One of the most useful tools CNC machine shops have for reducing costs and improving performance is a concept called Value Stream Mapping. Typically used by companies who wish to implement Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping is a way to identify and analyze all of the activities involved in delivering a product or service to the customer. For CNC machine operations this could be anything from a single part to a complete product.
Dayton, OH – Okuma machine tool distributor Morris South works with customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia to help improve manufacturing performance and solve production problems. When the best customer solution involves robotic-based automation, they turn to the Automation Division of fellow Okuma dealer Gosiger, Inc. (Dayton, OH).
Many CNC machine shops are looking for new markets to serve, new parts to make and new opportunities to grow their business. However, much of these opportunities hinge on the shop’s ability to perform increasingly more precise and complex machining operations at competitive prices. Additionally, many customers require shorter runs, the ability to handle large part families and the flexibility to produce a variety of parts. For machine shops that have long relied on vertical machining centers (VMC), it may be time to consider the advantages of a horizontal machining center (HMC).
Most business people rely heavily on their smartphones and tablets to help manage their personal and business lives. Which means that we use these devices to transact banking business, make travel plans, send and receive emails, access the Internet and social media sites and even transfer CAD drawings and other customer information. So anyone who gets their hands on the phone, itself, or hacks their way in has access to data that can cause us a world of hurt, as anyone who’s had a brush with identity theft or industrial espionage will tell you.
How do you go about training new workers on shop procedures, or introducing new procedures to existing employees? If you’re like many shops, you rely on more experienced employees to train others. Although this may be effective in some cases, it usually ties up valuable people and takes far longer than it should. A more cost-effective method is to document procedures on paper or electronically so they can be easily passed along multiple times, thus reducing the manpower involved.
Thanks to tougher state and pending federal regulations, if you machine brass parts that will be used to deliver potable water you are either preparing to or already in the process of machining these parts from no-lead brass. Moreover, it’s expected that in the near future lead will no longer be used in any ferrous or non-ferrous alloys. So CNC machine shops that traditionally work with leaded brass face new challenges as they switch to unleaded material.
It’s no secret that there are vast numbers of medical products being manufactured for a wide variety of applications. These products may be as simple as a hand-held instrument, as complex as a computer-based imaging device and as unique as a custom-fit prosthesis. One thing they all have in common is that they impact the lives and wellbeing of millions of people. Therefore the machining of the parts that make up these devices must be held to extremely high standards, including zero defects.
One of the complaints educators in colleges and technical schools hear from employers is that their graduates don’t enter the workplace with well-developed critical thinking skills. Such abilities enable employees to solve challenging problems more quickly and successfully. As manufacturing has become more complex and with increasing pressures to reduce costs while improving part quality and delivery times, it is essential that CNC machine operators, supervisors and other employees are capable of solving problems through critical thinking.
Thanks to their lighter weight, strength and stiffness, composite materials are more frequently finding their way into manufactured products from aerospace to cars, trucks, and medical products. But what, exactly, are these materials and what do you need to know to properly machine them?