Hardinge welcomed more than 750 attendees during their Machine Technology Show in Elmira, New York on June 6th and 7th. Turning, milling, grinding, automation, rotary and workholding applications were in motion in over 50,000 square feet of displays. Customer feedback included appreciation and praise of productivity seminars, plant tours and the size of the show itself. Twenty machines were on display including Hardinge and their brands - Bridgeport, Kellenberger and Jones & Shipman. Plant tours included eleven stops throughout the manufacturing facility, with presentations made by manufacturing team members, providing customers an insight on recent changes involving reorganization using lean initiatives and right-sizing of the facility.
Turning highlights included eight different part processes including small part manufacturing on the Hardinge Quest GT 27 Super-Precision turning center, super-precision hard turning on a Hardinge T42 SP super-precision turning center, and high production automation featuring a Fanuc M-10iA robot provided by Gosiger Automation, and Renishaw's new "Equator" comparative gauge used in the post process gauging of the hydraulic spool valve components used in the application on the Hardinge T51 super-precision turning center. Bridgeport vertical machining centers, ranging in table sizes from 300 x 400 mm up to 1600 x 700 mm, demonstrated small to large part production with versatility to include automatic pallet changers, fourth-axis capability and multiple part processing in a single set up.
Hardinge rotary tables and indexers were included in machining and grinding applications and on several freestanding displays. Highlights included the Hardinge GD-5AX-210 dual-axis, tilting rotary trunnion and their direct-drive, zero-backlash rotary tables. Grinding highlights included Kellenberger Kel-Vista and Kel-Varia universal OD/ID cylindrical grinding, Jones & Shipman TechMaster Easy surface and profile grinding, and Suprema 650 external grinding applications. An abundance of workholding products were on display including spindle tooling for all makes and models of machine tools. Custom workholding engineers were on hand to discuss individual gripping requirements for special applications. Also present were Hardinge experts for custom machine solutions.
The HMTS show attracted over forty of Hardinge's industry partners that participated in industry-related product and technology. Hardinge's three major distributors, Gosiger, Hartwig and Morris, brought regional customers in by the busload. According to Andy McNamara, director of sales and marketing North America, "The tremendous support and efforts from our distribution partners brought in twice as many customers and industry partners, while increasing show space by four times over last year's event."