CNC: How a machine monitoring system reduces investment in new machines
Increasing capacity – buy a machine or reduce downtime on existing machines using a CNC machine monitoring system ? Easy decision for a CEO !
Increasing CNC machining capacity
Downtime on the shop floor can be up to 30 % because of poor work ethics and system problems (see this earlier post). If I have 10 machines on my shop floor and I want to increase machining capacity by 20 %, I have two options:
Option 1: Buy another machine.
Option 2: Increase capacity utilization by 20 % by reducing downtime.
Option 1 is quick, painless, does not involve disrupting my current inefficient way of working. I can buy a new machine in a couple of days.
Option 2 is costs a fraction of Option 1, but is painful – involves changing work culture and improving systems.
Most organizations prefer Option 1, which increases costs and reduces profitability, but is painless. Option 2 involves putting in a productivity monitoring system that tracks your machines’ production and downtime electronically, automatically, 24/7.
Let’s say you have 10 machines each costing Rs. 25 Lakhs, a total of Rs. 2.5 Crore. You now face a capacity crunch, and need to increase capacity by 20 %. You can reduce downtime and improve capacity utilization of the existing machines by 20 %. The new machines will cost you Rs. 50 Lakhs, while an Industry 4.0 machine monitoring system will cost you Rs. 5 Lakhs. The monitoring system can typically improve your capacity utilization by 20 % in 3 months. It can do this at 10 % of the investment in new machines.
Etc.
Doggie moving up in life
I stayed in a hotel near Connaught Place in Delhi recently, for a week. While on an early morning jog (trying to shed the kilos that I was acquiring at the huge breakfast buffet spread every morning – part of the hotel’s package deal), I saw this dog sleeping on top of a parked car.
Two questions arose in my mind:
1. How in hell did the guy get on top there, negotiating the slippery metal and glass ?
2. Wasn’t he uncomfortable on the hard and possibly cold metal ?
I still haven’t figured out the answer to the first question.
As for the second one, it was a warm and humid monsoon morning, and the metal was probably nice and cool compared to the ground.
And now I’m wondering whether he (being a city slicker dog) will at some point in his life think “I’m tired of sleeping on these mid-range cars. It’s time I moved up in life. Should look for a Benz or a BMW to sleep on tonight, so I can impress the babes”. He’s actually moved up in life, literally, from sleeping on the footpath to sleeping on a car.
