Questions about Precision Machining? Ask Index

Rather than just putting machines on the floor and hoping visitors will ask about them, Index Corp. is spinning the usual show dynamic a little differently.

The company challenges show visitors to “Ask Index” key questions, the answers to which can help them ready their businesses for the next five years or more.

One such question might be: How much faster can a thread be whirled? Orthopaedic parts such as bone screws and pins are produced by the thousands. That’s why fractions of a second in cycle time matters. If cycle times are squeezed even a little, it can result in a fair bit of cost savings. Did you know that Index has a process on its Traub lathes that is said to cut thread whirling cycle times in half? That comes in twice as fast as conventional methods used in the field now. And you can see it on a Traub TNL20 sliding headstock automatic lathe at the Index booth.

As Tom Clark, Index President and CEO, has pointed out in IMTS messages leading up to the show, “If you come to IMTS looking for new technology and meaningful productivity gains, visit us at booth 338136, where you’ll find high-volume, high-accuracy turning machines that get the job done.”

“The biggest challenge we face is getting customers who haven’t considered our type of solution to look at it more seriously, and that’s really what we do at IMTS,” says Clark. “Our goal is to enable customers to make their parts at the lowest price with the highest accuracy. Many times, the most expensive machine can make the lowest-cost parts.”