These automated guided vehicles (AGVs) at DMG MORI’s assembly plant in Tortona, Italy, will soon serve as active transport systems to guide DMG MORI’s universal turning centers through different stages of the assembly process. Source: Brent Donaldson, MMS

The French phrase “déjà rêvé,” or “already dreamt,” is the feeling that you’ve dreamed about an experience you are having in the moment. Like déjà vu with a surreal twist, this feeling snuck up on me during a recent tour of DMG MORI’s assembly plant in Tortona, Italy. I was standing in the middle of a large, open, white-floored assembly room lined with massive automated guided vehicles (AGVs) sitting dormant in neat rows around the edge of the facility. When these slow-moving robots are activated in the coming months, they will serve as active transport systems, using optical navigation and laser scanning technologies to guide DMG MORI’s universal turning centers through different stages of the assembly process. Standing in the middle of these towering robots-at-rest evoked a strong childhood vision of the future.

Like the steady pace of these AGVs — which travel approximately 1.77 inches per minute and are already in use at the company’s Pfronten, Germany facility — we are clearly moving toward a collective vision of fully-automated production. From small job shops to large captive operations, it is now common to find connected devices offering instant feedback loops, increasingly underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI). Robots and cobots are nearly ubiquitous. Digital twins and simulation are growing increasingly sophisticated. And at the center of it all is data.

Our May, 2025 print edition offers five stories that unpack data-driven manufacturing and showcase its role in a variety of shop settings. Incidentally, this is the first print edition of 91��Ƶ��վ�� in recent memory dedicated solely to a single technology topic (albeit a broad one) and how that technology is being deployed in real time at American companies.

Let’s start with AI’s role in discrete part manufacturing — a topic prone to wildly varying interpretations within our industry. “Enhancing the Shop Floor With AI” (page 48) examines AI’s function across a host of production steps, beginning with its ability to serve as a “CAM co-pilot.” MMS readers are by now likely familiar with AI technologies that help generate tool paths (arguably AI’s most common use today outside of predictive maintenance) but here we explore its ability to detect early signs of chatter, optimize energy use and even enhance ergonomics through human simulation. The article shows how AI can be used to amplify human expertise and allow shop-specific knowledge to seamlessly integrate with the shop floor. This article is clear evidence that AI’s capabilities will only grow as digitalization becomes commonplace in job shops, producing ever-higher quantities of AI fuel: data.

Our next story takes this principle and extends it into the CNC itself. On page 42, Senior Associate Editor Eli Plaskett offers an intriguing look at Gemineers, a German startup that has developed a machine-connected digital twin that captures spindle loads, axis motion and positional errors with ±10-micron resolution to provide real-time process insights. Gemineers’ closed-loop system doesn’t just simulate machining, it also predicts errors, diagnoses failures mid-cut and refines future production runs. By offering real-time feedback in addition to foresight, the company believes its digital twin is precise enough to minimize the need for quality inspection or at least shift its role.

Closer to home, LeClaire Manufacturing, an aluminum casting and precision component shop in Bettendorf, Iowa, offers a different method of tracing issues back to their root cause. On page 62, Senior Associate Editor Evan Doran profiles the company’s Caddis system, a custom, cloud-connected software platform developed by LeClaire that tracks essential metrics such as uptime, temperature, amperage and cycle times, then sets alerts based on deviations from each metric’s norm. By tracking essential data to inform real-time decisions, the Caddis system has reduced setup times by two-thirds, decreased unplanned downtime and increased machine utilization by 38% — all without investing in new equipment.

On page 54, Doran walks us through a different challenge when tracking data — how to make sense of it within a complex, interconnected workflow on the shop floor. While MachineMetrics has long been known as a machine monitoring provider, the company is evolving its platform into something closer to a manufacturing execution system (MES) by integrating machine data with ERP schedules and AI-driven analytics. In both high-production and high-mix settings, this rich data stew can be contextualized to provide real-time feedback on cycle times, tool load anomalies and production delays. Doran’s article shows how meaning, not just volume, represents data’s true power on the shop floor.

