Workforce Development
If You Want to Improve Something, Measure It
This shop involves all of its employees in the daily exercise of analyzing just where time is being spent.
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Shop Control Software Helps Job Shop Make The Right Moves
By replacing its haphazard, error-prone shop control system with the E2 Shop System ERP solution from ShopTech Industrial Software, this contract manufacturer reduced waste and improved efficiency in virtually every department.
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Video: What Is 5S?
Here is a training film a job shop developed to help its employees understand 5S.
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Hobbing on a Turning Center
This manufacturer’s use of live-tool lathes overcomes labor cost in various ways. One of the latest sources of savings involves bringing another operation—hobbing—into these machines. INCLUDES VIDEO.
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The Knob Problem
The retention knob is an unmistakably critical component of the machining process. However, the tightening of the knob itself can lead to the toolholder not seating securely in the machine. You may be losing tool life to knob tightness without even knowing it.
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HMC Reduces Setup Time On Low-Volume Jobs
Producing parts right the first time is especially important for a job shop that pays as much as $10,000 for raw material. Although complex geometries and tight delivery schedules initially made this challenging, a four-axis HMC with pallet changer allowed faster setups and unattended production.
Read MoreOnline Supervisor Training With Shop-Floor Focus
Tooling U, a provider of online training for the manufacturing industry, has released a new series of classes for first-time supervisors. Titled “Supervisor Essentials,” the set of classes covers topics including effective communication, leadership principles, performance management, conflict resolution and basic cost accounting. Unlike traditional “soft skills” training, these classes are tailored specifically for a manufacturing audience.
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Job Shop-Developed Dovetail Fixture Takes Wing
Two aerospace job shops in California collaborated to produce a workholding fixture that allows any shop to set up a fully fixtured pallet dedicated to a five-axis job and then store the fixtured pallets for immediate use whenever the job repeats.
Read MoreSurfware Opens Demo, Training Center
Surfware, developer of SurfCAM Velocity CAD/CAM systems, has opened a new demo and training center in Camarillo, California. The facility will serve many functions, including a role as a multimedia center where live demonstrations of the company’s TrueMill and SurfCAM software will be filmed and made available via the Surfware Web site, YouTube and other communication outlets. Live Webcasts broadcast from the center will allow viewers worldwide to see demonstrations of TrueMill in high speed titanium cutting applications on a Haas machine.
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CNC Training Software Available On CD ROM
Siemens Energy & Automation offers its SinuTrain solution, a package of CNC training software on CD-ROM that runs with Windows XP. To further speed the program-generation protocol, NC programs can be developed and simulated using a direct connection to the company’s CAD systems. In this way, mill and lathe operators not only learn the control language commands, but also visualize part programs on PC screens that are identical to actual machine screens.
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