The Value-Add of Collaboration: How Outside Partners Can Drive Growth

When customers think of AMROK, the first thing that seems to come to mind is “leaders in tombstone manufacturing”, and that is certainly a reputation we are proud of and feel we have earned. However, what customers may not realize is that tombstones are just a small segment of our company. Through the years, we’ve also cultivated a reputation for building and maintaining strong partnerships within the industry, which have proven mutually beneficial to growth.

As our AMROK sales engineers have developed a comprehensive understanding of how to incorporate the best systems in the industry to provide the ideal turnkey solution to our customer, we’ve begun to work closely with certain preferred brands. In many cases, this has led to strong supply partnerships and favorable pricing arrangements with these brands. 

One example is our new partnership between AME’s AMROK workholding group and Martin Trunnion Tables. Our AMBUSH machine design component, a squeeze bushing developed by AME, is currently being utilized to solve a problem faced by Martin’s Trunnion customers. 

Michael Martin, of Martin Trunnion Tables, explains it this way:  “Our relationship with AME began many years ago when we were developing our hydraulic braking system. We decided to use their squeeze bushings, in a somewhat unorthodox way, to improve the rigidity of our line of Stallion Trunnion Tables. The squeeze bushings are integral to the design of our hydraulic braking system, which is sold on roughly half of our trunnion models.”

This is just one example of the synergy between the business units at AME. The AMBUSH squeeze bushing is not typically a workholding product. It’s a product from the machine design components group, but Martin is an innovative machine design thinker, so we worked together to incorporate the squeeze bushing in his 4th axis workholding solution to solve a common problem for his customer.

Customers Over Competition

Every time a part is handled or indicated, there is an increased risk of scrapping it. Martin’s Stallion trunnion table minimizes this risk through 4th axis milling. By offering 360-degree rotation, operators are able to machine multiple sides of a part with as little handling as necessary. However, as trunnions increase in size, it becomes more difficult for the standard indexer brake to hold them in place. 

In light of this, Martin utilized AME’s hydraulic braking system to allow for heavy off-center milling and drilling. With up to five times the clamping torque of a standard rotary table, fixtures maintain rigidity throughout the manufacturing process. The brake resides on the outboard support of the trunnion and clamps simultaneously with the indexer brake.

According to Martin, “AME has always been a very reliable and responsive vendor for us, and they are now an even better partner. We [at Martin Trunnion] always knew that we were completely missing out on the Horizontal Machining Center market with the absence of a line of tombstones, and they felt that they [at AME] didn’t have enough to offer Vertical Machining Center users, specifically in 4th axis machining. With all of this in mind, we adopted each other’s lines of products.  The AMROK Tombstones are incredibly versatile, and we liked that AME offers them in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials.  They also have a vast and very well-built line of modular work holding products that we were very interested in offering on our trunnion tables.”

Type AST squeeze bushings are designed to resist torque as well as axial forces. The squeeze bushing clamps only to the shaft, not the outer diameter. The axial load is transmitted only through the bushing ends and the torque load is resisted by the bushing flange. Provisions to resist axial force and/or torque must be provided.

Tech Specs of AMBUSH Squeeze Bushing:

• Made from high-quality alloy bronze or spring steel with a special plastic molded over the slotted squeeze surface.

• Hydraulic pressure acts upon the molded sleeve, compressing the bushing radially over the entire length between the seals. This squeeze-action locks the shaft to the bushing without introducing any shaft movement.

• Very accurate clamping for fixture and machine tool applications.

• Built for hydraulic pressures of up to 5,000 psi (340 bar) depending on diameter.

• Customizable for high-pressure applications of 10,000 psi and up.

Innovative Integration

Our mission at AME, first and foremost, is to make our customers successful. It has been our longstanding experience that by putting customer success first, we guarantee our own.

Partnerships like this one with Martin Trunnion assure that there’s no need for our customers to go anywhere else to get the fixture they need. 

“This relationship serves as a great example of open innovation and how it can greatly improve customer satisfaction and product quality. Especially in manufacturing,” said Martin, “where it is easy to adopt a sense of closed innovation, a mindset in which everything must be developed in house.  Both companies [Martin Trunnion and AME] could have eventually developed their own lines of tombstones and trunnion tables, but it made entirely more sense to utilize the expertise of the other.” 

Alvin Goellner, National Product Sales Manager for AME said, “I’m a firm believer in working together with my “competition”. In this industry, only foolish companies try to beat each other up. We keep our customer’s needs in focus and if that means we need to work with another company that could technically be considered our competition, then we will. There’s endless opportunity for all of us if we can be creative and open to working together. That’s really the idea behind the build our “Build on the Rock” initiative. Martin Manufacturing is one of our key partners and we’re building our companies together and that will make the industry stronger as a whole.”

For information about the AMBUSH squeeze bushing visit:  https://www.ame.com/ambush-ast-inch

It's only fair to share...