Lathes are manufacturing machines used to shape metal or wood. They work by cutting the material while the workpiece rotates. CNC lathes use computer numerical control, which allows the cutting to be programmed and automated to obtain the required shape. This achieves a precision that would be impossible with manual machines.
Lathes are used in many sectors: aerospace, automotive, construction, agriculture, hydraulics, energy, oil and gas, food and healthcare. The food industry is a complex, global network of businesses that supplies most of the world’s food – and it too depends heavily on lathes.
In the food industry, turned components are used in a wide variety of machines, for example:
- Pet food machinery;
- Automatic fryers;
- Food grinding equipment;
- Food packaging machines;
- Popcorn machines;
- Automatic cartoning machines;
- Pet food packing machines;
- Automatic flow-wrapping machines;
- Poultry and meat processing machinery;
- Food powder mixers;
- Burger-forming machines;
- Nitrogen packaging machines;
- Fried snack machinery;
- Ice cream machines.
In the medical industry, turned components are found in equipment and devices such as:
- Respiratory care equipment, oxygen and aerosol systems, nasal cannula connectors and tubing fittings;
- Sleep apnoea devices and bubble humidifiers;
- Anaesthesia systems;
- Surgical and hypodermic devices and diabetes care equipment;
- Surgical instruments.