Choosing The Right CNC Machining Process for On-demand Production
It was, perhaps, inevitable that the success of Just-In-Time production would find its way to the CNC machining process. Suppliers and wholesalers have for decades now shown the incredible benefits of JIT inventory control. There was an inexplicable disconnect between being able to restock consumer electronics in a day and having to wait months for custom products or parts. On-demand production has emerged as the answer.
CNC machining on demand begins and ends with the customer’s needs. Tight integration between the customer and Macfab is tailored to boost customer profitability and satisfaction. If you’ve ever tracked a package, you know the frustration of seeing it sitting for a day in a warehouse not far away, knowing it will be tomorrow before you receive it. On-demand manufacturing is all about eliminating that kind of pointless delay.
Integration is the Key
Cloud-based integration with your manufacturer is at the heart of on-demand manufacturing. Once you find a dependable full-service CNC on-demand manufacturer like Macfab, you’re ready to roll. Your designs can be uploaded through an encrypted connection rather than email.
Evaluation can begin immediately rather than waiting for someone to open the email and decide what to do with it. Questions can be fielded and decisions made largely through an AI-driven process that saves huge amounts of time.
Moving Through the Stages
Designs can be optimized to take advantage of raw stock dimensions. Materials choices can be made from readily available stocks, or orders placed if suitable stock isn’t immediately available or castings are called for. The required CNC machining processes can be identified and the necessary machines, tools, manpower, and time arranged. Changes determined by our engineers or your designers’ feedback on the system and adjustments are made accordingly at all levels of the manufacturing plan.
The CNC machining on demand goes on to include inspections and all necessary QA reporting, cleaning, assembly, packaging, and shipping.
Parallel Planning
Just as building construction often begins before a design is finalized, on-demand manufacturing with its AI underpinning maintains the flexibility that wasn’t possible that long ago. Overseen by our engineers and managers, our on-demand capabilities incorporate Kanban, lean manufacturing, and integrated inventory control. Changes are mapped ahead as soon as they’re introduced to your product. The goal is to avoid the scenario of your product sitting and waiting for some machine to be free or some time to be opened up like your package sitting in a terminal somewhere.
Our low-volume / high-complexity manufacturing model allows us to focus on manufacturing runs of the size you need. We aren’t in the business of being a high-volume manufacturer. From prototypes to finished products, we tailor our output to your needs.
Prototypes actually play a critical role in your on-demand experience. MacFab can produce a prototype very quickly. In fact, your testing of the prototypes may be the longest part of the on-demand manufacturing process. Whether you run incremental prototypes or test them to failure to determine what features need to be adjusted, the bulk of your production run remains active in our on-demand system. As soon as you give the green light, manufacturing begins.
Stripping out the dead time in the manufacturing process saves you money by optimizing the time you have to invest in your products. It makes us profitable by keeping our shop schedule at peak efficiency. In other words, there are very good reasons for everyone to utilize CNC on-demand manufacturing.
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