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Center of Excellence Is New Twist on Old Manufacturing Department Structure
By: Peter Zelinski
The new Spirit AeroSystems facility for five-axis machining allows a small team to oversee a significant amount of machining capability. Is this the way of the future as machining systems become more automated?
#zaxis
3 Mindset Changes for Lights-Out CNC Machining
By: Peter Zelinski
Expanding capacity into the unattended hours calls for counterintuitive new ways of thinking about the work.
#zaxis
In Lights-Out Machining, Part Loading Is Not the Problem — Here is How This Shop Handles Unloading
By: Peter Zelinski
Correct unloading of the parts affects part quality as well as the capacity of the unattended machining system. Here is more of the experience from our “168” shop.
Running Unattended at Night Lets Machine Shop Serve New Customers During Day
By: Peter Zelinski
Precision Tool Technologies found capacity for diversification not by adding machines, people or space, but by freeing up time. Running unattended—running so it can machine through all 168 hours in the week—has enabled this shop to use hours when staff is present to deliver work that lands outside its established specialty. To achieve unattended machining, some of the biggest challenges have related to basic details such as chips and coolant.
#metalworkingfluids
Manufacturing to Meet Tech Community at MT360
By: Peter Zelinski
I will hold onstage conversations with additive manufacturing and collaborative automation leaders as part of the new technology event to premier May 12-14, 2020, in Santa Clara, California.
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The Case for Consistency
By: Peter Zelinski
Why do manufacturers ask their employees to work within defined systems? Here's why consistency matters.
#workforcedevelopment #zaxis
Video: Redesigned Milling Cutter Demonstrates Possibilities of Additive Manufacturing
By: Peter Zelinski
Topology optimization, 3D printing and a material change for this milling cutter resulted in an 80 percent reduction in mass.
Understanding the Internet of Things
By: Peter Zelinski
Part of the strangeness is this: There is not much to understand! Cheap sensors, fast connectivity, and data storage and applications in the cloud all come together to simplify certain kinds of automation needs. A band saw in the lab at Georgia Tech illustrates how manufacturers might put this to use.
Not Every RFQ Needs Your Attention
By: Peter Zelinski
This shop discovered the most profitable thing it could do with certain RFQs is to prevent them from ever reaching the quoting team.
#zaxis
Metal AM in a Machine Shop? Ask the Marines
By: Peter Zelinski
A hybrid system combining metal 3D printing with machining gives the Marine Corps perhaps its most effective resource yet for obtaining needed hardware in the field. It also offers an extreme version of the experience a machine shop might have in adding metal AM to its capabilities.
The Starting Point for Machine Tool Monitoring: Data Analysis Is an Emotional Choice
By: Peter Zelinski
For machine shops, the transformation that data-driven manufacturing promises to bring begins with machine monitoring, and there is a human component to this.
#zaxis
The Sign on the Wall When I First Met Mark Albert: “When In Doubt, Tell the Truth”
By: Peter Zelinski
Not just writing, but writing with integrity, is the work and the craft to which Mark Albert gave his career.
#zaxis
