Gosiger News

Most of us enjoy knowing that those we report to value the work that we do. It makes us feel worthwhile and respected. And because we all have different personalities, some of us may need to hear these words of appreciation more often than others. However, if the only time employees hear they are doing a good job is during their annual performance reviews, it’s a safe bet morale isn’t everything it could be. So step one for any manager who wants to motivate his or her employees to operate at peak performance, is to make it a habit to praise them whenever the opportunity presents itself.

For many years advances in metalworking manufacturing technology centered on increasing throughput and reducing cycle times through faster spindle speeds and feed rates, improved tooling, and the emergence of multi-function CNC machining centers. Today, these factors are taken for granted as ongoing improvements in machine tool performance are expected. The current trends in technology focus less on the machine tools themselves, and more on other aspects of the manufacturing process. Here are some of the more prominent trends we see:

Robotic automation is transforming modern manufacturing by eliminating repetitive, labor-intensive functions thus freeing machine operators to concentrate on programming, setup and other important tasks. As a result, they enable manufacturers to be more productive and competitive. Here are a few facts about industrial robots you may not be aware of.

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.