If you want to bring a successful product to market, you must manufacture it on a large scale. Possessing the right tools for this purpose is essential. In this guide, you will learn about the most common machines used in manufacturing. Let’s look at which tools you need to get a manufacturing plant up and running.
Machining Tools
For those who don’t know, machining refers to various activities related to removing materials from pieces of work equipment, which manufacturers call workpieces. Some of these materials include metal, plastics, rubber, and wood. If you need to dig a large hole into something, you will most likely use a boring tool.
Milling tools have multiple blades for cutting complex holes that are often non-circular. Other types of machining tools include drilling tools, cutting tools such as saws and shears, and turning tools such as a lathe.
Welding Machines
Burning or welding machining technology helps you cut through the most durable workpieces. Laser cutting tools use high-energy light beams to melt, vaporize, or burn through a workpiece. Laser cutting is an effective way to imprint a logo into a material or cut a metal surface with extreme precision.
Plasma cutting is when you melt off any unwanted remains from a workpiece using electric sparks. This electrical arc takes the inert gas surrounding the workpiece and transforms it into extremely hot plasma, which melts off the unwanted material. Oxy-fuel cutting is when you mix oxygen with other gases to cut through a material with flames.
Computerized Machines
In the 1940s and ’50s, manufacturers used some of the earliest computerized machines to store data. The technology back then involved punch cards or perforated paper tape. Now, everything is digital, and one of the most important computerized machines is the computer numerical control (CNC) machine.
Computerized machines automate labor activities by following instructional programs. This process improves the accuracy, productivity, and efficiency of manufacturing activities.
Depending on your industry, there will be plenty of other specialized equipment you will use for manufacturing. Now that you know some of the most common machines used in manufacturing, you should understand which tools you need to get your business up and running.