"We have separated the machining process for gears into four easily manageable sub-processes," says Peter Loetzner, president and CEO at EMAG L.L.C. "In OP 10 and OP 20, we use the VL 3 DUO dual-spindle vertical turning center to machine both sides of the gear blanks. In OP 30, we do the gear hobbing on our VL 4 H gear hobbing machine. The final chamfering and deburring of the finished gear in OP 40 is done on our VL 2 RC or VL 2 CC, depending on what technology is used, Chamfer-Cut or Roll Chamfering.

The pick-up automation system integrated into each modular machine features a parts storage unit for blanks and finished parts, from which the machine is automatically loaded. With this system the machine can achieve chip-to-chip times of only a few seconds. The vertical construction of the machine not only guarantees an ideal chip flow, but also prevents the formation of chip clusters, contributing to a consistently high quality of production.

The interlinking of machines is easy to implement due to the consistent transfer height between the automation systems of individual machines. In addition, the separate energy cabinet allows the use of the new EMAG TrackMotion automation system specially developed for modular machines. The automation, system located directly behind the machining area, transports the parts and also operates as a flip-over unit, which increases the flexibility of the entire system.