Alcester-based Seco Tools (UK) Ltd (
www.secotools.com) has revamped its popular STEP (Seco Technical Education Programme) initiative, which now features three levels: STEP Core; STEP Advanced; and Next STEP.
Each is aimed at a specific group in manufacturing organisations, regardless of size.
Seco says many manufacturing companies find themselves in what it calls a ‘technology gap’, using cutting tools and machining techniques that have been superseded; and while many of these companies may well have secure and reliable machining processes, they will find it difficult to fully optimise them without the latest technologies.
Indeed, Patrick De Vos — Seco’s educational services manager and a principal architect of the new STEP Programme — says: “Process security does not necessarily equate to process optimisation; STEP aims to bridge this ‘technology gap’.”
Generally speaking, STEP provides a comprehensive overview of the different elements of a metal-cutting process, describing and explaining the relationship and inter-connectedness of these elements, and thereby gives delegates a good understanding of the machining process and the behaviour of the cutting tools used in the process.
Mr De Vos says: “The machining process is complex. Knowledge and understanding of the interaction between the cutting tool and the workpiece material, as well as other process parameters, are key elements in both controlling and optimising the machining process.
“The elements involved include: the workpiece; the machine tool; the process environment; the fixturing systems used for both the workpiece and the cutting tool; the cutting tool itself and the cutting conditions; and the knowledge, experience and expertise of the machine operator.
“Metal cutting is a process where the balance between loads and forces that act on the cutting edge and the load-bearing capacity of the cutting edge and tool need to be harmonised to ensure process effectiveness and efficiency.”
Mr De Vos says that STEP, which is structured so that machinists — from relative novices to the more skilled — can gain practical skills and improve their competence, differs from the training and education offered by many machining related equipment providers.
“Many offer training that has a relatively ‘narrow’ focus, with the emphasis on using and exploiting the capabilities and functionality of the equipment in question, but without a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the wider machining process, such training has its limitations.”
STEP Core comprises a series of practical education and training modules that explain the basics of the metal-cutting process and the role and use of tooling within it.
Armed with this knowledge and back in their work-places, course delegates can make basic tooling choices, identify and determine the cutting conditions for different applications, and identify and rectify issues and problems as they arise. STEP Core is aimed at machine tool operators, tool setters, programmers and supervisors, for example.
STEP Advanced provides more-specialist training and focuses on the physics of the metal-cutting process — and on turning, milling, hole-making and threading applications.
The use of advanced machining models allows course delegates to optimise planning and the design-to-manufacture process — and better predict their outcomes in advance. STEP Advanced is aimed at production, planning, quality, design and ‘lean’ managers and co-ordinators.
Both STEP Core and STEP Advanced combine classroom-based learning with practical machining demonstrations.
Next STEP focuses on improving manufacturing companies’ profitability and competitiveness, by encouraging manufacturing professionals to take a more holistic view of their entire manufacturing and production processes.
It is a bespoke technical consultancy-based service provided by Seco; it is targeted at managers and directors, including managing directors and company owners.