Improving Manufacturing Efficiency: Simplicity in Engineering &
Automation
by Arnot Heller III
In the past news I discussed a major difference in the processing of components that we, at CSP,
believe allows us to provide an advantage to our customer. Basically through the use of a near net
shape, we save material and machining time in production, allowing us to control costs over time
while improving manufacturing efficiency.
This update starts with a story. Years ago my father and I, on one of our many trips to China, were
visiting a factory in a city outside of Shanghai called Wuxi. The factory was owned by a Taiwanese
man, who had worked in the States for years for a large manufacturing company. Like many
others, Mike had moved to China to start his own factory. He spoke good, but broken English, and
made one of the great points that I have ever heard about China's current rise in manufacturing
(and the difficulty that we were having competing in the West).
He asked my Dad what type of machines we were running in our plant. At the time we had a bunch
of CNC lathes on the floor, and he guessed we were running Miyanos (a well-known, precision,
Japanese machine tool builder). My dad nodded and said he had been buying Miyanos since 1987
and loved the machines. Mike then rhetorically asked what my Dad paid for each of the machines,
ballpark, and then surmised around $135,000 USD. My dad nodded again, and then Mike made
his point. He gestured toward the window overlooking his factory floor and said, "See that machine
right there? It cost me $5,000 USD, and it can do everything your Miyano can do, and hold the
same sizes." He continued, "I am basically changing the process, and we are not even playing the
same game. I can buy 27 machines for the price you pay for one. There is no way you can
compete with me."
I took his comments to heart, because inherently I couldn't argue with his logic. I guess we could
compare it to why taxi drivers don't need to drive Bentleys; they just need to get us from point A to
point B.
Now at CSP we don't own Miyanos anymore. When we look at a job, we engineer it to be as
simple as possible, using the simplest machines possible. At the time Mike had an advantage
because he had a large labor pool that he could pull from to run his machines. At CSP, we can
think the same way, yet automate the simple machine with a complex robot. Therefore, following
the philosophy of using a less expensive machine tool to do a job, however, automating it so that it
does the job quickly and effectively for maximum manufacturing efficiency.
We must be careful in our industry to NEVER underestimate a job, but also not to over-engineer a
job. Many engineers are so concerned about robustness of a system, so they over-engineer the
system. When designing a system we keep it simple, with off-the-shelf components and
machinery. This method allows us to provide quick and cost-effective solutions to our customers,
and to truly call ourselves world-class.
Over the past few years we have seen the machine tool builders jump on board and understand
this philosophy. They continue to build bare-bones machines for production that can get the job
done nice and fast, and can be quickly changed. Give us a call to incorporate this agile type of
manufacturing philosophy into your components. We look forward to sharing more of our stories.