Finally, on page 58, Doran spotlights how Woodward Inc., a precision manufacturer serving the aerospace and power generation industries, has evolved into a true “digital factory” through Caron Engineering’s MiConnect software. Previously, Woodward spent months building custom APIs to connect its CNC machines to its SCADA software, but today, MiConnect allows them to not only streamline data collection from a diverse array of controls but also supports bidirectional feedback and facilitates real-time adjustments, robotic integration and automated tool compensations across sites. The story also reveals why this level of digital integration requires sophisticated engineers to helm the controls and showcases the critical importance of human expertise to maximize data-driven manufacturing technologies.

So what do these stories tell us?

Each of the companies highlighted in this issue uses data to enhance, not eclipse, human ingenuity. They use data as a force multiplier, but in distinct ways for distinct purposes. From small shops building their own monitoring systems to global producers synchronizing multi-plant operations, the lesson that connects these stories is clarity. The ability to see what’s happening at your shop is important, but understanding why it’s happening allows you to refine your processes and, ultimately, redefine what’s possible.

Mark: My father worked at another manufacturing company making gun drills. He must have done work on Saturday morning, so my brother and I had to go in and we were exposed to a larger shop.

They were making gun drills, and we were mechanically minded, so we loved it. We loved going in there. This was in the 1970s, when we were elementary school-age kids, and then we had tools. And then when he bought his plastic machine shop in 1985, I was in high school. And so I started working for him on the weekends.

Nancy: I was completely left out of all of the mechanical musing that were going on at our house. And I pursued a totally different path.

About 25 years ago, my mother was working together with my father in their business. She did the bookkeeping, and she wanted to retire. So they recruited me to leave my job in Boston and come down to Connecticut and work in the shop and learn everything about all the financial information, the tax information. I ended up doing a lot more than my mother did because I took over website advertising, customer service, things that she didn't do.

Mark: I approached Nancy and — we've always gotten along. We've always been like minded as far as siblings. We don't argue. We understand each other and it was a natural fit.

Mark and Nancy Rohlfs left their family shop to start their on January 1^st, 2006. Over the past 19 years, they’ve managed risks and opportunities to grow from a garage shop to a 10,000-square-foot facility producing plastic parts.

Nancy: I think that we were both ready for a new opportunity and wanted to make a change and it was at the right time in our lives where we could do both. Take some risk and start a business.

Mark’s the risk taker. I am more risk averse, which is probably a good balance between the two of us.

We don't come to disagreements too often because we always will go with “who's the expert on this decision,” and then they get to make it. So if you're not the expert, you can put in your two cents, but you don't get to make the final decision.

Mark: Yeah, even if I'm not the expert, Nancy still lets me make the decision if it affects my work and I'm the one working in that environment.

Nancy: Mark has a lot of “out of the box” schemes, and East Coast has been a good opportunity for him to test them out. And I like to remind him of the times he's made some questionable decisions. But for the most part, I say he's batting at least 95% on his schemes ending up working out.

Mark: What we learned is patience and stringing our finances along and being stingy and innovative. So you have to have years of patience and you have to have enough money upfront to string you along through all the lean years. And if you add one customer a year, you have to think, “Go 20 years out and this is gonna be something.” We take a long view.

Nancy: We're kind of in a small industry, which is — I think — good in a way. As long as you make a good product, you're reliable, you have good pricing and good customer service, it allows you to kind of differentiate yourself within a smaller group. The metal shops that are in the United States, or even our competitors, if they're doing metal they are much larger. And I think it would be harder to break into that business than plastic.

The joke is that some girls had Barbie dolls, and I had a centerless grinder. I was cleaning the shop, cleaning the tanks, helping with the shop. My brothers and I would be in the back seat, and when a truck would drive by with some steel rods we would write down the name on the trailer. Sometimes we would make calls — I remember cold calling places as a little girl, and my brothers did the same. And whoever got the business was excited. It was how we spent our family time, and looking back at it now at age 55, I have no regrets. I learned so much at a young age.

Source: Pioneer Service Inc.

