A New Environment for the Tornos SwissNano

Tornos latest product launched, the SwissNano, is a remarkable machine in many respects. Produced entirely in Moutier, Switzerland, the SwissNano is assembled in an equally exceptional setting.

The Manager of the new SwissNano Center, Mr Giovanni Ladarola highlights some of the philosophies implemented and how the machines are built on the new production line: "Firstly, we have grouped together all the machine's assembly and adjustment operations in bright, modern premises. It’s a real pleasure to work in this environment. The machine follows a logical flow through several steps. It all begins with receipt of the enclosure. Once this arrives, assembly of the electrical cabinet can begin. Meanwhile, we also begin assembling the mechanical components here at the SwissNano Center."

"The assembly of mechanical components starts with the cast-iron base, which is phase 1 of the assembly process. A significant proportion of the machine is assembled around this part. The cast-iron bases are placed on rotating jigs to facilitate the work of the assembly technician. The first phase in the assembly process lasts 8 hours. During this operation, the guide components are fitted into the machine. Rails, ballscrews, slides, motors and guards are all attached to the base of the SwissNano. The spindle and counter spindle are also fitted to this central component. Once these two components have been adjusted, the guarding is fitted and the base is moved to the assembly line on a special support. All of the necessary tooling and equipment is within arm's reach on each workstation, enabling our fitters to work quickly and efficiently and to consistently achieve the high levels of quality our customers expect from us."

The SwissNano is a machine that is fully built in Switzerland with all of the machined components produced in Moutier. Even the high precision spindles are built close to the Tornos headquarters. as Mr Ladarola continues: "Once the spindle components have been produced, they are assembled in our ‘spindle centre’. This centre not only assembles the spindles for the SwissNano machines, but also for all the company's machines. The spindles are the core components that are the key to our machines performance. They must therefore be assembled with the greatest care and there is no room for error, they must be flawless. This is why they are produced locally and assembled on site. Before being fitted on the machines, they are subjected to a battery of tests to check their performance levels."

Once phase 1 is finished, the cast-iron base joined to the enclosure. This is just like a car production line, where the bodywork is attached to the chassis. The SwissNano cast-iron structure is assembled on the base that already contains the electrical cabinet of the machine. The assembly line is equipped with 3 workstations, two of which are designed for phase 2 of the machines assembly and means that two machines can be assembled in parallel. The 3rd workstation is used to prepare machines equipped with particular modifications and special options. This enables the competitively priced SwissNano to be equipped with special options if necessary and fits perfectly with the Tornos philosophy of delivering machining solutions and not just machines.

As for the second phase of the machine assembly, this involves assembling the cast-iron base on the enclosure. The base of the enclosure is pre-wired and the production staff then connect the various cables and pipes required to operate the machine. Each workstation is equipped with a feeder on which the pre-assembled units are prepared. Each unit corresponds to a specific step, and the assembly process follows a rational sequence steered towards efficiency. The feeders are visual, open and allow operators to see immediately if a unit is missing. This saves considerable time and improves the quality for Tornos customers. Once the second phase is completed, the machine receives the final adjustments. SwissNano machines must meet all requirements in every respect at the end of phase 2, before they can continue in the build process. Machines equipped with particular modifications move to phase 3 to be equipped to the exact customer specifications.

The next step of the machine build is the running-in stage, an operation that takes over 50 hours. Following this, the machine is transferred and undergoes full geometric testing following a detailed procedure. The SwissNano is then ready to machine its first workpiece. It is during this test piece stage that the machine’s functions and precision can be definitively validated.
After this, the machine is ready for delivery. It is either transferred to the Techno-Center (if the machine will be delivered and set up) or the Tornos shipping team takes care of it and prepares it for delivery. Just before this step, the machine is labelled with its name and the Tornos logo. What differentiates the SwissNano from competitor machines other than its build quality and capabilities is the aesthetics and as important to some customers is the colour.

Concluding on this Mr Ladarola says : "The majority of our machines are assembled in the standard colours. Increasingly, however, we are assembling the SwissNano in different colours. We have assembled almost the entire palette of colours available, on many machines and we give the customer a complete spectrum of colours that have so far included black, green, pink, blue, red, orange, purple, yellow and special editions in black and gold for the watchmaking industry and red with a white cross to signify the Swiss flag."