GlossaryKind of term: Manufacturing termMachine park
What is a machine park?
The machine park is the set of production machines a company or site runs, with what each one can do: type, axes, work envelope and automation.
It may include machining centres, lathes, mill-turn centres, grinders and EDM machines. Each machine comes with the properties that decide which work it can take: machine type, number and kind of axes, work envelope, spindle power and speed, tool magazine, control, achievable accuracy and automation such as a pallet changer or bar feeder. Whether CMMs and ancillary equipment count is a convention that differs between companies.
What decides what a machine park can do?
What a machine park can do does not follow from the list alone. Two machines of the same type differ in options, wear, thermal behaviour and the workholding and tooling that come with them. Whether a part can go on a machine depends on the envelope, kinematics, access to the features, spindle data, table load and the accuracy the machine actually holds. People count too: a machine without a trained operator or programmer is of limited use.
How does the machine park work in practice?
The machine park decides which routes you can offer and which work you subcontract. Many shops cost with an hourly rate per machine or per machine group, built up from depreciation, floor space, energy, maintenance and the expected productive hours. One average rate across all machines can make simple work on a cheap machine too expensive and heavy work on an expensive machine too cheap. How large that effect is depends on the spread in machine costs and on which work lands on which machine.
What is the machine park often confused with?
A machine park is not capacity. The machine park says which machines are on the floor and what they can do; capacity is about the hours available on them after shifts, maintenance and existing orders. A shop with a broad machine park can still have a bottleneck on one machine.
How do you see the machine park in Blake?
In Blake you record each machine with its envelope, axes and own hourly rate. For a part, Blake shows a first check per machine on envelope and axes, with the deciding limit; that is not a verdict on manufacturability. The machining line uses the hourly rate of the machine in the route and is labelled as an estimate. More on the factory.
Frequently asked questions
Do you cost with one hourly rate for all machines or one per machine?
Both are common. A rate per machine or machine group follows the costs more closely, because depreciation, floor space and productive hours differ per machine. One average rate is simpler, but moves cost between simple and heavy work.
What do you need to know about each machine to assign work?
Envelope, number and kind of axes, spindle power and speed, table load, tool pockets, automation and the accuracy the machine holds in practice. Which workholding and which people are available counts as well.
Does a CMM belong in the machine park?
That is a company convention. If you cost inspection at its own rate, it is practical to list the CMM as its own item. Otherwise inspection usually sits in overheads.