Shop Operations

Keith Jennings, our Manager's Desk columnist, this month responds to readers asking for tips to increase sales, and, yes, his answer emphasizes the need for a Web presence and social media.

A typical CNC lathe program is quite short compared to some of the mammoth CAM-generated programs for milling machines. Here are some tips and tricks to programming a CNC lathe.

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings reflects on the ups and downs of the previous 12 months, with a nod to the "classroom of reality," which he says continues to educate him and his team. As a result, his shop created a list of goals for 2014.

Like many in the industry, when I started in the machining world it was on a manual lathe. I have a special place in my heart for lathes. That includes CNC lathes, the next step up for aspiring machinists. In my experience, I have found there is a lopsided ratio of CNC mill machinists to CNC lathe machinists, with about 10 times as many being mill machinists. My theory is this is partly because the CNC lathe is more difficult to operate.

Like many in the machining world, I've dealt with more than enough serious issues in 2013, so it's cool to have been part of a fun experience.

During the summer, writes the Shop Operations columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, it gets pretty hot in a shop that's not air conditioned. With sweat running down my semibald head, I was trying to get a part set up in a CNC lathe. This particular part was giving me some trouble because of a tool compensation problem. I was hot and frustrated.

Tom Lipton, the author of Cutting Tool Engineering's Shop Operations column, shares a trick he learned that reveals an interesting use of relatively crash-proof soft metal or plastic bed plates on a milling machine.

After working in the machining and fabrication business for 21 years, Keith Jennings, the Manager's Desk columnist for Cutting Tool Engineering, has concluded that million-dollar jobs don't guarantee big profits.

Continuing the theme of the previous three columns, here are additional tips for enhancing the operation of a CNC milling machine from Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton.

Representing your company through community involvement accomplishes two goals. Hopefully, you're doing something positive and, in return, raising the reputation of you and your company. You may also gain access to another network of valuable contacts and potential leads.

The Shop Operations column suggests that you should use every tool, trick and option at your disposal to get jobs out the door as quickly as possible because speed and momentum reduce costs when applied to part processing.

This month's Manager's Desk column suggests that good managers are able to shift gears and take maximum advantage of all business cycles, up or down.