As I grew up and became a woman, I didn’t see sustainability for myself in the family business — not because of my family, but because anyone outside our four walls that would come in. Whether it was a new employee or a truck driver, they would come in and ask, “Where’s your brother?” or, “What would you know?” “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that.” I honestly laughed it off at first, but I was just unable to be productive. I think it came to a head one day when my brothers were not in the office and I had to call the shots. Every time I tried to take an inch forward, I would get pushback. And in my mind, I really didn’t understand it. I didn’t know how male-dominated the industry was because I was only in my four walls with my mother working right beside me my entire adolescence. I saw that there was no way I could navigate through it, so I told my family I was leaving. The joke was that I would come back, and I said to my brothers I would learn how to say, “Do you want fries with that?” before I came back to the family business.

Fast forward, my uncle wanted to open his own grinding shop. He had also worked for my dad back in the day and I had a very good relationship with him, but I didn’t want to compete with my family. Although I was 23, a single mom with two very young children, I knew I could figure it out. So I told my uncle we’d do part grinding, but we’d focus on machining, and that’s how I joined Pioneer Service in 1993. My uncle was my silent partner from day one. 

Together, we built the company. We had Brown & Sharpes and Davenports. We had a lot of grinders, but we did piece parts, not bars, because my family was strictly bars. We would also solicit our competitors, who would send the parts they machined so we could grind them. I was wearing so many hats, back in the ‘90s and 2000s, so we expanded the team.

And then in 2012, we lost 90% of our business. A company bought up our top five customers, and as a small machine shop we unfortunately weren’t as diversified as we should have been. Looking at it in hindsight, I remember trying, but then you get a big order and you have enough work on your machines. You're in your own circle and you're not really learning anything. We didn't learn about new technologies. When I would hear CNC, I'd cringe. Fast forward, and we had to figure this out because failure was not an option. I was not going to close the doors. I was not going to send my employees home. I was forced to lessen the hours, but I wasn't going to lay people off. We didn’t, and we learned that we had to go into CNC.

We tried turning centers for a couple of years, but we weren't successful. We had a few jobs here and there, but we didn't have the support that we needed. The business was slowly going away, and so I did some research. I was taking courses and going to these events and conferences. I was taking notes and photos, and I would come back so overwhelmed. Then I learned about Swiss machining through YouTube. Not a competitor, but YouTube. I walked into the shop and said, “We're going into Swiss.”

They thought I was going crazy. They thought I had totally lost it, so I told them there's no other options. If we want high volume, we need to be high precision, and for us to do that, we needed to learn Swiss. So I started visiting Swiss machine builders and ran into Star. They became a fantastic partner and, I will never say that lightly. I will never forget the support that they provided. The Swiss made more sense. It was a lot of tighter tolerances, but now we have an order with thousands of pieces instead of 10.

Fast forward to 2021, my father retired, and he wanted to sell his shares. They called me and asked me to come back to M&M Quality Grinding, so I ate my words. But only because they asked me. I gave them the same condition I gave my uncle back in 1993: If I’m coming back, the buck stops here. I’ll be the CEO. I’ll run things. I’ll be accountable, but I also need the flexibility to make decisions. Now, they’re separate entities operating under one roof: M&M Quality occupies 70,000 square feet, and Pioneer Service is in 62,000. They were very old school, but like Maya Angelou eloquently said, “Once you know better, you do better.” And my dad was of my mindset. He would come and visit, even though he sold his shares, and he’s said, “I'm so proud.”

Reader Question: We expect to see a lot of growth this year, but are currently struggling to lock down key process decisions from job to job that create inconsistency. How do you recommend standardizing programming/setup techniques for a shop that is growing fast?

Miller’s Answer:

As the manufacturing industry continues down the path of reshoring —potentially accelerated by recent news and events — all shops are going to be pushed to grow and hire more. Rarely do new hires perfectly match your shop’s approach, so standards and a solid reason “why” are important to bring them into the fold quickly. This applies to young hires who need to develop their habits and even experienced hires who may have some habits from previous jobs. In fact, the habits might not even be that bad, they are just different from how your shop operates. Programming standardization is a great way to get the shop on the same page to eliminate mistakes and streamline communication across people or departments.

