Mazak promotes machining among students at ECP

The ECP is an association of and for manufacturing companies in South Holland. The main goal of the association is to promote the profession of machining and precision engineering. Mazak supports this initiative and has therefore put together two informative and interactive days. Among other things, the students were allowed to program and machine a workpiece themselves with a Mazak QUICK TURN 350MY.

"Promoting machining and precision engineering among young people is high on our agenda. Therefore, we made our demo space in Houten available to students of the ECP for two days. With some interesting guest lectures and a live demonstration on a high-end CNC turning machine with product automation, we showed the possibilities and opportunities within today's production technology," says Hugo Verlaak, Sales Manager at Mazak. 

The first day was devoted to knowledge sharing. The students were given a look at Mazak's extensive machine portfolio. Machining techniques such as turning, milling, multitasking and even 3D metal printing were discussed, with multitasking and 3D metal printing really catching their imagination. With the information obtained, the students were then tasked with picking a suitable machine tool to machine a particular part. 

"This job already involves a lot of expert knowledge. To pick the right machine, you need to know what machining operations are required, how many tools are involved, whether the machine needs a takeover spindle to machine two sides and so on. It was nice to see that the students came up with very good machine choices despite the short round of information," Verlaak said.

Machining cannot be done without measuring

After an informative morning with presentations on the capabilities of modern machine tools, in the afternoon the students from the ECP Expertise Center for Precision Technology received a guest lesson from Andes Meettechniek, importer and dealer of Trimos, Wyler and Sylvac. Metrology is an expertise within machining and precision engineering that has become incredibly important. Requirements for dimensional and surface accuracy have increased enormously. During the guest lesson, Andes Metrology showed the students how digital measuring equipment and digital storage of measurement data is part of a contemporary production process. This is all about simple, reliable and fast measurement.

Self programming and machining

On the second day, the students were really put to work in Mazak's demo room. After brief instruction, students got to work programming a challenging piece of work. Machining strategies, tools, simulation, everything was covered. After programming, the Mazak QuickTurn 350MY with product automation was turned on to actually machine the parts. "Mazak put on a wonderful program over two days to introduce the students to modern machining technology. By showing how beautiful, challenging and high-tech the manufacturing industry is, we can get young people excited about technology and reduce the growing shortage of skilled workers," says Arjan van Wijngaarden, Program Manager at ECP.

ECP Precision Technology Expertise Center

The ECP is an association of and for manufacturing companies in South Holland with knowledge of and a passion for precision engineering and machining. On March 29, 2019, the association was founded with the support of OOM and Koninklijke Metaalunie. By being a promoter of the profession of machining and precision engineering, the ECP puts the profession on the map. This by helping to ensure, in cooperation with Metalent, that high-quality, contemporary and hybrid education takes place in South Holland for both beginning professionals and employees.