Automation and a move to multi-axis machines are two of the most prominent trends in the milling sector right now.

“Automation has been a rapidly growing market segment. We believe that North American manufacturers recognize automation as a key to global competitiveness, minimizing the impact of low labour costs from overseas competition,” says Mark Rentschler, marketing manager at Makino.

“Manufacturers are not only requesting the automated technologies themselves, but the engineering support to effectively and efficiently integrate these systems for their specific production requirements. They look for automation and machine tool suppliers to be partners and consultants that they can trust to support them as they make this dynamic shift in production… our expectation is that integration of automated systems will continue to grow substantially in the coming years,” adds Rentschler.

“The more we go down the road, the more we’re automating. It’s getting to the point now where job shop owners who were reluctant [to automate], because they couldn’t afford the payback on it, are looking at it more and more,” echoes Rick Ware, vice-president of sales/marketing at Mazak, based in Florence, Kentucky

“As for trends in the milling sector, we continue to see increasing interest in automation and multi-axis machining,” says Scott Rathburn, marketing product manager at Haas Automation in Oxnard, California.

“The biggest trend we have noticed is the adoption of five-sided machining to reduce set-up time. Traditionally, if a shop didn’t have complex parts that required simultaneous five-axis machining, they wouldn’t even consider purchasing a five-axis mill. Now, before they just buy another spindle, shops are seriously considering (and often investing) in a five-axis mill even if they don’t have complex parts. Once they see the ROI, it’s an easy decision to transition to five-sided,” says Maggie Smith, media relations manager at Hurco, based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

There’s a move towards “process integration (combining more operations in a single machine or set-up). In the aircraft sector we are seeing more applications to machine tough materials such as titanium,” says Vince D’Alessio,

executive vice-president at Elliott Matsuura Canada, based in Oakville, Ontario.

“Certainly the notion of multi-tasking is going to continue to expand… you want to be able to do multiple operations that get as close to doing a part complete in one-set up as possible. This isn’t always possible, but that’s the goal,” agrees Randy

Von Moll, technical sales director at Fives Cincinnati.

Pundits were also asked if customers had been requesting anything new in their milling machines, such as more CNC controls, larger workpiece handling capability, etc.

“Customer are demanding better accuracy. Parts produced in North America are much more complex than in the past, requiring machines with better thermal stability and accuracy, more tools and good spindle/cutting performance,” says D’Alessio.

“Another frequently requested feature recently has been larger capacity tool magazines for enhanced spare tool selection. This is also in particularly high demand within automated facilities as they seek to extend their hours of unattended production,” adds Rentschler.