Shimada
Shimada – the first company in the world to develop and manufacture a CNC-controlled six-spindle automatic lathe – is Japan’s leading manufacturer of camless CNC automatic lathes with six and eight spindles, as well as dual-spindle indexers, designed to maximise production capacity. Turning bar stock can be both space- and time-consuming – Shimada’s machines challenge that perception.
Shimada was founded in Japan in 1947 and is one of the leading suppliers of multi-spindle lathes. Since then, the company has continued to develop its products to offer customers turnkey solutions featuring 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-spindle lathes, together with automation to enable an unmanned production process.
Through its unique, patented multi-spindle solutions, Shimada has been able to offer customers worldwide a truly unique return on investment (ROI), by enabling the lathe to be loaded and unloaded with one or two chucks whilst in operation, and as changing the chuck(s) takes just one second, the effective turning time is significantly higher. On a traditional lathe, loading and unloading time is usually estimated at around 20–25 seconds.
The launch of the 4-spindle horizontal HS4200 lathe opened up new customer segments within the automotive industry and other sectors with high production volumes. Together with the vertical 4-spindle lathes and the 6- and 8-spindle multi-function lathes with bar feed, they have succeeded in carving out their own niche within the machining industry.