the shop. Or, instead, is a machine shop the set of resources that is governed by an enterprise-wide system for making parts? The distinction might seem subtle, but it is meaningful for shop leaders who have made this shift. And market-specialized quality standards such as AS-9100 encourage this paradigm change. In the latter view of the machine shop, the machine tools matter, but the system matters more — and machines and people succeed according to how well they work effectively within the system.
This better defining and disciplining of how a machining facility runs results in shops that function more like integrated units rather than islands around each machine, and therefore it results in shops that are easier to redeploy for new purposes or new owners. The system itself, once proven, might also be the template for building upon an acquired shop.
One category of technology is so valuable here that it might merit attention as a separate item on this list: enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Shops have gotten more serious about ERP in recent years. Commitment to an ERP system, and using that system to organize all a shop’s departments and operations, makes it easy for a shop to integrate its efforts with those of another shop in another location running on the same platform. If two shops have the same ERP system and follow the same commitment and conventions in using it, then in a very real way their language, culture and thinking are close to alike.
Cases of parts machined overseas that have literally been relocated to the U.S. might be uncommon, but that narrow view of reshoring overlooks the extent to which decisions about new production frequently favor domestic manufacturing. Manufacturing is migrating as new work gradually replaces old — a shift that was underway even before the pandemic taught the nation about supply chain vulnerability — and that migration favors acquisition. OEMs that want to hold manufacturing closer either acquire manufacturers who were formerly independent, or seek domestic suppliers that are large enough (perhaps because of their own merger or acquisition) to efficiently supply their needs.
The negative spirit once associated with manufacturing — dreary work, in decline, etc. — is now largely gone. That impression, as false as it always may have been, had an effect on the desirability of investing in manufacturing, and this cloud is lifting.
Today, the view of manufacturing by people under 40 is more fair. Plenty recognize it as an area of opportunity, an area of advancing technology such as additive manufacturing and the chance for significantly greater automation, and a pursuit that is in ascendancy given the trends of reshoring and reexamination of supply chains. Both financial investors looking for growth opportunities and entrepreneurial investors looking to commit their energy and attention are drawn to manufacturing now.
Machining used to be more regional. In earlier decades, a shop was more likely to get its work from customers in and around its home city. For many shops, of course, this is still true. But to a large extent, shops have shifted their attention outside their communities, focusing instead on customers nationally within the sectors the shop can serve well. And several pressures arise from this change in focus.
For example, within a region, a shop offering limited types of machining services can find the work just for these operations. But OEM customers outside the region are likely to prefer a one-stop shop with many services — a need encouraging the shop to merge or acquire. In addition, focusing on a particular sector leads to sector-specific costs that are easier to amortize across a larger organization (back again to quality certifications). Then there is simply sales and marketing: This, too, becomes a more sophisticated effort that makes more sense in the service of a larger organization.
In other words, much more than demographics is happening to drive machine shops’ changes in ownership. A new generation of shop owners is arriving, to be sure. But at the same time, shops are acquiring and being acquired because opportunities favor this, because technology and systemization facilitate it, and because how we think about machining has changed.
With the demand for machining accuracy and automation, CNC machine tools have been widely used in factories. These machine tools and the tools used come from different places and have different models and standards. This article will give a brief introduction to the field of tool holder , one of the important accessories required in CNC machine tool processing.
CNC刀把或稱刀桿The CNC Tool Holder is a "bridge" connecting the machine tool spindle and the cutting tool, and is responsible for the important function of connecting the upper and lower. The upper part mainly reflects that some parameters such as the performance, torque, and speed of the spindle are output through the tool holder; the lower part reflects the The tool holder needs to be clamped to achieve normal processing, which is related to the processing accuracy, tool life, and processing efficiency, and affects the final processing quality and processing cost. Therefore, matching the applicability of the knife handle under different processing conditions can give full play to the benefits of getting twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, it is very important to choose a suitable knife handle correctly. Since the requirements of various processing are not the same, the tool holders with different clamping methods are corresponding to it. Here, we briefly introduce the general characteristics of various knife handles as follows.
To choose a Tool handle correctly, you must first understand its classification method, and there are three ways to distinguish it.1. The specifications of the handle 2. The system of the clamping end 3. The consideration of machining accuracy and function
1. Distinguish according to the specifications of the handle; that is, the system in which the spindle of the machine and the handle of the tool handle can be combined.
The shank system is also divided into two categories according to the taper of the spindle hole of the machining center
HSK vacuum tool holder with a taper of 1:10
● HSK specification (DIN69893) has A, B, C, D, E, F but the commonly used specification is
HSK-A (with keyway) and HSK-E (without keyway)
Table of properties for HSK shank applicationsAnother: SK universal handle with a taper of 7:24
● BT specification (JISB6339) has two faces supporting BTT system
● SK specification (DIN69871)
● CAT specification (ASME B5.50)
● ISO specification
The above is the type of handle2. Distinguish according to the clamping end system; that is, the way the handle clamps the tool.
