Autmating finishing processes.

One of the topics that gets kicked around often but is not well understood is finishing. The term finishing is very general and can mean any number of things. To some its a manual process with a palm sander and to others it may be a pass through a wide belt sander. The reality is it can also be much much more than that. Do you need a true #8 polish? Do you just need a basic #4? Are there welds that need blended out? 

A common pinch point is having the welding staff grind out welds. This has a few problems front and center with more off to the side so to speak. You hired a welder to weld not grind. Any time they spend grinding they are not welding. That means you get fewer welded parts and the salary being paid is for welding not grinding. The welders likely want to weld not grind so you run the risk of them not being super happy with having to spend time grinding. You get less volume, less value for the salary, unhappy staff. 

Another common point is welding automation. Many have gone the way of automating some or all of the welding. This can be great for speed and consistency but you end up with the same problems. You get more welded parts but now you also have more welded parts you need to finish. If automating the welding doubled your volume you now find that you need to double everything down stream. You have 1000 welded parts but 2 people with palm sanders are going to be fighting a loosing battle. To get the full gain from automating the welding step you need to automate the finishing step. These processes should try to pace each other to keep the flow of material through the facility. Welded parts piling up waiting on finishing is a sure way to throw all the time gains from the welding automation right out the window.

Finishing is that dirty job no one wants and is pushed to the very back of the shop. Its tough to staff and turnover tends to be high in most places. The finishing steps are what the end customer will see and feel first. You used good material and took care that it was cut and bent just right, the customer picks it up and first thing they say is "that edge is kind of sharp" or "whats this mark?". The finishing is where you pickup a lot of perceived quality and care. We have all touched something with a slight edge to it, from a kitchen knife handle to a table top. It just changes the general opinion of the part and not for the better. But the process is left to the dungeon in the back of the shop and not given to much thought far too often.

Automating finishing operations can be super simple to just remove some basic burs and round the edges. There are options to give a great key for powder or paint to stick and not have thin corners. There are more complex options to smooth the weld on the corner of a box or range hood after all the fab work is done. Working with cast or machined parts is 100% possible as well, flash removal or just sanding down the parting line and finishing the part. Full mirror polishing on even very complicated or high precision parts is available. Just about any finishing operation has an answer to get better volumes and fewer rejects faster with fewer hands in the process.

Getting control of the finishing operations can have a big impact on performance overall in nearly any shop. Make the process easier, faster and more repeatable while getting better parts and more control. It is an often over looked area that holds a lot of gains for those that take the time to investigate.