The Approach

I’ve been lucky in my career to trial a lot of different machinery and controller types. I can say I’ve run all the household names and all the major controller types that they come with. That’s not to say I know them all as well as some of you do, but that experience did teach me a big lesson: All CNC operations boil down to how you handle tool offsets, work offsets and programs. Meaning, all you need to get a rudimentary program going on any machine is to tell it how long the tools are, where the work piece is and to upload a safely formatted program. The rest is a matter of preference and performance.

How this applies to your shop: No matter how many machine brands or types you have, there are three categories that apply broadly to build your programming standardization. If you are a shop with primarily one or two machine types, then you can push this standard down one level further into how, why and when you may use specific machine functions as well.

Tool Offsets

The first decision I would make is how the shop is going to handle tool offsets. For tool length, some will be easy to decide, like flat end mills or boring bars, in which you will probably elect to always set the length to the end. However, tools like ballnose end mills might be set to full length or center of the ball (tool tip minus ball radius). Drills can be set to tool tip or full diameter depending on how you want to program drill depths. Tools that can cut on both sides like T-slot tools could be programmed to the front or back and need to be offset accordingly. As you may tell, all of these require a decision so that programmer, setup, tool crib and so on are all standardized to the same thing.

The second part of this decision may also depend on what’s easiest during setup. For example, a presetter may not be available, so it will be easiest to set all tools to their full length at the center of the tool in the machine. Another example is a contact tool setter, which cannot measure a drill’s length at the full diameter, but an offline presetter can. Very complex form tools may not have a good edge to preset in the machine, so using an indicator or touching off the table is the only viable option. Therefore, it’s worth it to standardize based on the resources available and how you envision programming your most common part features.

Work Offsets

The next decision point is where to set the work offsets on a consistent basis. Options here are endless, but some common strategies exist. First is the part itself. The center of the billet in op. 1 is common, while op. 2 may be a critical datum or the intersection of the A, B and C datums. Another is to choose a fixed asset in the machine, such as the hard jaw on a vise or the center point of a zero-point system. Another option might be ensuring the center of the rotary axes stacked on the table — meaning any riser, vises and so on — are just compensated for via the program.

All these options are valid, but should also be decided among the broader view of the shop’s operations. How often does workholding move in and out the machine? Is it critical that program coordinates to match the drawing coordinates for cases where accountability is key?

Programming

When it comes to program standardization, it should first be done with respect to how the tools offsets and work offsets were standardized. This is just a baseline to anchor the process and reduce “special cases” or odd instructions that could follow each job and create problems between programmers and those doing setups.

Secondly, while all controller types do take somewhat different code — sometimes very different — this is where working with your CAM supplier on the postprocessors will become key. I believe, as a baseline, all programs should have safe start blocks at the beginning of every tool so that processes can pick up seamlessly from any tool. They should also be well documented with good headers and a note of each tool. These simple procedures will make sure those at the machine know when the programs where made, and that they reflect the job they were meant for and can be operated with proper understanding of what is going to happen. From here, your shop can introduce other standards like when and how coolant codes are used and when to implement special machine functions, as well as develop procedures for safely recovering a process from failure, such as a broken tool.

While standardizing multiple employees who run multiple machines and balance multiple jobs a day can feel daunting, keep it simple and start with tool offsets, work offsets and programs. At the very least, you are streamlining setups and reducing the risk for errors like wrecks. From here, you can refine this process as the shops begins to embrace the standard and offers clever ideas of their own to implement further standards that safeguard operations. Before you know it, the “standard” will just become “how we’ve always done it.”

Do you have a machining question? Ask the expert. John Miller leans on more than a decade of industry experience to answer machining questions from MMS readers. Submit your question online at .

Automation Is King

Almost every machine tool on display at PMTS doubled as an automation display. Automation has simply become so vital to production for both high-production facilities and job shops that OEMs must consider it when designing machine tools.

