Investing in machine tools and other manufacturing equipment is not something any CNC shop can take lightly. Not only is the initial price tag significant, but the wrong choice can be extremely costly in lost production and less-than-desired results.
CNC shop owners are famous for putting a tremendous amount of time, money, thought and perspiration into starting and running their business. Unfortunately, many are also notorious for neglecting to plan for retirement. According to financial experts, about 1/3 of small business owners don’t have a retirement savings plan.
We talk a great deal about management skills in manufacturing. In fact, many job titles include the word “manager”: Production Manager, Plant Manager, Shift Manager, Parts Manager – you get the idea. The fact is, if your job includes overseeing people as well as things, you need more than basic management skills to be truly successful. You need to be a leader.
Removing material from a workpiece to make a part or product is a cornerstone of manufacturing, and has been for centuries. Today, in addition to these traditional subtractive processes, manufacturers are looking for opportunities to use additive techniques as well.
Okuma’s OSP-P300 CNC control is filled with user-friendly tools to make any machining process easier and more efficient. For example, the Easy Operation run screen displays all operator functions on one screen, and the shared database eliminates redundant data entry.
Scam artists have been exploiting the power of the Internet from its very beginning. Lately, you see fewer of the signature bogus emails written in broken or misspelled English promising big rewards if you just send money now. This doesn’t mean these phishing schemes have gone away, they’ve simply become more sophisticated.
Now that so much of our personal information has been hacked by cyber criminals, being concerned about password security may seem like closing the proverbial barn door after the horses ran off.
Hiring new employees for your manufacturing business can be frustrating. As one shop owner put it: “First you have to find someone who has the right technical skills. Then they have to pass the background check and drug tests. If you hit the trifecta, you hire them on the spot. The problem is, you won’t know if they’re really good until they’re on the job.”