It could be said that the Bridgeport Series I represents both the past and the future. The basic design of this turreted knee mill dates back to the late 1930s, when it was introduced by the Bridgeport Machines Co. of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Incorporating an innovative turret and swiveling ram, the Series I was quickly recognized as the most versatile milling machine of its day. Improved and refined over the years, the Series I held its position as the classic standard milling machine right up to the second year of this century. That year, the parent company of Bridgeport Machines encountered financial difficulties, forcing the Connecticut plant to close. Whether or not the Bridgeport milling machine would ever be made in the United States again was a question.

However, the investment firm that acquired many of Bridgeport Machines’ assets believed that the Series I was still very much a viable product. The firm soon identified a U.S. machine tool builder that appeared capable of returning the Series I (and its CNC version, the EZPLUS, formerly called EZTRAK) to production. After negotiations were completed in the fall of 2002, Hardinge, Inc. (Elmira, New York) emerged as the builder taking on the challenge to reintroduce this classic milling machine.

A variety of lean manufacturing techniques were implemented when Hardinge moved production of the Bridgeport milling machines to New York.

Remarkably, in less than 6 months, Hardinge has apparently met this challenge, taking the first Hardinge-built Series I to WESTEC in March 2003. In doing so, the company has not only kept the classic Bridgeport alive, but it has also made a strong statement about machine tool building in the United States. The company has contradicted all predictions that only low-wage sources overseas could build and market such machines economically. By early April, regular shipments of the Series I standard machine with power feeds on the X or XY axis were underway from Hardinge’s Elmira manufacturing facility. Production of the CNC EZPLUS machine was scheduled to commence shortly thereafter. The company has met its goal of being able to maintain the present pricing for these machines and says the quality and reliability standards also have been maintained or exceeded.

Hardinge’s rapid re-introduction of the Bridgeport milling machine may well become a textbook case history of how the principles of lean manufacturing can be applied. It is also a striking example of effective project management.
The Bridgeport production line in Elmira takes up floor space that is only 10 percent of the size occupied by the previous production line in Connecticut, yet it has 75 percent of the old line’s capacity. On the new line, cycle times have been reduced by 50 to as much as 80 percent. Further contrasts between the old and new lines are summed up in Table 1.

Of course, the company that has learned the most is Hardinge itself. According to Doug Rich, vice president and general manager of U. S. machine operations for Hardinge, techniques learned and refined on the Hardinge/Bridgeport line are being introduced elsewhere in the Elmira facility. “We had already started the transition to lean manufacturing. The Bridgeport line is helping us speed up the transition by giving us an opportunity to validate what we’ve already learned and to apply this knowledge in a startup application,” he says.

Bridgeport division manager Rick Elliott, who headed up the Bridgeport project, adds that there is no cookbook formula for applying lean manufacturing. “We drew on many sources for the principles and techniques of lean manufacturing. Our big accomplishment was pulling together what we needed for this application.” The new line applies such concepts as minimal piece flow, setup reduction, Kaizen (planned improvement blitz), Poke Yoke (error proofing), statistical process control (SPC), total product management (TPM), Kanban (pull through inventory management) and others.

r. Rich says of the effort: “I set some high standards for Rick and his team. Rick did the hard part—he took that vision and turned it into a reality with better than expected results.”

Hardinge seems to have secured a future for the Bridgeport Series I. According to Mr. Elliott, this future includes further improvements and evolutionary changes—not only to the production process but also to the performance and features of the machine. “A methodology for achieving continuous improvement on several levels at the same time is integral to the concept of lean manufacturing. From the outset, we knew our vision for the Bridgeport project could not be limited to maintaining cost, quality and reliability. It had to include a dynamic path to adding value, improving performance and enhancing reliability,” he says.—MDA

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/0603scan1.html

Mac Stripers wants to leave its mark on the world. After ten years in business, the manufacturer of road-striping equipment reports $2 million in sales and is looking to double its 12,000 square-foot facility. One element of that success came with the purchase of CNC milling equipment that enabled the company to keep up with the growing demand for its products.

Owner/President Mac Marcato is no newcomer to the road striping industry. His contracting firm has been striping the roads in the Alabama and Florida areas for 15 years. Mr. Marcato also had an interest in designing, and when he realized that he needed better equipment to meet his own company’s needs, he decided to design it himself. His designs worked so well, he began to manufacture and sell the equipment worldwide. Today, Mac Stripers are marking roads in Australia, Colombia, Singapore, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bermuda and the Virgin Islands.

