How Applied CAx Boosted Efficiencies for a Top Aerospace Supplier
Crunching the numbers on CNC programming time
“Don’t turn off the machines.” That’s a sign that could be posted across the Pacific NW. When a shop is making aerospace parts in a multi-state operation, the manufacturing team doesn’t get to stop and analyze their methods. But recently Applied CAx helped a great team do just that with a focused site review.
We didn’t just guess in the dark. We crunched the numbers on potential labor and programming hours they could save along the way. Our review team spent the day capturing their processes and set up a high-level overview of their issues.
Over half a dozen CNC programmers and manufacturing engineers led us on a tour of their customized 5-axis machines. With an operation split across the west, there were some overarching processes, but each operation had its own programmers with their own culture.
Since then our 3-phase plan has identified the areas where automation development, training, and mentorship can get them to a better place.
PHASE ONE: Process Audit
In phase 1, we audited internal programming, setup and data integrity. We found large swaths of areas where NX is being used inefficiently and found the following numbers: