UW 505 Universal 5-Axis Workstation from ROFIN, developed to address industry’s need for a compact, turnkey CNC laser processing work cell for 3-D applications. WWW.ROFIN-INC.COM
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out holes before moving the parts directly over to the welding area for fit-up, saving many steps in the production. Overcoming bottlenecks in a production facility is not just a question of purchasing new equipment. “Management and equipment are both relevant to the bottleneck issue. Management needs to determine the best engineered manufacturing procedures to make the part,” says Bob Kloczkowski, sales manager for Rofin-Sinar Inc. “Part design needs to consider the capabilities of the production equipment as well as part design specifications. Management also needs to consider the up-time of the equipment. Older equipment or high maintenance machines will generate bottlenecks if their up-time is low. New technology machinery is an answer to equipment concerns because they offer higher production rates, less downtime and better performance specifications.” Although both management and equipment are relevant, management must lead. “It starts with management. Having a solid, lean manufacturing operation is a key component of company culture. It is very difficult to change the culture. Operators that are used to setting up a machine and letting it run slowly through its operation while they read the paper are not likely to embrace change,” suggests Marc Lobit, general manager sales support for Mazak Optonics Corporation. “The pallets of work in front of their machine for many illustrate their job security. Once the decision is made to change the culture, the equipment and workflow needs an objective analysis. Many machines are more effective in automated operation due to automatic setup features or intelligent
“MANAGEMENT AND EQUIPMENT ARE BOTH RELEVANT TO THE BOTTLENECK ISSUE.” functions that help adjust machine performance automatically.” Automation systems will increase workflow and capacity, but the technology needs to solve a problem to be effective. “If it is not an appropriate type of automation, the shop will have higher capital costs without the ROI [return on investment],” says Lobit. Improper material handling can result in manual loading and unloading inefficiencies and lost time. “First and foremost management must identify the bottlenecks and make the decisions to fix them,” says Frank Arteaga, head of product marketing, NAFTA Region for Bystronics Inc. “Management must always maintain the vision of their company both in the short term and the long term. The equipment should match the expectations and productivity requirements of the company both in the present and the near future.” If management does not outline the right process flow for parts or have limits on how labour or machine time is used, bottlenecks will result. Determining where workflow inefficiencies are located and then dealing with them intelligently is management’s responsibility. “In many instances the use of buffers can offer a solution. A buffer is a piece of material handling equipment that can temporarily store parts until the next step in the process is ready to receive it,” says Colle. “Buffer equipment must be sized based on the lack of capacity in the next step of the process. If we under-size our material handling system we can create a bottleneck within a bottleneck. Without creating this buffer it is impossible to take advantage of the speed of the laser. The key here is to temporarily store the parts until the next step in the process is ready to receive these parts.” Automating laser cutting systems goes beyond feeding solutions. “Our simplest automation is where it will load a sheet of material, the parts are cut and it unloads the sheet to a separate pallet,” said Brady. “As we move up the line, you can go to something that has six shelves of different material and bring down a pallet automatically and load as many sheets as you need off of that pallet onto that turret, and then either bring www.canadianmetalworking.com
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