In the sheet metal industry, we often overlook the vast amount of information contained in a single nesting and cutting job. When we send a job to the cutting machine, we can estimate real work time, downtime between jobs, wasted raw material, setup time, quality of the result, actual energy consumed and hundreds of other parameters for each job.
The information gathered from all the jobs executed on all the machines in a workshop is a gold mine. It contains the secret to continuous improvement, but too often the opportunity is wasted.
Companies that can unify information with a single data structure and work within those parameters can accurately measure production efficiency and budget effectiveness, which is essential for subcontractors. These suppliers can also optimize the process and improve it every day.
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SME is a nonprofit association of professionals, educators and students committed to promoting and supporting the manufacturing industry. SME helps manufacturers innovate, grow and prosper by promoting manufacturing technology, developing a skilled workforce and connecting the manufacturing industry.