At first, their design capability was limited by their manufacturing situation. Because most of their manufacturing was contracted to an outside supplier, it was time consuming and difficult to correct problems, like leaking guns, when they occurred. Mr. Marcato decided the solution was to bring all the manufacturing in-house.

“Getting the stuff in-house is a lot better because we have a lot better control over it,” says manufacturing manager John Bulger. “We can keep the quality up to what we want. We can change the parts quicker, too. If something comes up that you see is wrong, you’ve got it right there in-house,” he added, so problems can be corrected efficiently.

The company decided to invest in a Bridgeport V2XT CNC mill (Bridgeport Machines, Inc., Bridgeport, Connecticut). The V2XT is a 3-hp, knee-type CNC milling machine with a 32-bit control. This was Mr. Bulger’s first experience with a CNC machine, and although he had 18 years of experience in machine shops, he had no computer experience at all. The V2XT was easy to use, he says, more than doubling production speed and the three-axis machine gave him the capability to mill in two axes at the same time. Suddenly it was possible for him to do things in-house he had not been able to do before, such as milling around contours and circles.

For example, gun bodies for the striping machines took ten to 12 hours to do manually, and some procedures could not be done in-house. With the CNC mill, these parts can now be produced completely in-house in three hours.

The company was so impressed with the benefits of using the CNC mill that they bought a Bridgeport Discovery 308 vertical machining center and EZ-CAM offline programming software about a year after the initial purchase of the V2XT. “The little V2XT was just loaded all the time,” Mr. Bulger says. “Plus I wanted to do bigger and more complex parts.”

The Discovery 308 is a 7.5-hp vertical machining center with a 550-pound table load capability. It features an automatic toolchanger, which greatly increased the company’s productivity by automatically changing a tool in four to five seconds, as opposed to the 15 to 20 seconds it took to change manually. Plus there is no delay with the machine sitting idle while the operator is busy doing something else and can’t get back to the machine to change the tool. “When it comes to that part of the program, it’s going to make the tool change right then,” Mr. Bulger explains. “It just keeps on going and doesn’t slow down. That’s one of the big advantages with an automatic.”

The software system was a big asset, too. Now Mr. Marcato can do his designs in AutoCAD and give Mr. Bulger the part outlines on a disk, and he can generate the NC file in EZ-CAM. Complicated parts that used to take him two to three days to create manually can now be programmed in two to three hours. “On the simple parts, I’ve done the whole program in 15 minutes,” he says.

Design capabilities have been greatly enhanced by the CNC mills and EZ-CAM software. Previously, the design was limited by what the machine shop could actually make. “It’s helped in designing, and it’s helped me make parts faster and more accurately,” he says. Overall, the purchase of the Discovery 308 has increased Mac Striper’s productivity at least 300 percent, according to Mr. Bulger.

Until now, Mac Stripers has relied on word of mouth and trade show exhibits to sell their products. They recently hired a full-time sales person so they can continue to grow at a rapid pace.

Both Bridgeport CNC mills are running eight to ten hours per day, and Mr. Bulger is hoping to purchase another Bridgeport CNC mill in the near future.

Mac Stripers is now a solid believer in the value of CNC equipment and EZ-CAM software. “CNC saves a lot of time,” Mr. Bulger says. “And it increases your capabilities. You can just do so much more.”

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3101/is_n11_v68/ai_18335079

Auburn Engineering, Inc., leading provider of rapid prototyping and production services, announces the addition of two large high-speed CNC bridge mills. The latest generation of custom-built machines allows Auburn Engineering to cut large core and cavity simultaneously to meet aggressive tooling times.

Rochester Hills, MI (PRWEB) May 23, 2007 — Auburn Engineering, Inc., leading provider of rapid prototyping and production services, announces the addition of two large high-speed CNC bridge mills. The latest generation of custom-built machines allows Auburn Engineering to cut large core and cavity simultaneously to meet aggressive tooling times. The CNC bridge mills feature a 7′ wide by 10′ long bed and a high speed spindle.

The benefits of improved quality, reliability, and performance stemming from the CNC bridge mills have already been proven on the precision services Auburn Engineering recently provided to a Tier 1 supplier. The CNC bridge mills were used for tooling of the Hummer H2 instrument panel for the 2007 1/2 model year refresh of the popular vehicle.

Notes Reid Scott, president, Auburn Engineering. “By offering our customers the ability to cut large core and cavity operations simultaneously, we save delivery time and reduce the complexity of the molding process. This translates to compressed time to market, reduced tooling costs, and a more competitive delivery capability. We know these are key considerations for our customers in today’s competitive manufacturing sector.”

