A better set of tools

Modern Machine Shop, March, 1995 by Tom Beard

While this latter capability may seem divorced from the emphasis on more flexible production equipment, they are really heavily intertwined. Securing a more flexible array of production technology creates a wider processing window for Spacesonic and its customers, and allows the shop greater leeway to apply its already considerable fabricating process expertise to the benefit of both parties.

Initially, the technology acquisition was to play out over five years, beginning in 1988. Spacesonic established a yearly budget for the purchases. If all went well, at the end of the five years they would begin turning the investment year for year, with the oldest of the machines paid off, and a new machine coming on, keeping their overall technology cost relatively constant, and predictable.

Over the next six years of the plan they acquired, in order:

* Amada Pega 345 punch press with automatic loader

* Amada LCE 645 1000-watt laser, and a Fabrivision 2D inspection machine

* Mitsubishi HB 25-12 1600-watt laser, for 4-by-8 sheets of plate

* Amada Apelio combination laser/turret punch press with 8-station loader/unloader

* Bending robot

* Traded Mitsubishi HB 25-12 for HB 25-20, a 5 by 10-foot, 3000-watt laser

* Amada LCE 655 1500-watt laser, and traded bending robot for 12-foot long press brake.

Cells And Other Efficient Setups

But having a bunch of equipment is one thing, using it effectively is quite another. And how these purchases have been set out on the shop floor along with other equipment has everything to do with Spacesonic's efficiency. "We have a 50,000 square foot shop in 25,000 square feet of space," says Mr. Palomarez, which does much more than just keep the rent low. Closely grouping machines in cells is the key.

There's a story behind Spacesonic's move to cellular manufacturing. It began, not with a study of fashionable manufacturing techniques, but with a bit of common sense wrought from a rush order. An important customer had an emergency need for a small run of prototype parts, which Mr. Palomarez and two associates came in to run on a Saturday afternoon. At the time the shop was still laid out in process departments - punch presses all in one place, press brakes in another, and so on. "We had to get the parts done in a hurry," says Mr. Palomarez, "and we were running all over that shop. That's when it occurred to me that it would be so much easier if you put all the machines you need to complete a part in one place so one or two guys could easily move from machine to machine to get the job done." It's a condensed form of cellular manufacturing Mr. Palomarez envisioned, a concept he now refers to as "cockpit manufacturing," where all the tools are quite literally at the operators' fingertips. And he believes that when the technique is applied effectively, it rivals the efficiency of much higher forms of automation, yet maintains the full flexibility of stand-alone machines.

Most of the shop is now set up in cells, and they have been hugely effective. For one thing, work-in-process inventory has been drastically slashed. Walking through the shop, the only materials you really notice are finished goods and raw materials, and precious few of those thanks to agreements worked out with the shop's steel suppliers. And for another, they simply move more material through their expensive production assets than ever before because scheduling is so simple, and because all the issues of attendant labor, setup, and material handling are managed locally by the team of operators in the cell who have broad authority to manage their own work and equipment.