Page 41 - Fall 2024 EDM Today

EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine

Bottlenecks
Your defi ned process is your manufacturing recipe that
ultimately determines your effi ciency, productivity, and
end profi tability. Any given process is worthy of review to
It’s all about productivity! Each shop needs to evaluate
their total internal processes and apply some Lean
to gain a competitive edge.
Manufacturing lessons. If you are not familiar with Lean
Manufacturing concepts, it is an operational technique
Lean Manufacturing and ISO methods help to properly
that helps to identify waste and increase effi ciency in see what improvements or advancements can be applied
document and establish a formal process, but the
manufacturing, and there are many online resources that
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
challenge is applying the proper discipline to ensure a
can be tapped for self-educating on this topic. Ultimate-
process is followed the same way every time.
ly, we must question if a particular action or task is
necessary to add value to the end-product. While there
Processes need to be complete and robust so that they
are some tasks that might be necessary to manufacture
yield proper quality targets each time. When automation
a certain detail, it is good practice to keep unnecessary
is being considered, your manufacturing process should
activities to a minimum.
be fully optimized to the point that reliable and consistent
results are produced. If a particular process has too many
Identifying internal bottlenecks can be painfully diffi cult,
uncontrolled variables, part quality and accuracy can suf-
especially if you have a limited understanding of the
overall process methodologies and take a distorted
and restrictive view of “We’ve always done it this way”
approach. It can sometimes be diffi cult to see the forrest fer, and these are issues that automation cannot solve!
through the trees, so too are bottlenecks that might exist
Basic Processing Variables:
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
DI-resin, contacts, guides, etc.) EDM Today Magazine
right under your nose!
Facility temperature change
Realizing and overcoming a bottleneck might not always
require robotic automation to yield sizeable improve-
Machine tool (rigidity / condition / age / maintenance)
ments. Reformulating your internal processes related to
programming, work holding, and scheduling can provide
Program process (toolpath design, power
huge increases in throughput, and this improvement will
setting selection)

clearly be seen in the machine utilization data.
Work holding rigidity and stability
Machine consumables quality (oil, water, fi lters,
Basic Bottleneck Questions:

Why is this area a bottleneck?
Electrode quality (wire, solid electrode,
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
electrode tubes)

What is your current machine Utilization Rate

in this area?
Inspection measurement methods (condition,
accuracy, calibration)

How much unattended machine operation is

being achieved?
Setups and Fixturing
Is there a quality issue in the bottleneck area?
victim to complacency, and again end up with the “We’ve
Are you processing the short-run and quick jobs
always done it this way” mentality. This area can easily
Is there an equipment or operator skillset issue? Work holding is an area that shops often overlook, fall
during the day, and then running the long cut time
yield signifi cant time savings and improve utilization with
parts overnight?
Are you spending more time setting up the part than minimal investment. If it’s common for your shop to man-
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
ually clamp every part to the work table and use shims to
level everything out, you are long overdue to look at EDM
it takes to machine it?
tooling!
Here too is where standardization aids in effi ciency, and
this step is also a necessity on a path to automation.
Stable and Repeatable Process
For example, work holding vises for Wire EDM provide
3-Axis adjustability that streamline setup alignments and
Are you able to meet part quality requirements every
leveling. This tooling can also incorporate a chuck that
time? Is the proverbial “We’ve always done it this way”
approach getting the job done? These are all critical
disrupting a parts alignment. The tooling also supports
questions to ask about how robust, reliable, and consis-
off-line/off-machine setups, enabling a part to be pre-set
tent your manufacturing process is. I will interject and allows the fi xture to be moved and reclamped without
while the machine is in operation on another part. In the
quote my father: “If it’s worth doing, then it’s worth doing
EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine EDM Today Magazine
end, its about reducing a parts set up time, which is the
it right the fi rst time!”
direct labor cost.
(Continued on next page)
39
EDM Today, Fall 2024 Issue