SW North America, CNC Machines and Automation
Published

Is Data Driving the Decisions You Make in Your Shop?

Collecting and using data enables shops to make more informed decisions on the shop floor as well as help automate processes. But don’t forget about the “data” stored in the minds of your top employees.  

Share

CNC lathe

Is your shop collecting and using data from the shop floor to its advantage? Have you found ways to collect tribal knowledge from experienced employees? If so, and if you’d consider sharing your experiences with fellow Production Machining readers, shoot me an email at dkorn@productionmachining.com and perhaps we can chat about it.

It’s possible the September 2022 edition of Production Machining is a first for the brand: a true, special issue devoted to digital machining and manufacturing.

To help dispel the myth that today’s production shops are the grimy, oily screw machine operations of the past, the two Tech Briefs and three feature articles in this issue address some form of technology to facilitate the collection and use of shopfloor data that shops can apply to boost productivity and profitability.

For example, the Tech Briefs cover sensing technology for effective tool monitoring on rotary transfer machines as well as live-tooling units to optimize cutting conditions for those types of machine accessories.

The feature articles cover topics such as machine monitoring, adaptive machining, automated collection of part measurement data and enterprise resource planning (ERP) as a means to cull experienced employees’ tribal knowledge before they retire or move on to another company.

That last feature article I mention is something I’ve thought about for some time. If you haven’t already started to experience them, you soon will: those days when your most experienced baby boomer machinists retire, taking with them a wealth of captive knowledge amassed over years of diligent work on the shop floor. Quite often during shop visits I ask shops if that’s at top of mind and, if so, what is its plan for capturing that knowledge while it still can.

Implementing ERP software, as shops sometimes do in an effort to go paperless, offers a means to document some of it. For example, it enables you to permanently record notes they’ve scribbled on part prints that relay some tips to more effectively machine a tricky job, hints to simplify setups and so on. These systems also make it easy to share photos and video to communicate relevant job-related information.

But what about the more general type of shopfloor intel in your experienced machinists’ heads? How do you capture that?

They might be able to tell just by the sound an end mill makes that the cut data is off or perhaps that the tool is becoming dull. Or they might know a certain trick to more easily tram in a given machine. Or they might have learned there’s a certain sweet spot on a large machine where cutting is most accurate.

Your younger employees are starting to gather that type of knowledge, too. However, tapping into that knowledge can be even more difficult because they might be less inclined to share their know-how, feeling they’ll lose their competitive advantage over other employees. This means you have to make strides to establish a team-first work culture in which these employees understand that freely sharing information won’t come at a cost of diminished job security.

What I’m describing here mirrors the initial steps in establishing a smart manufacturing facility by implementing strategies such as Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things. That is, you first must establish a mechanism of collecting information before you can analyze and apply it to improve your processes. Except in this case, we’re talking about collecting information from individuals, not things.

I’ve raised a lot of questions here, but I have one more: Would you share with me ways you are dealing with this issue of culling shopfloor knowledge from your employees? “Big data” initiatives rely on effective collection of relatively small bits of information. Similarly, the sum of these bits currently stored in the heads of many of your machining experts is likely quite significant after all. Email me.

SW North America, CNC Machines and Automation
Techspex
World Machine Tool Survey
manufacturer of machine tools
SPC Innovations, In-machine gaging and attachments
Kyocera
Marubeni Citizen CNC
Efficient, Durability, Advanced CBN Abrasives

Related Content

Automation

Inside the Premium Machine Shop Making Fasteners

AMPG can’t help but take risks — its management doesn’t know how to run machines. But these risks have enabled it to become a runaway success in its market.

Read More
Workholding

Chuck Jaws Achieve 77% Weight Reduction Through 3D Printing

Alpha Precision Group (APG) has developed an innovative workholding design for faster spindle speeds through sinter-based additive manufacturing.

Read More
Automation

4 Bright Ideas for Effective Lights-Out Machining

Adopting lights-out machining involves considerations when a machine shop decides to move forward with the process. Here are some tips to a successful implementation.

Read More
Turn-Mills

Reinventing the Wheel with Robot-Automated CNC Multitasking

One race team discovers how to efficiently manufacture a new wheel nut design for the next-generation NASCAR stock car with the help of a CNC mill/turn and a built-in robot.

Read More

Read Next

Medical

Some Assembly IS Required

This Colorado manufacturer added a separate facility dedicated to customer assembly work and inventory management to produce subassemblies and completed products primarily for medical customers.

Read More
Workforce Development

VIDEO: Emerging Leader Committed to Excellence

Ben Nikkel is committed to learning, leading and relationship building in his management role at Hirsh Precision Products.

Read More
Data-Driven Manufacturing

Shop Shares Lights-Out Lessons Learned

Automated machining and data collection have helped Custom Tool to not only grow its business through more overnight production but also to establish a continuous improvement mindset that has enabled it to become more efficient in numerous areas.

Read More
SW North America, CNC Machines and Automation