Ive noticed that the Northwood CNC Stone Machines have GE Fanuc machine controls; why is that important?
The machine control is the heart of any machine (and the most expensive component). GE Fanuc is the most highly respected machine control company in the world with more CNC machine installations than any other. GE Fanuc has earned this reputation because of control reliability. At Northwood, we purchase the GE Fanuc machine controls in quantity directly from GE Fanuc (Japan) with deluxe option packages. In fact all of our GE Fanuc machine controls now feature the Panel i technology with touch screen monitors for ease-of-use. We even use GE Fanuc axis drives and cables that are matched to the machine controls! At one point, we manufactured a “price-point” woodworking machine ($100K range) designed for small cabinet shops in which we used the Siemens 810D control. This control was selected because it is significantly less expensive.
