Mark Huneycutt, Principle of Equipment Engineering at Bell in the USA, gives us his point of view on the collaboration with SIP which started a long time ago.
Mark Huneycutt: Bell is a well-known manufacturer of commercial and military helicopters used worldwide. Their production of precision gearboxes is perhaps the best in the world. And one part of Bell’s success is the precision requirements of their gearboxes that provide high horsepower to low weight ratio. Bell is equipped with many types of machine tools and among them are 31 SIP machines throughout all facilities. Bell has worked with SIP over the years, primarily for the machine’s accuracy capability. SIP has improved their production solutions, which provide ultra-precision and repeatability for many years. Newer technologies such as tool measurement and probing capabilities have improved throughput, but the basic machine design hasn’t changed, and that’s a big benefit!
But it’s difficult to automate this type of a precision machining operation into a production process, which typically demands highly skilled human interactions with the parts. A challenging step to support an effort for a simple automation approach was to install a two pallet-changer for shortening the time of part-to-part changeover. The biggest benefits are related to operational efficiency improvements such as reducing setup cost, partto- part changeover time, and reducing spindle idle time. We are not reducing the actual machining time, but increasing production throughput. Now we can produce more parts in the same time frame with a pallet changing time of 1 to 2 minutes. The pallet changer integration with a high precision SIP will result in a very productive machine, with no loss in μm precision!

That was a very interesting example: What are the special features of your machines?
Adriano Della Vecchia: Most of our customers produce components with an extremely high level of accuracy. Just to give you an idea, some of the parts can cost around 50,000 USD after being machined. That means you cannot run the risk of breaking the part.

Does repeatability also play a role in spare parts?
Adriano Della Vecchia: Certainly! Some customers in the aircraft industry in the USA need to repair parts: They need to have the same level of accuracy and to use the same production configuration as when they initially made the part. And they know, that with our machine they can find the same exact position to reproduce the component to be replaced. This is very important for the customer. This way they are sure that the part will be exactly the same as the original.