CNC Lathe Manufacturing – Three Tips to Increase Profitability in High Volume Jobs

High volume CNC lathe manufacturing jobs are sought after by every single machining house everywhere in the world. In this day and age of global competitiveness, just in time techniques have resulted in too many low volume machining jobs and not enough of high volume CNC lathe manufacturing. The problem with high volume CNC lathe manufacturing contracts is that the pricing structure has to be fairly low to win the orders. This has resulted in many machine shop owners and accounting personnel complaining that these high volume CNC machining jobs are not all that profitable. In this article, we will explore three powerful techniques that you can use to convert those low profit high volume jobs into high profit projects.
The first area that you need to take a very close look at is the reduction of machine idle times. Idle time on CNC lathes is a definite profit buster. CNC lathes go on an idle mode for the most part because of insert and tool changes. Hence purchasing low quality inserts and tools can kill productivity with the operator having What Is A Heavy Industry to change tools more often; this more than offsets the cost savings that result from purchasing low quality cheap tools and cheap carbide inserts. When possible, insist on purchasing high performance grade coated inserts and tools that will reduce idle times and result in lower frequency of insert and tool changes.
The second area that needs to be addressed is increasing automation as much as possible and reducing operator intervention to the maximum possible levels. Steps in this direction include incorporating automatic bar feeders, chip conveyors, parts catchers and auto power Major Industries In Indonesia 2019 off circuitry into your CNC lathe set ups. Additionally, incorporate spare tool stations with automatic switch overs once tool life expires on the active tools. These investments will allow for lights out operation which is how you can increase your profits.
The third and critical area is the maintenance of a good supply of critical spare parts. This is an investment that will pay itself off several times over during periods of breakdown maintenance. All of the reductions in part machining times is of no value if the production line gets shut down for several days waiting for a long lead time spare component to arrive in order to fix a machine that has gone down. The precious time lost costs a lot more than keeping a good spare parts inventory.
Thus by following the above three simple techniques, even competitively priced high volume manufacturing jobs can be converted to become profitable ones.