New lathes generate newprofit center

Bryco Machine is a 23-yr.-old, modern-day shop specializing in CNC turning. They've built a reputation as a supplier of precision turned parts for industries such as electronics, medical, dental, fiber optics, wireless communications and more.

In 2004, Bryon Bettinardi, owner of Bryco, decided that he needed to expand his capabilities. More and more customers were insisting on short-run and prototype work in conjunction with the high-volume work that he was already doing. Attempting low volumes on his production machines with four to eight hour setup times was not productive, but he didn't want to lose these opportunities.

About five years ago,Bettinardi purchased a Hurco BMC30 for secondary operations. He found that it was productive, accurate and reliable, along with being fast and easy to program. Around the time that Hurco announced its new line of 2-axis lathes, Bettinardi was studying his short-run work when he realized it would be valuable to have two more small lathes. "The turning business has changed forever. The long-run, simple jobs have gone to China. When thinking about setting up a short-run operation, I realized that my 4-yr.-old Hurco VMC was fast to setup, and that I never had any service problems. So, deciding to use two of the new Hurco lathes was an easy decision," says Bettinardi.

One TM6 machine would be equipped with a bar feeder and would run low to medium volume jobs using the same quality bar stock that was being used on his production machines. The other would be used as a chucker or with a bar puller for the jobs in which a bar feeder would not be utilized fully. Secondary operations would remain on the Hurco BMC30.

With Hurco's conversational programming and verification graphics, programming and setup time were reduced to under an hour between jobs. The operator of the TM6 found that the quick setups saved time and that the unique verification graphics allowed him to see the cuts made on the control before they were actually taken on the machine. In addition, he estimates that this feature has reduced programming time by two to three hours and believes that machine stoppages will soon be a thing of the past.

According to Bettinardi, the Hurco lathes are producing high-quality, accurate parts with close to the same efficiency as the production machines. With the fast turnaround times now possible, via the Hurco CNC milling and turning cell, short- run jobs are now a new profit center for Bryco Machine.