One interesting feature of automation at the show was the prevalence of integrated automation packages: machine tools sold with standard automation solutions as part of the package. Methods Machine Tools, for example, showcased the Robodrill Plus K Max package, which pairs a full five-axis FANUC VMC with a compact integrated robotic automation system. It comes standard with 90 pallet stations for small-to-medium sized parts loaded into the machine with a FANUC robot arm. It has a 90-slot tool magazine in addition to the 28-tool turret already in the machine tool’s work area. One uncommon feature of this package is that users can customize the tool and pallet stations, combining stations for larger workpieces or replacing tool stations with additional pallets. This customizability is designed to enable job shops to adjust the machining cell to the variety of jobs that come in.

Haas provided a novel high-mix, low-volume automation solution in its booth, one the company’s team designed specifically for the show. A UMC 500 SS milling tool had a station of high-mix parts with various features but similar sizes, as well as diamond-shaped dovetails in the base of each workpiece. Both the robot arm and workholding were designed to clamp onto this self-centering dovetail with specialized grips. The robot would transfer a workpiece from the staging area to the workholding, and then the machine tool would use a probe to determine the diameter of the hole in the dovetail the robot had been gripping. Different machining tool paths were programmed to correspond to different hole diameters, and the machine would load up the corresponding program based on the probe’s measurement.

Muratec showcased integrated automation in some of its turning solutions, such as the gantry-loaded MSR60 on display. The MSR60 is a single-spindle turning machine popular with job shops due to its gantry-loaded automation system, which provides the chance to automate both high-mix and low-mix part runs. According to the company, the gantry moves at 240 meters per minute thanks to its carbon fiber construction, which provides excellent durability at a low weight.

Tooling is the Slice of Life

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a trade show with so many Swiss-type lathes on display, tooling designed for machining minute features into small parts filled the show. Kennametal, for example, showcased a number of micro-tooling solutions that use through-coolant to manage heat buildup. This included the Kendrill Micro line of drills that range from 0.5 millimeters to 2.9 millimeters, all of which sportthrough-coolant channels despite the tiny size. Guhring also showcased a line of micro mills with through-coolant channels. However, Guhring places the coolant holes further up the shank from the cutting edge to accommodate the complex geometry of the cutting tool. Both solution

Novelty Never Ends

One aspect of trade shows that remains consistent is the neverending supply of novel machining solutions. Derek Korn from our sister publication Production Machining covered the Nano, a desktop Swiss-type lathe that uses fully functional guide bushings. Maintaining the rigidity needed for Swiss-type turning at that size is an accomplishment in and of itself, but this machine does so in a compact space that runs on only 120 volts of power.

I spoke at length with representatives from , a machine tool manufacturer that supplies compact machine tools to both grade schools and trade schools to grow the pool of workers for the industry. The EDU Mini Mill can fit on a workbench at less than 3 feet wide. Working off of a FANUC control, the mill can machine metal parts and help students learn the ins and outs of machining at an early age.

Every booth had an interesting perspective and interesting technology. Moreover, the sense of community fostered by the Precision Machined Products Association running the show provides genuine excitement in both the exhibitors and attenddees, which makes attending the show a joy year after year.

AI can enhance shopfloor operations in many ways, including by aiding in the creation of CNC programs. All images provided by Siemens. 

As the push for digitalization continues across all industries, data is increasingly becoming the lifeblood of modern manufacturing. Standing at the cusp of the AI revolution, this has never been truer. Different areas of the manufacturing process already produce and leverage huge quantities of data in a variety of ways. But the sheer volume of this data means that many optimizations and key insights are left on the table.

While there are concerns about AI replacing workers, applying AI to part manufacturing doesn’t mean automating away people and processes. Instead AI-powered programs can act as a force multiplier, improving efficiency and productivity by augmenting existing systems. An example of this is a copilot in a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system, which can automatically generate toolpath suggestions by analyzing the 3D model of a part. Combining traditional production processes with smart data collection, AI and the comprehensive digital twin will be instrumental in achieving the next generation of data-driven manufacturing.

