Transition from paper to touch screens in under a week!
It would be fair to assume that many businesses have embraced a system to create a digital concept to appease the needs of today's client. We describe this simply in our industry as a drawing program. Some of these drawing programs have the ability to create a moderate sketch, while others can output information to CNC technologies.
In a CNC production environment, Design programs with CNC output ability have a key benefit of sending information to a CNC machine, as accurately and efficiently as possible. The time it takes to design and have these files machine ready may vary, but the critical aspect must focus on the overall production line, not just this first stage.
Typically, the effort of designing and engineering a project, optimising and sending machine-ready code to a CNC machine is the end of the digital process, the end of the code. We then create analogue systems such as a manila folder that contains many sheets of paper that encompasses the steps needed to be taken to re-construct the job or project. The magical folder passes through many hands and can include:
Critical information and instructions relative to each stage of production
Project Plan, Elevations, and 3D Designs
Door Orders
Special hardware items
Job Summarys
Nesting or Cutting Files / Patterns
Part Labels
Traditionally, we go from a single source of truth (a digital file) from the office to the CNC machine in digital format, then convert to an analogue system by way of that manila folder with its many pieces of paper.
Industry 4.0 teaches us about information that flows from one application to another to close a loop to form a single source of truth. It is through this information that we can learn and make better informed decisions, proactively.
I have always been an advocate in systems that provide a level of continuity through a production line. As a user of digital technologies in the early 2000’s, we would undertake the steps of detailing a project, creating the production file (going from the digital format to an analogue system) We would deconstruct a job to provide critical information for each stage of production, repeating this process at least 25 times per week. It's great to reflect, but that was almost 20 years ago.
With so many business embracing systems for front of house (Job Costing, Project Management & CAD-CAM) many have perhaps overlooked a production management system that joins & links with the various applications to create that single source of truth.
Production Assistant provides us with a system that digitalises the various stages of production, to provide us with key information and instructions in areas such as:
Office
CNC
Edging
Sorting
Assembly
Time keeping
Kitting / Shipping
Job-site Tracking
Starting in the office, jobs can be exported from leading CAD-CAM systems, using the same single source code, and providing information and instructions to the various stages of production. Barcode and RFID technologies can track parts through the various stages of production to help you understand your true productivity and capacity. No more paperwork or manila folders, instead digital information that will help you take control of your production line. In the office, a business intelligence dashboard will provide important information on balanced flow and bottlenecks along with BIG Data analysis of manufacturing history.
At the end of the production cycle, this same information then can be imported into ERP Systems to ensure accurate allocation of materials, and times to ensure the next project you quote is inline with your production capability, not just a guess.
What is an area in your production line that is causing you the most challenges currently?
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