Making the Case for Table Changers

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Reader Question: Our shop desperately needs to find more productive hours each week from a small 10-person team. Our apprehension to most automation solutions is their cost and complexity, and our confidence that we can get folks trained well enough to find the full ROI. What would help us in the interim until we feel more prepared to take the leap?

I completely understand your hesitation and you’re certainly not alone. Many shops today are under increasing pressure to automate, but when that topic comes up, the discussion often jumps straight to large, complex and expensive systems. This includes robotic arms, pallet pools, lights-out machining cells and everything that comes with them, such as machine monitoring, custom workholding and extensive training.

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The reality, though, is that automation isn’t all or nothing. There’s a wide spectrum of options available, especially for shops running vertical machining centers. Not every solution requires a six-figure investment or the capacity to reconfigure your entire floor plan.

As a first step, I often encourage shops to get confident walking away from the machine. Gaining process security knowing your machine can run unattended, even for a short time, without the risk of collision or scrapped parts is an underrated milestone. Once you’re there, you’re in a good position to begin looking at automation tools that increase machine utilization without adding excessive complexity.

That brings us to a solution I think deserves more attention: table changers. They’re often overlooked, but in the right scenario, they can offer significant productivity gains while keeping your workflow familiar and manageable.

The problem with many of the automation options

I understand why full automation can feel overwhelming because it often is. You may have a totally reliable, straightforward three-axis mill doing dependable work. Add automation, and now that same machine may be outfitted with auto doors, sensors, air lines, pneumatic workholding and a flip station. On the outside, a robot may be managing part load/unload with its own sensors, grippers, air connections and perhaps a multilevel racking system or part matrix.

For a small team where every employee wear multiple hats, managing and maintaining this type of setup can feel like more of a distraction than an upgrade, especially if you’re not running high volumes consistently enough to maximize return on investment.

That’s not to diminish the long-term potential of those systems. Robots and full automation are absolutely the right fit for many manufacturers, especially those targeting unattended or overnight production. But that doesn’t mean they’re the right first step for everyone. And that’s exactly where table changers come in, they provide real productivity benefits with far less disruption.

What are table changers?

Table changers are external devices that bolt onto an existing VMC and allow a pre-loaded fixture or part to be swapped into the machine quickly and repeatably typically in under 30 seconds. While one part is being machined inside the enclosure, the operator can be loading or prepping the next one on a second table just outside the machine.

Think of them as bringing a bit of HMC-style workflow to a vertical. Just like a horizontal machine’s dual-pallet setup, you get the benefit of parallel operations: While one part is being cut, the next setup is staged and ready. Once the machine finishes, the operator performs a manual or assisted swap of the tables and cutting resumes almost immediately.

Table changers require very little floor space, minimal training and no changes to your existing machine controls. Many are simple, bolt-on systems that work with the tools and workholding you already have.

For a shop that’s tight on time, tight on people and careful about every capital investment, table changers can make a lot of sense.

First, they’re easy to adopt. Your current fixtures and vises can usually be transferred directly to the table changer without major retooling. You can keep your T-slot table setups or move to a zero-point system for even faster changes. In practice, you now have two setups running in parallel: one on the machine, and one being prepped.

In short-run work, this means you can use two identical setups to minimize spindle downtime while raw material is loaded. In longer-cycle work, it allows the next job or setup to be staged while the current one finishes.

Cost-wise, table changers are relatively affordable. They’re often priced competitively compared to other automation solutions, especially considering how much spindle uptime they unlock. From a space perspective, they’re compact, much smaller than a robotic work cell and don’t interfere with access to the machine.

Another benefit is payload capacity. Compared to robotic arms, which often struggle with heavier parts as reach increases, table changers are typically better suited to large or heavy workpieces. In fact, table changers may be one of the few practical automation options available.

They’re also somewhat future proof. If and when you’re ready to automate further, a table changer can still be used in conjunction with a robot. For example, the robot can load raw material onto a pallet while another pallet is running combining the best of both systems.

What to consider before buying one

Table changers do require some planning. They’re not a complete automation solution — someone still needs to load the exterior table — but they take a meaningful step in that direction.

Before purchasing, think through how it may impact your workflow. While it typically improves throughput, you’ll want to plan how you schedule jobs across dual setups. If you’re doing a lot of high-mix work, quick-change fixturing and zero-point systems will make it even more effective.

Table changers offer a practical, scalable path toward automation, particularly for shops running VMCs that are focused on short-run, high-mix work or simply looking to extract more productivity from the team they already have.

They help reduce noncutting time, improve operator efficiency and maintain flexibility without introducing a steep learning curve or overwhelming your floor with infrastructure. Most importantly, they align with a broader, incremental automation strategy.

Automation isn’t a switch you flip, it’s a journey. And for many, table changers are an ideal place to start that journey. They are low risk, high value and offer room to grow.

Do you have a machining question? Ask the expert. John Miller leans on more than a decade of industry experience to answer machining questions from MMS readers. Submit your question online at mmsonline.com/MillersEdge.