horizontal machining center suppliers

Many machine shop owners and managers will roll their eyes when they hear the term “Horizontal Machining Center” and say: “I can buy three Vertical Machining Centers for the same price.” While this may be true, you will also need the same number of operators and three times the floor space!

Here are three excellent reasons to consider a Horizontal Machining Center (HMC) over a Vertical Machining Center (VMC):

Spindle “On” Time Translates to Lower Costs and Higher Profits

Surveys done by machining publications, universities and manufacturers found that the average spindle on time for an HMC was 85%, while the average for a VMC was 25%. With an eight-hour shift, this means the HMC will be cutting for 6.8 hours while you will only get two hours of cutting from the VMC.

If you take it out further to a weeks’ worth (eight hours a day x five days) of cutting time, the HMC gives you 24 more hours of cutting time—and about 1,250 hours more productivity over the course of a year. Using the average shop rate of $125 per hour this advantage will generate $156,000 more in revenue per year (and even more if you operate more than one shift per day).

Less Operator Intervention

The main reason for higher spindle on times with an HMC over a VMC is that there is less movement or repositioning of the part. Let’s say you have a square or rectangular part that has features that need to be machined on all six sides. With a VMC, the operator will need to stop and reposition the part at least six times.

During this repositioning, the spindle is not cutting and you are at a risk for loss of accuracy or, even worse, scrapping the part with every setup. On an HMC, you only have to reposition the part three times, which reduces the chance of a bad setup by half! With a pallet changer, this repositioning can be done while another part is being cut—increasing spindle on time even more. An additional benefit from less movement of the part is reduced errors during part handling that will increase part quality.

Reduced Overall Costs

With reduced part repositioning and more spindle on time, one HMC can replace three VMCs—along with the operators and floor space required for the additional machines. These factors will reduce your overall manufacturing costs and open up floor space for other machining equipment without you needing to make extra capital investments in expanding your shop or, worse yet, moving to a bigger facility. HMCs are also capable of more automation—such as multiple pallet changing as well as vastly larger tool storage and changing capacities.

So, although it’s true that typical Horizontal Machining Centers are more expensive than Vertical Machining Centers, the higher level of productivity you can achieve with an HMC can deliver a larger and speedier return on your investment. Furthermore, there are compelling productivity, cost, and quality reasons to at least consider an HMC where you might have initially thought a VMC would be the machine of choice the next time you're thinking of adding a spindle to your shop.

Conclusion

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