Lathes are manufacturing machines used for shaping metallic or wooden materials by causing the workpiece or piece of material to be held and turned so as to be cut into the desired figure. CNC lathe machines incorporate the use of CNC which is Computer Numerical Control whereby computer programming is used to integrate the cutting of the material at an angle into desired figures that a manual machine cannot handle.

Lathes are used in various sectors of the industry such as; aerospace, automotive, construction, farming, fluid power, energy, oil, food and medical. The food industry being a complex, global collection of diverse entities that supplies most of the food taken by all the world’s population, depends on the intelligence of lathe machines.

Lathes are used in a wide variety of situations when it comes to the food industry. For example;

• Pet food screw extruder machinery
• Automatic food frying machine
• Food grade sanitary grinding
• Food shrink packaging machine
• Popcorn making machine
• Automatic tin canned food machinery
• High speed packing machine for plastic pet food bag
• Automatic flow wrap food packing machine
• Poultry equipment meat and chicken food processing machinery
• Food powder mixing machine
• Automatic Hamburger patty forming machine food industry equipment
• Nitrogen packing machine for food
• Food fryer snacks machinery
• Outdoor Icecream Machine

Lathes used in the medical industry include categories such as;

• Respiratory care – oxygen masks, air entertainment masks, tracheostomy masks, aerosol masks, nasal cannulas, corrugated tubing, oxygen supply tubing

• Home care/sleep apnea disposable masks, bubble humidifiers, corrugated tubing, nasal pillows, nasal masks vented
• Anesthesia
• Surgical disposables – hypodermics, diabetes healthcare, anesthesia systems
• sutures