AXILE opens new Canadian facility

Machine tool builder AXILE, Taichung City, Taiwan, opened its first North American Applications and Technology Center in Windsor, Ont., during a grand opening and machine demonstration event held Sept. 28-29.

The facility allows the company to provide applications expertise, machine demos, and parts and service support to both local manufacturers and distributors as well as manufacturers across Canada.

“We built this facility to help build AXILE’s presence and brand here in Canada and help the local mold and diemaking community as well as other machine shops in aerospace, defense, medical, and telecommunication here and further abroad,” explained Joe Poulin, sales and marketing manager, North America.

The company used the event to introduce its ART system to the manufacturers in attendance. Described in a video message from company Founder Dr. Paul Chang as the “Holy Grail of Industry 4.0,” the system focuses on gathering data from real-time machine monitoring. This monitoring includes not just the control and program, but also the machine’s systems, vibration, power consumption, oil levels, and temperature.

Helping to celebrate the event were some of AXILE’s partners, including Blum, CAM-Tool, FCS system, Kennemetal/Widia and HEIDENHAIN. The steel for the cutting demonstrations was supplied by local metal supplier Ellwood Specialty Metals.

“We use Blum laser on every 5-axis machine and the HEIDENHAIN control on 95 per cent of our 5-axis units,” said Poulin. “With the combination of these technologies, manufacturers can get the highest of precision out of their machine and use the full power of 5-axis.”

Machine demonstrations were performed on the company’s G6MT 5-axis mill-turn machine; G6MPC2, a 5-axis machine with automation; and MC2 3-axis machine.

The new facility’s address is 5900 Rhodes Dr., Unit 2, Windsor.