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[bamagene]

Afternoon peoples! I have more a poll than a question but this is important information to us at this time. We have recently been bought out and have been given the greatest opportunity we have seen in many, many years in that we have finally been handed capital money to use in our process improvement/plant restructuring. The debate in hand is this:
Our processing format is more structured around the smaller run, more setup type of approach with the average part run being 15-20 pcs.. We have been "pushed" toward a cutoff type machine that incorporates live tooling to both machine and part off each item with the idea that once done - it's done... move to assembly. The flip of this argument is that, although this process is/has been proven effective, we don't have large orders! This incorporates "nesting" - combining similarly machined parts into one stick of mat'l - but with the added parameter that live tooling throws in the mix, this process could be extremely tedious!
Here is where my question comes in... keeping in mind the qty of parts/order, does it sound like it might be more effective to try, say, a twin spindle twin turret type machine that could produce parts in half of the current time and just keep manufacturing one at a time - rack-machine-rack - or does the cutoff approach sound more logical??
I know this is somewhat vague but tried to keep it somewhat short and sweet.

 

[KENAT]

Do you have any typical or representative parts you could do a 'time and motion' (or whatever the modern term is) type study on to see which option gives the best value for money?

Is there any thought that with new ownership you might expand into new higher volume markets?

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[bamagene]

Time studies - as we call it - have been performed and are currently being performed on another cutoff type machine currently in use. This machine also uses live tooling but this is a new retrofit and has yet to show any data. As with any new purchase, the big wheels are overly optimistic. The big advantage here is their eyes are wide open and their pockets are really deep!! I would like to see this lead to large run orders but I personally think that "small order / wide variety" is set to become the norm.