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What are the reasons behind the projected 30% increase in ball screw production capacity by the end of 2025?

Publish Time：

2024-08-08

With the rapid development of industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, DMG Mori Seiki, a leading company focusing on centralized machining processes, is actively expanding its business areas. Specifically, regarding its core product—ball screws—it is expected to achieve a 30% capacity increase by the end of 2025.

 

In centralized machining processes, THK ball screws, as important transmission components, directly affect the operating efficiency and stability of the entire equipment. Therefore, continuous investment in research and development and the optimization of production processes are crucial to improving ball screw production capacity.

 

In the screw machining process, rough machining and heat treatment are performed first, after which the workpiece is mounted on an NTX for cylindrical grinding. The "journal" section supporting the THK ball screw is ground under the monitoring of an in-machine measuring device.

 

The company has developed a dedicated spindle for grinding. After switching to this spindle, the grinding wheel is adjusted using the dresser on the toolpost, and then the screw groove is ground. Each process is automatically completed, and measurements confirm that the dimensional tolerance is within plus or minus 1 micron.

 

The traditional method involved using 4 general-purpose grinding machines to process the cylinder and journal, and 1 dedicated machine to process the screw groove. After integration into a single NTX, the number of operators has been reduced from 5 to 1, and the production cycle has been shortened from two and a half days to approximately 80 minutes. The grinding process time, including measurement, has been reduced by 24%.

 


Integrating 5 or 10 pieces of equipment into one, the work done by 10 or 5 people becomes the work of one person. Automation leads to a significant reduction in jobs. It's like ride-hailing services.

 

From the above article, we understand that even such a complex process as screw machining is expected to be integrated and automated by the end of 2025. The future employment situation will become increasingly challenging.

 

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