Opening Our Doors for Manufacturing Day

Earlier this month, we hosted nearly 80 students from two local high schools for Manufacturing Day. Held on the first Friday in October, Manufacturing Day allows students to see first-hand the reality of modern-day manufacturing careers.

After an introduction to BIG KAISER and short video explaining the differences of modern-day manufacturing and manufacturing of years past, students were divided into groups for more in-depth discussions on tooling, workholding, tool measuring systems and the repair room.

The tooling station highlighted the variety of tool holders, boring tools, cutting tools and angle heads BIG KAISER offers. Students learned the importance of each product, as well as when each is appropriate to be used.

The importance of proper workholding the methods to stabilize a workpiece and the workholding products to do so were shared with the students. Different types of chucks and a demonstration of clamping knobs and pallets and their significance in multi-axis systems rounded out the discussion.

During the discussion on measuring instruments, students learned that tool presetters are invaluable for keeping the machine running and increasing tool life while obtaining precise and repeatable measurements. A few students had the opportunity to try to make an adjustment on a SPERONI ESSENTIA.

In the repair room, students got to see a completely disassembled angle head and learned the culprit for most angle head repairs is coolant-related. Our repair technicians shared the process for cleaning, reassembling and testing the angle head before being returned to the customer.

Finally, to test the students’ knowledge of their visit to BIG KAISER, they participated in a rousing game of Kahoot! Prizes were awarded to the winners.