About Auburn Engineering
Auburn Engineering is a leading rapid prototyping and limited production company serving the product development community for nearly two decades. Auburn’s team of experts provides on-time, cost effective low-volume production molding and assemblies to automotive, consumer appliance, office furniture, medical and a variety of product manufacturers. A division of Dynetics, Auburn Engineering is headquartered in its Rochester Hills, Michigan engineering and rapid prototyping facility, featuring one of the industry’s finest tooling facilities, and comprehensive stereo lithography and selective laser sintering capabilities. Services include rapid prototyping, urethane casting, composite tooling, blow molding, aluminum tooling, injection molding, vacuum forming, metal casting, high speed CNC machining, reverse engineering, and CMM inspection.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/5/prweb527959.htm

The Bridgeport milling machine was developed in Bridgeport, Connecticut in the late 1930s. The machine had a uniquely designed turret and swiveling ram and became known as the turreted knee mill. The bridgeport milling machine quickly became a standard in machine shops all across the country.

A milling machine is one of the most versatile machines in the shop. Milling equipment can shave and shape flat and irregularly shaped pieces.These machines can also be used to cut gears, slots, threads and bore holes. The Bridgeport machines continue to be an industry standard as they have been updated a number of times over the years.

The milling table is an important component of the milling machine. The table holds the work piece and is used to move the work piece into the cutting tool. There are a variety of clamps and accessories available for the milling table to make holding work pieces of various shapes and sizes in exactly the right position much easier.

Milling Equipment Maker Falls On Hard Times

In 2002, the Bridgeport company ran into financial difficulties and was forced to close its doors. The bridgeport milling machine was so popular and important to small machine shops that the investment firm which acquired the Bridgeport assets quickly returned the standard turreted knee mill back to production.

Hardinge, Inc., which is based in Elmira, New York, returned the turreted knee mill back to production. Brand identity was so strong that the company retained the brand name and basic machine design. Hardinge, long recognized as a world-wide leader of cutting, milling and shaping machines, is now marketing the knee mills world-wide. For many, it is a welcome revival of the bridgeport milling machine.

http://www.insidewoodworking.com/milling-machines/bridgeportmillin.html

Bridgeport milling machines are amongst the best in the world for producing sophisticated and precision made parts for a variety of high tech applications. Bridgeport has become one of industry leaders in milling machines, selling their products to several different prominent auto, rail, and aerospace firms. While the average do it yourselfer will probably not be investing in a Bridgeport milling machine, a look at the technology used is extremely interesting.

Bridgeport CNC technology

One of the areas in which Bridgeport has excelled is the field of CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) technology. CNC allows machine shops to operate more efficiently, and also lets workers multitask more easily. This is because you can program a CNC milling machine to reproduce an exact replica of a schematic you input, whether it is a design for a high tech jet fuel pump or a simpler component like a manifold cover or engine block.

Bridgeport use CNC intuitively

Bridgeport mills with CNC have been developed to the point where very little operator input is required. While previous CNC machines may have needed extra commands to describe when tools needed to be changed, Bridgeport CNC mills have been pre-programmed to anticipate tool changes and perform them as necessary. Tool changes are completed in as little as four seconds, meaning the machine will be back milling your components fast.

In addition to having some of the most advanced CNC technology in the industry, a Bridgeport milling machine can achieve incredibly accurate tolerances. Bridgeport has also been a pioneer in the field of high speed milling, which allows for the rapid production and completion of components. Bridgeport high speed milling machines feature sophisticated cooling systems, which allow even materials that have been machined rapidly with a variety of tools to be cooled quickly.

Bridgeport mills come in a number of sizes and configurations. If you are looking for a smaller vertical mill so that an operator can work on custom pieces Bridgeport has several models to choose from. However, some of their most sophisticated models have three and even five axis CNC. These advanced technologies mean that your work stays in one place throughout the milling process, which ensures that you will get the highest degree of accuracy from Bridgeport milling machines.

http://www.insidewoodworking.com/milling-machines/bridgeportmi.html

CNC bridge mills offer an economical alternative to routers and large milling machines for producing large components under optional thermal control conditions

Ideally suited to light and medium duty metal cutting applications, XYZ Machine Tools’ new BRM CNC bridge mills offer an economical alternative to routers and large milling machines. Control is by way of the easy-to-use XYZ VMX-7 CNC, with Siemens’ Shopmill conversational or G Code programming systems available as an option.

