Factory Fills Market Gap with Steel Rotor Shafts
This article details Siemens Norwood’s implementation of a CNC mill-turn that enabled the company to manufacture steel rotor shafts to be used in Above NEMA electric motors, meeting a market demand for larger frame sizes, higher speeds and larger and stiffer rotor shafts.
The WFL M80 mill-turn performs bores, taps, turns, mills and drills on five axes sequentially in a faster time and with less supervision, also eliminating former waste and potential risks.
Many of the existing machines at Siemens Norwood are over three decades old. Consequently, the motor factory decided it was time to purchase a new CNC machine when it faced a market change that requires larger frame sizes, higher speeds and, thus, larger and stiffer rotor shafts. To face this challenge, a WFL MillTurn Technologies M80 mill-turn was acquired.
The mill-turn aids in the manufacturing of steel rotor shafts to be used in Above NEMA electric motors. When these shafts arrive as raw material, several modifications, including welding, turning, milling, drilling and tapping procedures, must be made before they can withstand the extreme torques inside a motor. Historically this performed on separate machines, with the transitioning between those multiple machines adding setup time, creating transportation waste and increasing risk of scheduling conflicts. The M80 mill-turn, however, can perform all these procedures sequentially in a faster time and with less supervision.
This allows Siemens Norwood to fill a major gap in the market and meet customers’ needs. In the article “Mill-Turn Saves Time and Meets Market Demands” Production Machining looks at how Siemens Norwood is using the mill-turn to significantly improve its lead time and reduce manufacturing costs while gaining valuable experience for other manufacturing equipment coming to the facility in the future. Read it here.
