How Hurco Harnesses Automation

This image depicts Hurco’s ProCobots automation system in action. Source | Hurco Companies Inc.

Automation is on full display at Hurco Companies Inc.’s booth to show its customers the solution it offers to the chaos that stems from manufacturing a high mix of parts in small quantities.

“Our IMTS booths’ theme is Control Your Tomorrow, as Hurco desmonstrates the power of its control technologies to illustrate how we leverage technology to solve the problems our customers face,” says Maggie Smith, Hurco’s senior director of marketing and communications.

The demonstrations at Hurco’s booth focus on automation that is completely integrated with the Hurco control and designed specifically for high-mix manufacturing.

“Our collaborative relationship with customers has always been a critical part of our product and technology development at Hurco. Our customers help us identify where to focus our efforts to develop technology that solves their problems and helps them be more productive and profitable,” says Smith.

Since Hurco was founded in 1968, its mission has remained consistent: to invent technology that can be harnessed in its CNC control. This began with the invention of conversational programming that made it easier for manual machinists to transition to CNC machining and therefore increase efficiency by enabling parts to be programmed directly on a shop floor.

The Hurco Automation Division is called ProCobots, a company that was purchased in 2019. The skills gap has plagued its customers for years and with the current labor shortage it’s becoming harder and harder to find employees. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the shortage of employees for all industries in the U.S. will reach 8.3 million by 2030, which makes smart automation even more critical.

“We knew our customers were skeptical of automation solutions because of their disappointment in past experiences. They explained that after the initial excitement of the robot installation, the robot basically became a coat rack sitting in the corner of the shop as soon as the next job came through the door. We knew we had to make sure Hurco Automation didn’t disappoint,” says Smith. 

The latest example of Hurco engineering innovation is highlighted at the company’s IMTS booth and revolves around integrated automation for job shops juggling a high mix of parts.

Hurco designed the entire CNC machine including the control, iron and control software, instead of relying on a third party. Hurco’s booth features demonstrations of switching the ProCobots automation system from one Hurco machine to another in less than five minutes.

In addition to ProCobots (which focuses on collaborative robots) Hurco and Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. debut a new partnership to enable this same integration with the Kawasaki industrial robots. The engineering collaboration between Hurco and Kawasaki Robotics has advanced automation for the industrial robotic space with the same ease of use and portability that Hurco has with the ProCobots’ collaborative robots.