At the start of 2016, MDC company has equipped itself with the revolutionary clamping system « Octopod ». They have installed this system on their CNC machining center T812 V3. Today, many companies in the world are using the Octopod system: in Austria, France, Belgium, Australia, England, Hungary…

Interview with Clément Icher, workshop manager at MDC:

How did the installation of Octopod system on your T812 CNC machining center go?
It went well. Thibaut technicians came to replace the former pods with the new system on our machine. Then they installed the software. From the beginning, we started using the Octopods from 10 to 12 hours a day. We have maintained the same productivity level. Our company is very productive. We already have two Thibaut machining centers T812 and we will soon have a third one.

How long did it take to become autonomous with this system?
We became autonomous from the beginning. We have maintained our normal fabrication like we did with the regular pods. Switching from the former to the new system almost did not disturb our production.

What do you think about the software interface?
The software is user-friendly and we managed to use it very fast. Since we started using Octopod, the software was updated a couple of times in order to improve the performances of the system.

How many workpieces do you produce every day?
On a single machine, we make about 10 workpieces a day, which is very good. Four of them are kitchen tops with routing of sink, interior polishing of sink and grooving. The other workpieces are rough cutting. Replacing the former pods with Octopods enabled us to increase our production rate a little...

What did this system improve?
 - First of all, Octopods are easier to use because you don’t have all these hoses bothering you.
 - Octopods hold the workpiece better than regular pods. With the old system, you could lose a workpiece because it had moved during machining. With the Octopod system, the stone does not move which gives excellent results on kitchen tops. It reduces the imperfections that you can have on granite with regular pods.
 - When first positioning the pods on the table, you save a lot of time compared with regular pods.
 - With regular pods, when you have depression issues in the clamping device, it’s difficult to see where the leak comes from. Whereas with the Octopods, you immediately see on the screen where the fault comes from
 - My operator finds this system more fun and simple to use than regular pods.

Can you explain how you are using this system?
We have two Thibaut CNC sawing centers T812. Today, one of them is equipped with Octopods. With this one, we mainly realize Silestone and granite kitchen tops. At one point, we have also made Dekton workpieces with the Octopods and it worked fine as well.

Since 2016, are you satisfied with this system?
Yes, we are satisfied. I would like to equip my second T812 machining center with Octopods.

Would you recommend Octopods to other companies?
Yes, the third machining center that we are going to install will be equipped with Octopods.