Few things are more awkward than explaining to a customer why a part is late. Even good excuses will only be tolerated a few times before a customer decides to find a more reliable manufacturer. Most of the time, however, manufacturers find themselves without any excuse at all except unpredictable lead times –…
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Proper production engineering can eliminate up to 80% of manufacturing waste, and using cutting tools to their full potential is critical to those efforts. However, not every shop knows exactly how to program the full value out of their tooling investment, or they may lack the resources and knowledge to optimize toolpaths and…
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What do manufacturing facilities share in common with supermarkets, post offices and wireless networks? They all involve waiting in queues, whether it’s a computer waiting to connect to public Wi-Fi, customers in a queue to check out at the grocery store or work in progress (WIP) sitting until a machine is open at…
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Knowing when the time is right to add machining capacity is one of the toughest challenges shop owners face. Even one new machine is a considerable investment for all but the largest manufacturers, which means most shops won’t even consider a new machine until they have more work than they can handle with…
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