The clamping method is divided into two categories: direct clamping and collet clamping.
Directly clamped are:
● Hydraulic Chuck又稱液壓刀把The locking method of hydraulic expansion technology is adopted to quickly change the tool, and meet the high-precision requirements of yaw accuracy ≦ 0.003mm, and reduce cutting chatter to improve production efficiency by virtue of damping and vibration reduction performance.
● 熱縮刀把又稱燒結刀桿The heat-shrinkable clamping structure is adopted, and the inner hole is expanded by induction heating to clamp the tool, and then cooled to achieve the clamping effect.
● Power Milling Chuck SetYaw accuracy≦0.01mm, special needle roller design, reduce frictional resistance during locking, super strong clamping force, can avoid tool drop during heavy cutting.
● 側固式銑刀把Side locking tool handle, super clamping force, suitable for all kinds of heavy cutting.
● Face Mill ArborSpecial tool holder for face milling cutterhead, suitable for face milling.
Collet clamping (consisting of nut + collet + Tool handle body) are:
● HER collet ChuckThe trapezoidal thread and the unique structural design make the collet produce high rigidity and super strong clamping torque when clamping the tool, and it is highly versatile with the universal ER collet.
● PFK Collet ChuckThe collet is designed with a unilateral 4° angle and improves the gripping force of the knife handle.
● ER collet ChuckCombined with ER collets, it has high versatility and can be used for various processing.
● Tap Apapter HolderThe handle is specially designed for tapping, with different collets, you can choose rigid tapping or safe torque tapping.
3. Distinguish according to processing accuracy and function;Due to the different processing procedures and the selection of tool size, the selection of tool handles for heavy cutting or finishing is different. In addition, milling, face milling, drilling, reaming, boring, tapping, and even small diameter interference and edge cleaning The functions of corner trimming are different, so it is necessary to choose the corresponding function of the knife handle to complete
1.TAPER ACCURACY的部分:
Shank accuracy refers to the tightness tolerance between the handle of the tool handle and the inner hole of the spindle. This tolerance level is divided into 9 levels from AT 1 to AT9 (JIS 1947). The higher the tolerance level of the handle (the smaller the number), the better the handle of the tool handle. The tighter the inner hole of the spindle is. The shank of Yipuhui's knife handle and the inner hole of the spindle are all AT3 or the bonding area is 85%. The tolerances of HSK knife handles are guaranteed to be manufactured in accordance with the tolerance range of DIN69893
2. Parts of clamping accuracy and repeatability:
Repeat accuracy: The repeatability of the tool holder refers to the amount of change in the clamping precision of each measurement when the tool is repeatedly disassembled or clamped.
直接夾持系列刀柄，因為是直接夾持刀具，故在刀具重覆拆裝的重覆精度佳。Collet Tool HolderThe tool is clamped by collet contraction, so it is important to have high stability and high precision collets (HP and AA) and appropriate clamping torque.Collets and Torque WrenchesClamping accuracy: The clamping accuracy of the tool holder refers to the deflection after the tool holder clamps the tool. The measurement method is to clamp the test rod and rotate it 360 degrees at several times the length of the shank diameter and measure its deflection.
As shown in the figure, the tool handle clamps the test rod and fixes it on the measuring tool. Take point A as the reference point, rotate 360 degrees, and measure the deflection at point B or point C.Parfaite precision measurement is 4 times the diameter long position (maximum 80mm)夾持精度及重複精度對加工的重要性:
3.BALANCING的部分 :
Dynamic balance has been listed as the most basic index to measure a qualified knife handle together with the precision of the handle. The source of imbalance in a tool holder is usually functional, for example it can be caused by a set screw in an end mill holder, or by unequal depth keyways in a tool holder. These causes often appear randomly without certain rules, so no matter what the situation is, the user must finally try to compensate this imbalance in order to achieve the purpose of dynamic balance correction.
According to the ISO 1940 specification, the dynamic balance grade can be divided into 11 grades from G4,000 to G0.4. The lower the G number, the higher the dynamic balance level. G6.3 is the basic dynamic balance level of Puhui, and G2.5 is the optional level
Right Tool for your job! It has always been our philosophy to choose the most suitable tool holder to complete the cutting plan according to different processes and conditions during processing.
Below we will make a tool holder feature comparison table based on deflection accuracy, clamping force, clamping range, high-speed machining, and cost. Provide customers with a basic reference when choosing a knife handle
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Gabion. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.