Newsletter # 49 – Humility in Business
Last month’s newsletter was a case study of a part who’s cost was greatly reduced with some DFM work. This month we are going to have a brief wrap up of 2010 and wish you all a Happy Holiday.
We started January with a case study of a part with great DFM potential that wasn’t realized because the customer was too far down the testing path to make use of it. The lesson learned is to get your suppliers involved early in the design process.
In February we talked about raw material sizes and stressed the importance of considering them during the design stage. You can save a lot of money on your machined parts by not having to buy larger stock and turn it into chips.
In March and in April we covered an overview of CNC milling machines and turning centers respectively. We believe that knowing the way that CNC machines work will help give an understanding to the engineer that will help reduce cost.
In May we talked about drawings and methods of not introducing cost in your drawings. A part that is relatively simple, can be made very costly with a poor tolerance scheme and other factors that are controlled on the drawing.
In June we discussed optimal corner radii, and how small changes in radii can have a big impact on machining time and part cost. It can also make your parts look better to use the optimal radii.
In July, we presented a white paper by our employee Jon Edwards. It is a very interesting study of how well companies have done with partnering with suppliers and utilizing DFMA. If you didn’t read it before, check it out now.
In August we discussed surface roughness. We presented a case of how different machining operations leave different finishes, how to measure it and how it affects cost.
In September we talked about title block tolerances. It is an area of huge opportunity and one of the most ignored issue we see on drawings. Please re-read the article and remember it always.
In October we covered a great case study where we were able to save the customer over $100,000 in about an hours work. The key was they asked for the help early on enough to incorporate the changes.
In November, we were so stuffed from Thanksgiving and sleepy from all that tryptophan in the Turkey that we slept right through the end of the month and missed sending a newsletter. 🙂
Lastly, we wanted to send a huge thank you to all of our newsletter readers – over 1500 of you at this point. The response from so many companies that are interested in dialog, feedback, boot camps, inspiring stories of improvements made and just saying thank you for providing such a great resource has been overwhelming. It has been a great 2010 and we are very excited to work with even more of you in 2011.
The entire team at Pro CNC wishes you all a wonderful holiday season and a very prosperous 2011.
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