The Need for Industrial-Grade AI

While AI offers many benefits to part manufacturing, it must be applied with care. In the consumer space, the occasional error or hallucination might be acceptable. But in industry, where vast sums of money and even lives might be at stake, any mistake in production could have disastrous consequences.

To reap the benefits of AI in industry, the AI itself must be industrial grade. Answers returned by the model must be robust, reliable and repeatable so users don’t second-guess every result. Some features that set industrial-grade AI apart from other AI include continuous testing frameworks to ensure models are still giving expected results, automated processes that can check for correctness and software designed to keep humans in the loop for critical tasks. With a strong foundation in place, industrial-grade AI can then be leveraged in three ways to enhance part manufacturing: to optimize manufacturing processes, analyze manufacturing data and processes and generate manufacturing gains.

AI Optimizes Manufacturing

AI can accelerate many tasks in a machine shop or other production environment to reduce waste in labor and materials while improving production efficiency. AI is now being applied in many areas, including:

• Natural language processing (NLP) for interacting with maintenance manuals, production data and more through tools such as Siemens Industrial Copilot
• Energy optimization to generate data-driven insights that enhance the understanding of energy usage across production processes
• AI-driven CAM operation editing for faster completion of jobs

These are just a few of the ways AI is even now helping improve production efficiency. And as shops continue to invest in digitalization, the benefits of AI will also increase.

The Insights Hub Production Copilot from Siemens simplifies insights and quickly identifies root causes to prevent losses, as well as provides clear operator guidance, eliminating guesswork on next steps by recommending actions based on data and experience.

Analyzing Data for Bigger Gains

Connecting more advanced AI with shopfloor, design and production data will enable optimizations of everything from workflows to ergonomics through powerful analytics. Connecting all this information within tools like Siemens Insights Hub allows AI to be applied to everything from quality control reports to shopfloor production schedules for deeper analysis, which in turn unlocks new optimizations.

One big way AI can help improve production efficiency is through predictive quality. By analyzing defect data and correlating it with the production and performance data available from smart machines, it is possible to build an AI model that can identify key indicators of defects early in the manufacturing process. Catching these errors early will decrease waste of both time and materials. For example, chatter during a machining operation results in a sub-par surface finish and reduced tool life through uneven tool wear and tool breakage. Chatter marks are visible on machined surfaces, often showing as wave-like patterns or regular marks. AI algorithms can analyze data from various sensors measuring vibration, acoustic emissions, forces, current and more in real time to detect the onset of chatter. This allows for immediate adjustments to machining parameters before chatter becomes severe and affects part quality.

In addition to analyzing huge data sets, AI can expedite time-consuming analysis of specialized data and use cases, such as improving ergonomics for human workers. Repetitive motions can be physically taxing, especially if they require bending or reaching in awkward ways. While there is a certain amount of intuitive analysis that any person can do when it comes to repeated motion, assessing the long-term impact can be harder. By applying an AI model trained on ergonomics data and information about the mobility of the human body, we can assess the ergonomics of a particular set of movements from a single picture. AI-driven human simulation can analyze high-risk scenarios effectively. This information can then be fed back into the comprehensive digital twin to quickly and easily design a workstation that is both healthy and efficient to use, with parts and tools placed in intuitive, easy-to-reach locations.

The copilot in NX CAM automates the NC programming process, saving up to 80 percent of engineering time.

Generating Manufacturing Gains

One of the newest and most well-known forms of AI is generative AI, with its unprecedented ability to converse in a human-like way. In industry, generative AI is positioned to stand as a bridge between people and technology, making complex tools easier to use. Going forward, generative AI will likely be a key component of no- and low-code platforms, allowing users to program complex machinery through NLP. 

An AI-driven copilot can also significantly accelerate the creation of CNC programs, calculation of speeds and feeds, and validation of tool paths. Today, using CAM software to go from a 3D model to usable G-code can be a complex and time-consuming task requiring significant expertise in both CNC machining and the specific software. While the need for a human CNC expert isn’t going to change any time soon, AI, in the form of a CAM copilot, has the ability to speed up this process by making the tools more accessible while automating many of the labor-intensive manual steps. A CAM copilot can help to automate the creation of machining strategies for CNC machines, cutting programming time from hours to minutes.

