One of the many labor intensive and problematic operations is dealing with welds. I want to talk a bit about what you can do to remove much of the stress from these operations. I cant cover every single aspect or give every detail here but I want to touch on some of the larger points.
So you looked into automation and are going to take the next step. You get some offers and talk to folks and now you need to make a choice. You have two quotes you like and the only real difference is one of them is "turn key" where the other is not. Turn key sounds like it will be much easier as they are responsible for nearly everything and I wont have to do as much. Well this is the common error many make with automation and I will try to explain why.
One of the common things I hear is "That is how we do it" and more so at older companies.
Many times companies will ask about a machine they saw online and want to know some basic information. They get that basic information and head down the path of finding some version of that machine. They might look for a larger or smaller version or one that works with the power they have available. But what went wrong is they never asked if it was what they actually needed. When you go to buy things its not often you would get asked about your reasons for looking to buy something. If you went into a shoe store to buy a pair of white shoes that is what you are there for and no one is likely question you.
One of the big issues that seems to come up more often is about training.
Polishing, you love it and hate it at the same time just like everyone else. I still think brushed finish exists due a person somewhere getting fed up while polishing and giving up, "That's good enough my arm hurts" is what I bet was said.
I seems like when I ask someone why they do a task a given way the answer is very often "its how we have always done it". My next question is why? It is very rare anyone can answer that question and I end up with "Well Bill showed me this way". Then I go find Bill and ask the same question and he also has no idea as to why. You can continue this process moving person to person until you end up with the janitor and still have no answer.
As is the case in every market and business costs are key. Doing more with less or getting as much as possible from the resources you have are always important things to look at. When manufacturing is the market in question it can mean many things. So lets look at some of them.
One of the aspects I am able to see in fair detail is where manufacturing work is being done. While I will admit this more of a rant than anything else it is information none the less.
