How far can you get in engineering just using the Power of Thought?

Time and time again, I've watched people under pressure being forced into mistakes, fail to recognise those mistakes and get so far into a project that in many cases its to late to go back and fix those mistakes.

I've seen management being mislead by people on the shop floor, I've seen management mislead people on the shop floor. I've seen management pressure people into mistakes, I've seen people fail to correct management mistakes early because they've been afraid to question management. I've watched this happen to others, I've experienced it myself.

One particular case really struck a chord with me. Id been asked to advise a company on upgrading their cnc milling machines as they were struggling to keep up. The machining ops were very basic, the material was plastic.

The first thing I thought was odd was that the speeds and feeds looked more like what id expect for steel (a lot slower than would be used for plastic). The machine was capable of running much faster. Cycle times were 90 seconds per part, they had 6000 parts per month to machine. It was a single tool op using a 6mm slot drill on a drilling cycle followed by the same tool on a circular pocket cycle (which also incorporated a drilling cycle).

The root cause of this was both management and people on the shop floor who were at odds with each other. However my remit for the day was the machining, so I replaced the Allen key bolts holding the parts in place with thumbscrews. This reduced the cycle times by 15 seconds, I then took another 30 seconds off by removing the unnecessary drilling cycle and I took out a further 35 seconds by correcting the feeds and speeds.

90 seconds to 10 seconds in 5 minutes. Remember were processing 6000 parts a month so I saved the company 133 hours of machine capacity each month, that's some 3 weeks.

5 minutes of thought divided by 6000 parts is less than a tenth of a second per part for a saving of 80 seconds per part. This was the most extreme example I've seen in 20 years, normally a days thinking would only make half the saving I made here.

I'm not trying to make out I'm anything special or that I'm doing anything anyone else can't, but even after 20 years I'm still shocked that people won't just stop and think about what there doing. The prevailing management culture in engineering doesn't help, but its not the only thing.

My introduction to commercial machining was being pointed in the direction of a Bridgeport Interact and told to get on with it. I was 16 and had around 10 hours of basic training on a manual machine using dials, I hadn't even used digital readouts at that point and all of a sudden I'm in charge of a CNC machine.

How did I do? I kept my cool and thought everything through and after a month I was keeping up with people 20+ years more experienced than me. I didn't do anything big or clever, I just thought where each move would take me before I made the move.

In my second month, everyone else was sacked (I didn't know the company was in its death throws) but anyway just as I turned 17 I was now in charge of a whole cnc machine with 5 cnc machines. A year later when the company finally failed, I got into toolmaking in my next employment and then aged 20 I started my own business in toolmaking and cnc machining.

What have I learnt?

In some ways I don't feel that I've learnt much about engineering despite my experience. Engineering has always come naturally to me and every problem solving activity has felt like a routine activity.

Most of the problems I've encountered are really people problems, management problems, business problems and cashflow problems.

Pure engineering and pure business are polar opposites. Engineering works best when properly planned and configured for the intended purpose from the outset. Business works better when you can invest as little as possible upfront, make your offerings as general purpose as possible and hedge your bets.

This usually translates into pushing on without the best equipment for the job, being forced to chop and change the workflow according to which customer is getting priority and the constant game of trying to upgrade a live workshop running at full capacity.

Pressure and stress take there toll on all of us, I've been there to. One thing I've really noticed over the years is how a fresh pair of eyes at key points in a project can make a huge difference.

For a fresh pair of eyes on your project why not take advantage of my special offer of a power hour phone call or zoom for just ￡35?

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