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Task:
STYLE CNC Machines has a 30+ year heritage in building CNC turning and milling machines that feature its own proprietary control system. However, the company wanted to evolve its controlcapabilities to add even more value for customers, but without losing its own identity or compromising backwards-compatibility with previous-generation platforms.

Solution:
The company selected FANUC to provide the base layer for its latest control system. Adopting a high-end FANUC CNC platform complemented by the latest FANUC αi-B series servo/spindle drive system provides a high-quality, reliable solution, while STYLE’s unique programming interface serving as the top layer allows the company to retain its identity.

Result:
Thanks to the inherent capabilities of FANUC products, STYLE benefits from enhanced functionality such as easier machine diagnostics. In addition, STYLE machines now offer greater sustainability: energy-efficient FANUC motor/drive components and their regenerative power capacity allow the machines to return energy to the power supply. Backwards-compatibility is a further attribute of the FANUC solution.

About STYLE CNC machines

Founded in 1991, STYLE sells most of its CNC turning and milling machines to machine builders, prototyping shops and maintenance/repair specialists, essentially any company machining 1-off or short-series production parts. With a manufacturing capacity of 350+ machines a year, the company’s headquarters is in Bunschoten-Spakenburg, around 30km east of Amsterdam. STYLE CNC Machines has over 70 employees and occupies offices and demonstration centres at 15 locations throughout Europe.

All of the CNC lathes and mills manufactured by STYLE CNC Machines feature the company’s unique control system. Today, this offer majors on the quality and reliability of a high-end FANUC CNC in partnership with a FANUC αi-B series servo/spindle drive system. FANUC’s base layer of control technology supports STYLE’s proprietary programming interface.

“Our unique top layer makes it very easy for customers to work with our control system,” states Bastiaan Clement, CEO at STYLE CNC Machines.

Optimal ease-of-use and simplicity are hallmarks of the STYLE control. The company wants to ensure its control platforms are accessible to both novice machinists and, through various advanced functionalities, experienced CNC operators. STYLE says that new operators can start machining after just one day of training, a pledge that is now even easier to uphold following the introduction of FANUC technologies.

Steven de Harder, Business Development Manager at STYLE CNC Machines, says: “The challenge was to upgrade the controls without losing our own identity. Thanks to good co-operation with FANUC, we were able to retain the brand recognition associated with our controls. In addition, users of our previous DMC card solution can still benefit from the functionalities we are developing now. The project succeeded in delivering a backwards-compatible solution.”

STYLE chose FANUC because of its global reputation as one of the largest CNC builders in the world with proven product solutions.

“The biggest advantage is that the FANUC motors and drives are very well matched, allowing us to make better use of more torque and power on our machines,” states de Harder. “Furthermore, with FANUC components, diagnosing our machines has become a lot easier. The FANUC solutions already had the functionalities for that. We can also say that our machines are now more sustainable: thanks to FANUC motors and drives our machines feed excess energy back to the power supply.”

Beyond product quality and capability, adopting FANUC solutions also introduces class-leading serviceability and lifetime support. STYLE CNC Machines now plans to continue taking steps forward with FANUC.

“There was open communication, clarity and mutual respect from the beginning; we worked on the same level with each other throughout the project,” concludes Clement.