Increase productivity by as much as 300 percent - new gear machining tools

In the fast-paced, rapidly growing aerospace, energy and transportation industries, gear components are front and center. Since they're often some of the most important, expensive and time-consuming parts to machine, optimized operations are crucial. To help its customers stay on the cutting edge, Sandvik Coromant has invested significant time, money and resources in the development of new gear-machining tools and solutions—many of which can increase productivity by as much as 300 percent, as compared to traditional gear-cutting tools and techniques. Watch the video to learn more.

Video Transcript

In the fast-paced, rapidly growing aerospace, energy and transportation industries, gear components are front and center. In many applications, they're the most important, expensive and time-consuming parts to machine; and with tightening technical specifications and increasing production demands, it's crucial that gear manufacturers in all industries optimize their operations.

The industry right now, fortunately, is booming. The industry worldwide is enjoying tremendous growth, great pressure, which is then allowing us to incorporate new technology. We have shortages in some case for machinery and we certainly have shortages for qualified people ... It is very beneficial to the industry to have smarter and smarter machine tools, more and more capable tooling, accessories that are used in the manufacturing process. We are able, through productivity gains to replace some of the shortfalls we have in the employees and the workforce.

To help its customers stay on the cutting edge, Sanvdik Coromant has invested significant time, money and resources in the development of new gear-machining tools and solutions—many of which can increase productivity by as much as 300 percent, as compared to traditional gear-cutting tools and techniques.

When I talk to customers today, they see us as a fresh breeze coming from the outside with our innovative solutions, and that's exactly what we wanted to do ... People know us from being the market leader worldwide within general machining. And they know there's a muscle behind what we're doing here ... this has not been a cheap ride, I tell you. But it shows our customers that there's not just commitment, but there is power, financial power behind what we are doing. And we are long-term thinking.

Sandvik Coromant's wide selection of indexable-insert cutters can perform a variety of gear-milling tasks—from roughing to finishing; what's more, new techniques from Sandvik Coromant are changing the face of gear milling altogether.

The key with it is flexibility, with the high-speed steel hob, you have to take the hob off and then reset the. Today, we can index the hob right on the machine. So we can take an insert and all we have to do is change out the insert.

I showed an example of a gear wheel that was produced by an HSS hob, which is the usual way of doing it, in 32 minutes. With our new product line, we are down to four ... going from 32 minutes down to four minutes—this is not an evolution, this is a revolution. And the customers today realized this was something they could just not allow themselves to ignore.

Invo-milling process is a great technological event in the gear-milling industry ... And what it does is it gives you the opportunity of taking advantage of the machining technology, which is 5-axis machining and programming, and use standard tools and form a gear out of that combination. Where before you had a special tool on a special machine, now you have a standard tool on a standard machine with special software.

To ensure the highest level of R & D, Sandvik Coromant works closely with industry-leading machine-tool partners. Customers have hands-on access to these collaborative insights, training and technologies—including the new Hofler HF1000 gear-milling machine—when they visit the company's Schaumburg, Illinois productivity center.

Finally, Yellow Coat expertise and support from a team of dedicated gear-milling specialists help customers identify and implement the best solutions for their needs. From the early equipment research phase to installation and runoff, Sandvik Coromant is there to offer the highest level of service and application support.

We provide support with every tool we sell, and we guarantee every tool we sell ... Our people train weekly, daily, overseas, here to get up to speed with this, and that's what we do with the customer. That's why I say we want to be a partner. We bring to them not only the tool, but the benefits of having the knowledge behind the tool.