Manufacturing Today Issue - 228 Sept 2024 | Page 36

Cover Story ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Exciting developments
Like other businesses of its size , John Crane ’ s operations rely heavily on cutting-edge machinery and equipment . Mike provides a detailed account of the technologies the company has invested in to enhance its processes . “ We have embraced additive manufacturing capabilities with the implementation of a development and production additive manufacturing cell in our Slough plant and production cells in our Czech , German and US plants which are used to produce subcomponents in-house . It has brought along extra efficiency and creative freedom in designing new products . Additive manufacturing enables us to create items rapidly and cheaper as one-offs and mitigate supply chain disruptions . Moreover , it allows for completely different product design that would otherwise not be possible with extractive manufacturing processes like
CNC machining . Extractive manufacturing takes material away from a billet whereas additive manufacturing adds to the part as it is being made , hence the extra design freedom . By leveraging our additive manufacturing capabilities , we have designed a new subassembly that is being incorporated into one of our products , resulting in performance unparallelled by our competitors . We are also using it for production of standard parts in-house .
“ Another popular topic is Industry 4.0 , which refers to smart manufacturing . In line with it , we have introduced semi-automated and fully automated programming for our CNC machines . I believe this is something that is currently expected from most businesses . So far , it has helped us reduce programming setup time , increase our production volumes , and make us more agile . Besides ,

JOHN CRANE ’ S MEMBRANES PRODUCTION PARTNER

Since 1973 , Omas Stampi has been at the forefront of designing and manufacturing dies for blanking and cold deforming . With a proven track record of supplying membranes to global leaders like John Crane , we are committed to delivering exceptional quality and innovation .
• OVER 50 YEARS OF EXPERTISE in die design and manufacturing
• GLOBAL SUPPLIER of high-precision membranes
• ISO 9001-45001-14001 quality , health & safety and environment
• IATF 16949 certified for automotive quality standards
READY TO LEARN MORE ?
To discover how Omas Stampi can meet your production needs , visit dgitalmecshow . com / stand / omas-stampi /
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