Amada America Inc. has completed work on its newest North American Solution Center in Schaumburg IL. The 133,000 sq. ft. steel, glass and marble structure is set on 10.5 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds.
It is the second such complex built in the US. The new Solution Center features a large steel and glass showroom that houses an impressive array of automated fabricating systems, plus a full complement of standalone machines.
"More than 6,000 guests from across the world will visit this center each year," says Mike Guerin, Amada CEO. "We've built it for their ease of use, allowing them to benefit from the latest advances in fabrication and machining technologies."
In addition to a large variety of precision machine tools, the new Amada Solution Center will feature peripheral equipment, tooling, automated systems and software, which are intended to be far more than mere exhibits.
"They are advanced instructional tools," says Guerin. "They provide total solutions for a wide range of manufacturing challenges. The Solution Center will showcase the latest advances in automation, bending, laser cutting, punching, robotic bending and much more—all resulting from Amada's global position as a single-source provider for the manufacturing industry."
Laser Technical Center
This research and technical facility is a full service applications lab, a place to find answers and receive support. Here, visitors can take advantage of technical seminars, machine demonstrations and special skills training, while also exchanging information on laser processing, automated systems and technical trends.
The new Solution Center is designed to provide Amada customers and prospects with an ongoing resource for research and technical training. It will serve as a showcase for new technologies, allowing attendees to witness advanced systems operating in real time. In addition to the demonstrations, the facility features four Presentations & Proposals (P&P) Rooms for viewing video presentations and computer-generated factory simulations—up-close and in-depth ways to analyze not only what each system can do, but how it does it.
Manufacturing Verification Center
Here, Amada will showcase innovations such as VPSS (Virtual Prototype Simulation System), a verification-based system created by conducting a thorough analysis of customers' total manufacturing process. To realize this revolutionary concept, a Solution Package is provided to customers—a select menu of Amada products, all tailored to specific needs and engineered to make 24/7 green-light time a reality.
As customer demands for shorter delivery times and lower costs-per-part increase, the need for real-life, real-time automation and shop control expands proportionately. Amada is helping customers address these challenges through the digitization of production data and processes—the first steps in engineering innovative customer solutions.
Customers who have utilized VPSS and digital manufacturing techniques report such ongoing benefits as:
- Increasing machine utilization (up to 85%)
- Lowering costs per part, while reducing scrap
- Reducing direct labor costs—significantly
- Cutting lead-time—drastically
- Tracing products—accurately
- Moving set-up off the shop floor
- Managing machine productivity
- Gaining shop floor control—the ownership of information
- Retrieving & utilizing data
As far as Amada's Mike Guerin is concerned, "System Up is proof that Amada goes the extra mile. Its dedication to engineering excellence and unmatched product support has established, and earned, a worldwide reputation for customer satisfaction."
In summing up the reasons for building the new Solutions Center, Amada Co., Ltd president, Mitsuo Okamoto says: "This is a reflection of our commitment to integrate and apply Amada value-added tools to provide total customer satisfaction through engineering analysis, education, solution packages and technical support."