June 2007 Edition

Workholding Survey

MAN 2007 Workholding Survey Results

Modern Applications NewModern Applications News asked its readership about workholding products used in their shops; here’s what they had to say

by Pete Nofel, Editor

“You don’t know where to go until you know where you are.” In order to better serve our readership, MAN periodically conducts reader surveys to determine the state of the art in the job shop, OEM, and contract manufacturing environments. This gives MAN a foundation from which to measure the industry and track trends.

Workholding product use was the most recent survey. MAN contacted its readers and asked them a number of questions about prismatic and rotational workholding technology.

In the survey, prismatic workholding was defined as a workholding device primarily designed to locate and hold parts during machining operations, such as milling, drilling, boring, or other operations, where the part is held stationary and the tool is rotated to remove material.

Rotational workholding, for the purposes of the survey, was defined as a workholding device primarily designed as a rotational grip to turn parts while the tool is held stationary.

Many of the questions were multiple-choice with the readers asked to choose as many responses as applied to their situation. The responses in this survey are shown in percentage of responses.

Some of the survey results were expected, and some were surprising. All of the results were informative, so MAN would like to share them.

Be aware that interpretation of survey results is as much art as science. While experience in the field lends some expertise in analyzing the results, we don’t claim to be able to read minds. If you have different interpretations of the results, we welcome your opinions.

Primary Market Segment
To provide a basis to evaluate the survey responses, companies were asked to define their primary market segment. Since MAN’s subscribers are job shops, OEMs, and contract manufacturers, it comes as no surprise that the two top market segments were general machining – at 39 percent – and “other” at 21 percent.

An 11 percent response for aerospace reflects the growth of that segment with both civilian and military aircraft building at a recent high.

The specialization and machining requirements for the medical market – a segment for shops concentrating in that market – were refl ected in the two percent response for that category.

Somewhat linked, the automotive and energy/oil market segments were both at seven percent, although with the rise and volatility of the energy segment, that market may get a bump in the near future.

Number of Machines in a Shop
Once the respondents’ primary market segment was defined, MAN wanted to know the number of machines running in shops. Again, based on the typical MAN demographic, it wasn’t surprising that 76 percent of those responding to the survey said they had between one and 10 machines in their companies.

Coming in at a much lower rate, the number of companies with 11 to 25 machines was 11 percent.

None of those answering the survey had more than 50 machines.

Number of Turning Centers in the Shop
Turning centers seem to be one of the workhorse machines for most shops, with 70 percent stating they had between one and 10 turning centers in their fi rms. A small percentage – one percent – had more than 26 turning centers.

Single Most Important Factor When Choosing a Workholding Product
Workholding products are not commodities, according to the survey. Only 11 percent of those who responded stated pricing was the most important consideration when choosing workholding items. Company status is, by far, the most important decisionmaking factor in the survey: 26 percent said past experience with the company supplying the product was important, and 20 percent responded that a company’s reputation was of primary importance.

Only seven percent said country of origin was the most important deciding factor in making a workholding purchase [see Kevin V.G. Bevan’s related commentary concerning offshore purchasing in “The Last Word” column in the back of the magazine].

A one percent response to the importance of online availability as a primary purchasing factor may point out a couple of buying habits of purchasers. First, buyers may want to “kick the tires” of an item by viewing it in person before acquiring an item. Second, while the Internet may have gained importance, perhaps the reason for the low response is that purchasers are spending more time on the shop floor and less time in front of a web browser.

Two Most Important Attributes When Selecting a Specific Workholding Brand
“Tried and true,” summarizes the result of this question. Survey-responders were asked to select the two most important factors in their workholding purchasing. Near the bottom, with just a two-percent response, those answering said “New Product/Technology Development” drove a purchase.

At the top of the responses were reliability – at 58 percent – and resulting part quality at 42 percent. Shops want equipment they can trust to get the job done and get it done right.

Somewhat surprisingly, product support only garnered an eight percent response. Perhaps the comparatively uncomplicated nature of workholding equipment was the cause for this low response.

Most Often-Used Rotational Workholding Devices
Rotating workholding devices were defined in the survey as items designed to grip, locate, and rotate a part during a machining operation, such as turning or grinding, where the part is rotated and the tool is stationary. Respondents were asked to check all items that applied.

Jaw-type chucks were the most-used rotating workholders, with 89 percent of survey-takers replying that they were used in their shops.

Collet-type chucks came in second with a usage rate of 75 percent.

Not unexpectedly, the least-common chucks used in shops were specialty devices, coming in at a 24 percent response.

Most Often-Used Prismatic Workholding Products
By far, as the chart below shows, the most common stationary workholding device used is the single-station manual vise. It is used by 86 percent of the respondents.

The second-most common prismatic workholding devices were manual clamping components, used by 81 percent. The clamping components included such items as T-bolts, T-nuts, studs, clamps, and step blocks.

The third most-common products were 5C collet fixtures, used by 66 percent of those answering the survey.

The least-used products were trunnions at eight percent, and modular prismatic workholding devices at 12 percent.

Summary
From the results overall, most shops hold fast to tradition, be it loyalty to manufacturers, or maintaining the standard methods of workholding. While technology may change, it seems shops stick to the things that work best for them and adopt new ideas only after they have proved to be reliable and productive.

What do you think?
Will the information in this article increase efficiency or save time, money, or effort? Let us know by e-mail from our website at www.ModernApplicationsNews.com or e-mail the editor at pnofel@nelsonpub.com.