Take a critical look around your shop floor and offices. Do your employees look like they care about their work? Do they often come to you with ideas and suggestions? Do they consistently arrive on time or even a little early? Is absenteeism in the normal-to-low range? Are they willing put forth extra effort when necessary? If you can say “yes” to all of these questions, congratulations on having a workforce that is engaged with your business.
No matter how efficient your CNC machine may be, if your chip conveyor is constantly backing up or breaking down, you have a serious bottleneck that slows down your manufacturing process and, therefore, inhibits your productivity. That’s why it’s vitally important that you have the right chip removal system for the kinds of machining you perform and the nature of the machine tool, itself.
Gardner Research recently completed an in-depth study of CNC machine shops to better understand what separates high-performance shops – those that excel at income, profit and growth – from average ones. The study found that the characteristics of these higher performing CNC machine shops included gross sales that were 14% higher than other shops, and median net income margin of 12.9% versus 5.9%. Moreover, the average growth rate for high performing CNC machine shops was 51.6% while the other shops averaged only 25.1% growth.
All machinery requires routine maintenance. Vertical Machining Centers (VMC) and Horizontal Machining Centers (HMC) are no exception. However, in most manufacturing facilities the emphasis is on production, not machine maintenance. This is to be expected, as the challenges of maintaining profitable production are always foremost in a manufacturer’s mind.
For many manufacturers getting the maximum productivity out of their CNC machines requires addressing how work flows throughout the entire manufacturing process. Gosiger has a number of options that can aid manufacturers by managing materials, tools and workpieces at various stages of the process.
Smart manufacturers are continuously looking for more and better ways to reduce production costs. Faster, more precise CNC machine tools aided by robotic-based automation and pallet loading systems are proven ways to boost productivity. However, there’s more to reducing overall production costs than using the latest technologies. For optimum efficiency, manufacturers must consider all aspects of the process from part design to raw materials, machining, quality assurance and delivery to the customer.
One of the most prominent technological trends on display at IMTS 2012 had more to do with communications and process control than speeds, feeds and other mechanical specifications. While CNC machine tool OEMs continue to create better, faster and more accurate products, they also enable greater interoperability between various machines, controls and software applications by establishing shop floor networks to share data. By using XML and Internet Protocol technologies, CNC machines provide real-time data that promotes greater manufacturing efficiencies.
The federal government is taking a much closer look at how employees are classified and if employers are abiding by appropriate wage and hour laws. For manufacturing companies, a major concern is the distinction between non-exempt and exempt employees.
One of the important benefits of attending a show like IMTS is the opportunity to talk with exhibitors, attendees, and editors of trade publications about emerging manufacturing trends. Here are seven such trends that came up in multiple conversations:
The benefits of 5-axis machining are well known to many manufacturers. Unlike traditional 3- and 4-axis machines, 5-axis simultaneous machining eliminates multiple special fixtures and considerable operator time required to move parts from one machine to another and set up the parts in between machining cycles. With true 5-axis capability you can completely machine a part in one cycle, often without any special fixtures, and with no costly operator intervention.