Machine Tool Service for Mass-Production Machining Systems

Mass-production machining systems that are comprised of machine tools are often configured in series by dividing the machining processes in order to manage the large production volume. This indicates that if one of the machines stops owing to a mechanical malfunction, the entire production line needs to be stopped. Thus, machine tools in mass-production systems are required to be highly reliable and easy to maintain. Predictive maintenance, which enables operators to detect any signs of failure in the machine tool components, needs to be performed for the machines as well. In this work, various approaches for the improvement of the maintainability of machine tools used in a mass-production system are reported.