NOVEMBER 20249MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTShigh for the aerospace industry. Structural parts carrying high flight loads are usually machined from billet material and assembled into the aircraft structure.The machining rates for these structural parts are very high; for example, a titanium structural support part has a raw material weight of 2460 kg, while after machining, the final weight becomes 140 kg, meaning 2320 kg of valuable material is wasted. Processes with approximately 95 percent stock material removal are very common in the aerospace industry.With the development of new technology, there have been major developments in the field of additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing allows parts to be produced close to its net geometry, making the ratio of processed material (waste) with respect to the stock material decrease from 95 percent to 5 percent. With this technology, most of the parts could be manufactured close to net geometry with surface quality that does not require machining. Once additive manufacturing technology is made suitable for mass production, the technological cost and speed advantages in the manufacturing stages will make this technology superior compared to casting and forging technology. It is believed that these developments will bring convenience and transform the machining processes.It is foreseen that the most important future change in CNC technologies will be digital transformation. State-of-the-art CNC technologies bring along opportunities such as being able to communicate with each other, store and transfer qualified information, most importantly, control them from a single center, and incorporate resource planning, thanks to its electronic control units. With this technology, large real-time data can be obtained from machines about the manufacturing process. Speed and efficiency increase in production can be achieved through providing real-time data such as deterioration, wear and display of error conditions on the cutting edges and by processing and making sense of the big data consisting of the sum of these data. An example is the processing of many critical data such as autonomous quality control, predictive maintenance, and tool life prediction in production. Thanks to a cloud system or central data storage systems, data can be exported and instant reports can be accessed. When combined with technologies that play a key role in the manufacturing sector of the future, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, it is estimated that the development of CNC technologies will go beyond what is thought. Today, where digital transformation and smart production are the focus of the business world, the change in CNC technologies is of great importance. With such innovative approaches, it is inevitable to reduce cost, increase quality, and improve business processes.
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