By simply selecting a feature on the 3D model, a CAM copilot can produce several suggested combinations of operations, tools, feed rates and more for user approval before automatically filling in all those values within the software. At the same time, it can be trained to understand the production machines, instantly validating if a given design and tool path could be safely produced on a particular machine. 

These types of generative AI tools can also serve as a knowledge base, learning from expert users and past work to use manufacturing methods based on the shop’s best practices. A strong industrial-grade AI deployment keeps proprietary knowledge secure and makes it more easily accessible to new hires and veteran employees alike, while also ensuring that valuable know-how isn’t lost as employees move to new roles or retire.

Analyze, Optimize and Generate with Industrial AI

As the digitalization of manufacturing continues, it will become increasingly important that companies big and small are able to leverage their data to achieve quality, sustainability and efficiency goals. AI is and will increasingly be an important way of analyzing, optimizing and generating manufacturing improvements. With everything from simple insights to full-featured assistance, AI will be a vital part of bringing data-driven manufacturing to life as it can turn otherwise unused data into a goldmine for improving efficiency across the board.

One of my colleagues has always impressed upon me that the impact of surface finish is all around us — whether it be how items look (being smooth with a shine), how well the paint covers the item, how smooth an engine performs or even how well medical implants slide against each other.

Being this is a column for machine shop manufacturing parts, we have dedicated many topics to learning how surface finish works, the need for its measurement and the various standards and parameters available for proper surface texture analysis, either with contact or optical tools. However, there is another area of a modern machine shop where the measurement and control of surface texture are beginning to make inroads. It is becoming apparent that surface texture control will affect the look and performance of a concrete floor.

Walk into any newly constructed machine shop, manufacturing facility, big box discount store or modern auto showroom, and the first thing that might strike you is how good the concrete floor looks. There are many looks, from semi- to high-gloss finishes. But there has to be a balance with the roughness of the finish to ensure they do not become slippery when dry or wet.

Until now, the flooring industry has mostly been driven by how well a floor appears — using visual tools, such as gloss meter or comparison patches, to achieve the finished product. Customers may describe a finish as honed, semi-polished, highly polished or a mirror finish. The problem is that these are highly subjective terms based on visual “feel,” and often have different impressions from one viewer to the next. I hear that millions have been lost and enormous time delays have occurred because the involved parties could not agree on the finished look of the final product.

Today, the concrete flooring industry is beginning to realize the importance of surface texture and how it impacts the look and performance of concrete flooring. The good thing about surface texture is that it is measurable, quantifiable and even traceable measuring process.

The manufacture of concrete final finish, a polishing process with different grit sizes of abrasive medium, is used to achieve a finer and finer surface. Even with concrete, this finishing process produces peaks and valleys, just as with the honing or polishing processes used in the machining industry. As such, it becomes evident that standard surface texture parameters may be used to qualify concrete floor texture.

The most common parameter for roughness measurement is Ra. Since Ra is the Arithmetic Mean roughness of the surface, it may be a viable option for quantifying the finish of the concrete. As the parameter specification notes, it measures from a mean line between the highest and lowest point on the sampling length. Thus, Ra provides the average height between the sample peaks and mid-line in qualifiable units in inches or mm.

The ideal feature of today’s surface finish equipment is their portability. Modern, handheld instruments produce lab-grade measurements anywhere they can be placed. So, they are ideal for carrying to the work site and providing test results as the process is being performed.

As various sections of the new flooring are being worked on, constant measurements can be easily made, monitoring the process and ensuring that only the time needed to achieve the results is spent, saving unnecessary finishing. Once the results are achieved, measurements can be saved as a quantifiable number, and even a trace is available as a recode of the results.

