The nature of the automation industry means that producing precision mechanical components is very expensive. But the cost of sourcing unique parts – bespoke, and produced in low volume – can be dramatically reduced using MISUMI.

Over 50% of total costs and 30% of design time can be saved.

Take a centering pin, for example: you will typically need a variety of specific machined parameters, including diamond and round head, customized shank length, diameter and a number of unique dimensions to suit your application. You may find parts via a standard components supplier but these will need additional machining – at additional cost. This is where MISUMI can help.

The company have standardized a range of common ‘shapes’ used within industry, with maximum and minimum dimensions, and created a standard range of these component limitations – configurable in steps of 0.01mm. Its approach to standardization keeps these costs low. For MISUMI, a one-off or ‘special’ component is often a standard item in their catalogue. With over 500,000 mechanical components for use within the Factory Automation industry available form their catalogue, a suitable solution can always be found.

Customers across the world are realizing the dramatic cost savings that can be implemented when adopting the MISUMI system.

Mike Baljak, CAD support specialist of ATS Automation, says: “It’s as simple as logging onto their CAD website – where you have direct access to a number of parts – inputting the parameters and downloading the 3-D models. It makes designing more efficient, which saves time and money, and allows time to be focused on more important aspects of the design, increasing quality.”