Of Pallets and Parts

I’ve always like the idea of pallets that can be set up with new parts while the CNC machine is working on another set of parts. Sort of like quick-change fixtures of a sort. You know it has to contribute to productivity, because when the machine stops you can swap the pallets real fast and the spindle turning again while you pull the parts of the finished pallet and set new workpieces in place to go back in. But how much productivity improvement is possible?

I was reading through a post on the LinkedIn CNC Machining and Manufacturing Network (pretty good group, actually) and saw some interesting figures being quoted by a former sales guy from System 3R. I look their web site and think large scale manufacturing and keep moving (I’m more interested in small operations and techniques that work for a lot of different parts), but what René van der Peet had to say was exactly on target for smaller shops:

- A machine, without any equipment, used during daytime in one shift, produces an average of 800 billable hours each year.

- A machine with just a manual pallet system, used during daytime in one shift, produces an average of 1600 billable hours each year.

- A machine with automated pallets, used during daytime in one shift, produces an average of 3000 billable hours each year.

Those are amazing productivity increases. Heck just the manual pallet system seems like it would pay for itself very quickly. This experience was gained with European machine shops in the Benelux area.

Small shops (and Big ones too, but the small mom and pop shops may be adding their first operators, so it is a bigger decision) often have to consider whether it makes more sense to hire employees are invest in better technology (e.g. faster CNC machines or tooling). Doubling, tripling, and quadrupling the throughput of your machines without adding more employees seems like its worth looking in to if you have enough work to absorb the capacity.

Failing the work, it may free enough of your time to let you spend time doing non-billable things like designing and prototyping your own products to sell.

The downside is it will require the up front investment, as well as reworking your fixtures and processes to work with the pallet system you choose.

Someone else on the thread mentions that System 3R is super accurate with respect to repeatability because its made for EDM work! Clearly that’s very cool for certain kinds of jobs, but it may be that a less expensive investment is also workable. I’ll have more to say about such fixturing over time as its an area I’m very interested in.

Drop me a note if you have experiences along these lines!

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