While the industry may not have completed the standardization process for using Ra surface texture as the standard for flooring qualification, it is being looked at and worked on. Maybe someday a portable surface gage will be a common tool in the concrete flooring process. Processes must be developed to determine where and how often to measure the desired results for the various finishes, and under what conditions they are made. But like so many processes in the past, unless one can standardize, quantify the results and document them, only then do they really know and understand the requirements.

Concrete flooring is just another reminder that surface finish has a role in everything we see and touch.

Launched in 2011, Top Shops is an annual benchmarking program that identifies the key shopfloor practices and performance metrics that drive world-class competitiveness in discrete parts manufacturing. The personalized benchmark report you’ll receive is an opportunity to guide your shop’s improvement efforts and see where you rank among industry-leading machining businesses.

Companies ranging from mom-and-pop shops to large, captive operations can compare their performance against similar leading businesses and consider what changes they might make to emulate those top performers. 

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Each year, hundreds of shops across the U.S. participate in the survey and answer questions covering key aspects of their businesses. These responses reveal insights into the technologies, processes and tactics used by leading companies. After the survey closes on April 30, we will tally the responses and use the scores to determine the top 20 percent of shops, which we call the “Top Shops” benchmarking group.

Respondents are urged to complete the core survey by April 30, 2025, in order to receive a free, customized benchmarking report. Participating also gives your shop the chance to earn coveted “Top Shop” status and be recognized as an Honoree.

This year’s Top Shops Honorees will be not only be featured in the October print edition of 91��Ƶ��վ��, they will also be recognized and celebrated at our at the NASCAR Hall of Fame this November 11 – 12. This year’s event is set to be the biggest in the history of the program. 

I urge you and your shop to participate in this year’s survey. If you’re still not convinced, check out Making Chips’ episode above. In fact, the Making Chips team has to showcasing the Top Shops program and the benefits that it provides shops of all sizes. Put simply, 91��Ƶ��վ��'s Top Shops program is a pathway to excellence.

Machining 101: What is Turning?

Source: Getty Images

Turning uses a lathe to remove material from the outside of a rotating workpiece, while boring does the same from the inside of a rotating workpiece. Learn more in this article about the basics of turning. 

Source: PM

This Swiss-type requires only 120 volts of power, basic compressed air supply, weighs in at 150 pounds and needs a table that’s just two by four feet. Learn more about this desktop lathe from APSX in this article. 

Choosing Your Carbide Grade: A Guide

Source: MachiningDoctor.Com

Without an international standard for designating carbide grades or application ranges, users must rely on relative judgments and background knowledge for success. In this article, we breakdown what constitutes a carbide grade and how each element influences different aspects of machining.

Source: PM

In this article, Vallorbs Jewel Company gives their suggestions on training employees on a Swiss-type lathe. 

 

Second B-Axis Improves Efficiency of Swiss-Type Machining

Source: MMS

In this article, learn how a  highly stable, fully programmable B-axis on the subspindle of Nomura DS’s 20J3XBTC enables users to more quickly machine complex parts complete.

 

Source: GFH GmbH

This technology uses a laser to act as a cutting tool to "turn" parts from solid barstock. This high-speed precision turning machine is especially useful for micromachining, enabling high accuracy for small, complex parts that are often delicate and difficult to machine when implementing conventional turning processes.

 Buying a Lathe: The Basics

Source: Getty Images

Lathes represent some of the oldest machining technology, but it’s still helpful to remember the basics when considering the purchase of a new turning machine. 

Source: Tornos

In the late 1800s, a new technology — Swiss-type machines — emerged to serve Switzerland’s growing watchmaking industry. Today, Swiss-machined parts are ubiquitous, and there’s a good reason for that: No other machining technology can produce tiny, complex components more efficiently or at higher quality.

How to Start a Swiss Machining Department From Scratch

Source: MMS

When Shamrock Precision needed to cut production time of its bread-and-butter parts in half, it turned to a new type of machine tool and a new CAM system. Here’s how the company succeeded, despite the newness of it all. 

Source: PM

There can be hidden issues using legacy cam-driven lathes that can be overcome using new CNC technology. Here are three to keep in mind.