Common Obstacles Machine Shops Face
Metalworking shops have undergone major changes over the past few decades. Technical advances require upgraded skills, and new equipment can add cost. Tool and die makers and other metalworking businesses must adapt to common obstacles machine shops face to stay competitive.
Automation and New Skillsets
The introduction of computer numerical control (CNC) machines has raised the bar on the required skillset for forming and shaping precision metal parts. Some processes can now be performed by robots. Running a CNC machine requires math and computer programming skills. These precision tools need operators who understand how to make adjustments and calculations appropriate to different materials and different types of parts. Precision parts require precision quality controls, and specifications can be expressed in millimeters. Metal malleability, hardness, and thickness all come into play. These new machines require more highly trained personnel, and that labor can be difficult to find and expensive to compensate.
Scheduling and Competition
It seems that clients want products yesterday. While pressuring shops to produce parts quickly, clients may also change specifications or ask for emergency consideration. Shops that can pivot and respond quickly will get more business but also take on more stress.
Diversification
Metalworking is performed in stages. Raw materials, like sheet metal, are formed into the required shapes by stamping, boring, forging, cutting, and bending. These operations require different types of machinery and skills. They also result in parts that bear imperfections, called “burrs.” Technical advances like laser cutting and other processes involving heat can leave little bits of re-hardened melted metal behind. Shops routinely send parts out to other shops for deburring and finishing, but those that can provide one-stop shopping and, therefore, greater speed of production may have a competitive edge. Bringing finishing in-house with machines that can perform automated deburring and finishing gives machine shops more control over their schedule and finished product.
Maintenance
Of course, with every new and more sophisticated machine, there are new maintenance concerns. Operators may have the skill to program machines but not the skills to maintain and repair them. When considering adding equipment to cope with some of the common obstacle machine shops face, shop owners must consider the durability, ease of operation, and method of maintaining any equipment they decide to add.
Metalworking has come a long way since the days of manually forming and filing parts. Machine shops can rise to the challenge by upgrading equipment and investing in training staff for more complex and automated operations.
