Having trouble with your labor force returning to work in a post-Covid world? Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines have brought about positive changes in the manufacturing space for window and door manufacturers.
Instead of manually setting up machines in your production facility (this requires many hours of labor which can be costly and hard to find in a labor-challenged market), CNC machines have automated these processes, meaning the machines do the work, not your labor force. Software can be set up to automatically transfer the machining data to the CNC machine, producing the windows and doors, quickly and precisely without being reliant on a skilled labor force.
CNC Automation is a big decision for your business and may even seem daunting, which is completely understandable. This approach however has so many benefits for your business, processes, and staff, including:
1. Increase in productivity
The use of CNCs has allowed manufacturers to work at a much faster pace to deliver the same standard of products and without the added need for skilled labor resources.
2. Saves time and money
CNCs can work long hours, producing many customer orders in less time than labor-intensive manufacturing.
3. Eliminates human errors
Errors such as cutting the aluminum too short, or the glass too big, can lead to a decrease in profits, especially in a time where every $ counts. When you use CNCs, the machine is programmed to deliver the product, as per the design data, and thus eliminating all chance of human error.
4. Decreases material wastes
The CNC machines are precise, eliminate human error and therefore decrease the materials wasted. This saves your business money not only in reducing wastage but also in the compounded time spent on reworks.
5. Safe and easy to use
With CNC machines operators do not need to get close to the cutting tools which decrease occupational health and safety accidents. This is a win for the business and for staff.
6. Future-proofing your business
Introducing CNC into your business allows you to adapt to changing designs, building codes, and standards. This allows your business to keep up with the changing world of manufacturing and keep you in the front of technology advances in the window and door industry.
7. Free up the skilled labor you do have for specialist skilled work
CNC machines help to reduce the labor required for the most basic administrative tasks, most of which can easily be automated. This will free up the skilled labor you do have to focus on their specific area of skill rather than menial administrative tasks.
8. Mitigating business risk
Software and automation implementation also formally captures business processes rather than leaving these open to risk. “Tribal knowledge” is just one risk where only a select few people in your business understand the processes as they have this in their head.
9. Opening the labor pool to include the lower-skilled tier of employees
CNC automation is set up and managed through your software. There is no need to employ highly skilled machinists to manufacture windows and doors in your production line anymore. All the data required to manufacture the order is already pre-defined and provided from one true data source.
10. Less time and money spent on staff training
With your CNCs automated to produce orders in your manufacturing facility, you don’t need to train up any new staff or carry of the cost of training staff on setting up and running your CNCs. You require less staff and fewer training hours for the staff to use the CNC machines.
CNC automation not only increases your productivity and saves time and money, it removes the reliance on a skilled labor force at a time where labor is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, but it also future-proofs your business!!
If you want to know how Soft Tech can help you achieve CNC connectivity read more here or request a demo today
