CNC West Oct Nov Web

32 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST October/November 2018 Free Manufacturing Workshop in Denver -Thursday, November 15 - The Community College of Denver (CCD) and partners are offering a free CNC programming and machining workshop titled “Smart Programming – in CAM or at machine?” to be held on Thursday, November 15th in Denver. Nearby manufacturing companies & student who want to learn about smart programming and HEIDENHAIN TNCs should attend for this unique learning and network- ing experience. The workshop will be held at CCD’s Advanced Manu- facturing Center and will start at 8:30 a.m. with Donuts &Coffee before the official agenda begins at 9am. Lunch is provided, and demonstrations and training sessions continue until 3pm. The sessions will include presentations on latest features of HEIDENHAIN controls, training on 3+2 and 5-axis programming techniques and corresponding part demonstrations on CNC machines at the Advanced manufacturing lab. An overview will be given on the CAD-CAM-CNC- process chain with tips for optimization. CCD and HEIDENHAIN have teamed up with Mas- tercam for this joint workshop. Registration is required and can be done with: Spring. Johnson@ccd.edu ___________________ For more information, contact: tncapplication@heidenhain.com potentially reduce a set-up. Some zero-point clamping ele- ments provide a platform for transferring the same fixture from machine to machine. While these are somewhat expen- sive in the beginning, they pay off as the set-up times shrink. 5. Dedicated Resources Many shops will have the individual machinist perform the tool and fixture gathering duties for the next set-up. I suggest having a person dedicated to this function for two reasons. First, the dedicated person will become intimately familiar with tool and fixture location and thereby be able to get the work done efficiently. Secondly, the assigned per- son will be performing this important task ahead of machine changeover schedule and free the critical Machinist resource to do what they do best; setting the machine work offsets, fixturing and loading the tools properly. Having the tools and fixtures ready BEFORE the new set-up gives significant benefit. 6. Continuous Improvement One thing to remember is that nothing is perfect. There is always room for improvement even in the best of shops. Developing the mindset of continuous improvement when it comes to set-up reduction will shave minutes off of your downtime averages. Over time, refinement of your opera- tions will show improvement to the profit margin. It all starts with not being complacent, never settling for “good enough” when “excellent” is available. Regular meetings that involve the programmer, machin- ist, tool room manager and any other critical path personnel are important and will bring out the snag points and illumi- nate the areas for potential improvement. In conclusion, set-up reduction is the low hanging fruit that can be harvested without capital investment. Looking seriously at this issue with an organized concerted effort will pay back in higher productivity, greater efficiency and increased profits. Start today and develop a plan to identify your set-up averages and work consistently to bring them down. You will be glad you did. Michael Near is a journeyman machinist with a BA in Organizational Management. He also is an international effi- ciency consultant with 50 Years manufacturing/engineering/ service experience.