Each of the six models in the BRM range is equipped as standard with a 24 hp high-torque, vector drive, spindle with a BT40 taper.

This provides speeds of 50-8000 rev/min as standard, with options of 12,000 rev/min, 15,000 rev/min or 24,000 rev/min.

Table sizes vary from 1220 mm by 2440 mm to 2030 mm by 3810 mm, while x, y and z axes maximum travels are 3810 mm, 2030 mm and 760 mm, respectively.

Rapid traverse rates of 25 m/min and a positioning accuracy of +/-0.025 mm over 300 mm (+/-0.12 mm over full travel) combine with a maximum component weight of 2270 kg to provide extremely cost-effective large machine performance.

Repeatability on all three axes is 0.01 mm, and machine construction features linear ways with axes protected by steel way covers.

Versatility is the hallmark of the BRM range, with options including a 24-station toolchanger, 4th axis, electronic spindle, digitising and thermal compensation.

Extended warranty and collision protection insurance can also be provided and, as with all XYZ machines, operator training is provided free-of-charge.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/xyz/xyz157.html

Bridgeport milling machines were first introduced through the Adcock & Shipley company in 1917, they have earned the respect of operators and customers around the world. Ownership of the organization has not been so stable.

Founded in Leicaster, England, Bridgeport Machines Inc. licensed Adock & Shipley to manufacture vertical milling machines in 1959. In 1973, Adcock & Shipley acquired by Textron and were later purchased by the Goldman Group in 1999. As Goldman faced Chapter 11 in 2002, the Hardinge Company began to explore ways to purchase the Bridgeport Machines aspect of the organization. Hardinge had been manufacturing Bridgeport’s knee mill products in the U.S. and did not want to see the demise of one of the finest lines of milling machines in the industry.

In November of 2004, it was announced that Hardinge Group had acquired the name, trademarks, copyrights, designs, patents, know-how, and all other intangibles associated with Bridgeport’s machine tool business throughout the world. However, due to the receivership, Hardinge will not be acquiring the Bridgeport manufacturing operation in Leicester.

It is hoped that Hardinge will continue the Bridgeport tradition of producing quality cnc milling machines, which include 3-axis vertical, horizontal, high speed, and simultaneous 5-axis machines. The company is also expected to continue to offer the inspection, installation and commissioning, applications, technical support, customized training, financing assistance, and after-sales service Bridgeport customers received under the Goldman Group’s ownership.

http://www.insidewoodworking.com/companiesbrands/bridgeport.html

Buying a Bridgeport mill will change the way any small or large shop operates. That is because mills made by Bridgeport lead the industry in technological advances, efficiency, and reliability. Bridgeport supplies mills for many different industries, including a large number of auto manufacturers and aerospace firms. The reason these companies choose Bridgeport is because Bridgeport builds their mills with the most advanced technology and backs them with a commitment to ensure that these machines will last a lifetime. Do it yourself millers will rarely find a Bridgeport mill in their price range, but looking at the technology of these mills will make them wish they could.

The Company

The Bridgeport Company began in 1917 as Adcock and Shipley, manufacturers of many different tools. The company grew slowly for several years, but when they began making milling machines in the late 1950s this growth became exponential. Bridgeport now has suppliers and manufacturing plants in several different countries around the world, and produces some of the most exciting and precise machining centers in the world.

Bridgeport mills

Bridgeport mills are the first choice of almost every industry that demands precision milling. This is because Bridgeport produces some of the most accurate and reliable mills in the world. By purchasing a mill from Bridgeport these high tech firms (such as aircraft and race car manufacturers) know that they will get accurate milling, even over the course of a production run that may run into hundreds of the same milled item.

The CNC mill – Bridgeport’s specialty

One technological area that Bridgeport pioneered was the CNC mill. CNC mills use computer programming and robotic gantries to produce materials that are far more accurate than a human could produce. With a Bridgeport CNC mill any manufacturing plant can produce milled parts that will be identical down to the millimetre over hundreds or even thousands of items. It is understandable that companies that makes airplanes, then, would turn to Bridgeport to ensure that the parts they use will be produced to exact tolerances every time.

Bridgeport CNC technology is intuitive, so that operators only need to input specifications for the product. Once these specifications have been entered, the CNC mill decides for itself what tools will be necessary and can perform tool changes in less than four seconds. With accuracy and speed like that, it is no wonder that many manufacturers choose a Bridgeport mill.