Tool presetting truth

Lean concepts have permeated organizations large and small, so it is hard to believe that anyone in manufacturing has not heard of these ideas. Many people think that lean is the practice of putting sticky notes on whiteboards, making spaghetti diagrams or sitting in numerous meetings with no outcomes. When done correctly, it is the art of finding and eliminating waste while maximizing the efficiency of value-adding activities.

A good way to see if something is a value-adding activity is to ask whether it changes the shape of a workpiece. Milling, drilling, punching, bending and assembly all change the shape and therefore add value. That is why customers pay us for these activities. Customers do not pay invoices for sweeping, going to a toolcrib and setting tools. Yes, those costs are part of the overhead in the shop rate and do not show up on a bill, but consider what happens to profitability when they are reduced or eliminated.

Tool setting is a necessary activity at machine shops. But it adds no value because it does not change the shape of a part, and many customers would not accept it as a line on an invoice. Lots of shops continue to accept tool setting time as part of the process and absorb this nonproductive time. So how do we reduce the cost of time spent setting tools?

Reduce the Cost

Step one is to recognize that tool setting is non-value-adding time. Changing shop culture can be difficult. Every shop has a culture. Some shops are very receptive to change, and others are not. But getting employees at a shop to acknowledge tool setting as a non-value-adding activity is the first step to success. Unfortunately, there is not a formula for change that works at all shops. Otherwise someone would have been at your door trying to sell the practice. Convincing people to accept new ideas and methods is something that shop leaders must customize to fit their teams.

Adding tool setters to machines and utilizing automated functions are relatively inexpensive and much faster than manually setting tools.

The second step is finding the waste. This is where lean tools can be employed. For large organizations with deep pockets, a lean consultant may be the answer. For smaller shops, lean manufacturing might become a do-it-yourself project. For those of you without the financial resources, do not worry, because this part is easy. Each time a machine stops so someone can set a tool, record the time that the machine does not make chips. Even if you already have some automation like onboard tool setters, track the noncutting time during the tool setting sequence. Record the data for a significant amount of time to ensure accurate analysis. Having this continuous stream of data also will allow you to measure the impact of improvements.