Dr. Mori president of DMG MORI discusses outlook for the next 50 years (2/2)

Dr. Masahiko Mori, president of DMG MORI and president Kiyokazu Saito of Iriso Seimitsu, talked at the annual meeting of the Micro Manufacturing Association on November 20^th, 2020. DMG MORI is a leading machine tool builder in the world, and Iriso Seimitsu is a part manufacturer, which is famous for microfabrication and precision machining.

The theme is “Manufacturing in 2070”. How do they see changes in machine tools and machining technology over the next 50 years?

The first part of this article is here.

Kiyokazu Saito, president of Iriso Seimitsu, predicted the future of cutting technology. President Saito forecasted that in 2040, AI will assist in controlling the machining center (MC), and even inexperienced operators will be able to master MC operations in a day. President Saito also anticipates that by 2060, the minimum workpiece size will be 0.015 mm. The diameter of the endmill is 0.003 mm, and the rotation speed of the MC spindle is expected to reach 200,000 rpm.

“As the workpiece becomes smaller, people who can control the machining axis with high accuracy will have an advantage. The number of machining axes will increase and the degree of freedom of machining will increase, but it is getting hard to control machining axis. In next decades, 10 axis machines might appear, but it is important to choose the number of machining axis properly depending to the machining application, “said President Saito.

DMG MORI’s President Dr. Mori seemed to be impressed to hear that story. “In Germany, SMEs with high-tech are respected, but In Japan, SMEs are often recognized as subcontractors, called ‘chu-sho-kigyo’ in Japanese. I don’t think it’s good to call them  ‘chu-sho-kigyo’, so I want to change the name,” said Dr. Mori.