Como economizar custos de produção no gerenciamento de projetos CNC

How to Save Production Costs in CNC Project Management

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Many people think you need a good machinist to complete a CNC project. However, this is not entirely the case. Of course, a qualified engineer who is proficient with all CNC manufacturing tools is important, but he would simply manufacture the assembly parts piece by piece, in some cases exactly as listed on the data sheet, and solve the problems piece by piece. This is obviously a viable strategy, but it will take longer and likely cost more than a systematic approach that can anticipate potential problems. This approach is called project management.

What is project management all about?

The basic concept of project management is the ability to use resources and time efficiently and approach each project systematically. It can be used in almost every industry or line of business because the goal of saving resources and reducing costs while getting something done faster is the most prevalent in our economy. The idea is quite obvious, isn't it? But how do we achieve all of the above? And what types of project management examples are there for CNC prototyping projects? How can we reduce the cost of a CNC prototype by implementing project management? Let's answer all these questions.

Project management techniques to reduce costs

Project management processes are managed through the use of special techniques and approaches that allow the project manager to reduce production time, increase quality, or simply reduce the overall cost of CNC manufacturing.

Manufacturing and logistics processes

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It is important for project managers to understand how raw materials move through the production area and become a final CNC prototype. It is particularly important to track the part or batch of parts in manufacturing systems. For example, small volume production shops are often inundated with different orders for different parts.

An example of project management in this case is the determination of the so-called transfer charge. Let's look at a concrete production situation: there are two orders. Manufacturers have to partially fulfill orders every week. The solution seems simple: first you need to make a batch and then place the second order. But what if you have 3 orders? 30? and some of them are individual pieces. What if you only have one grinder, creating a bottleneck in your system? Project managers draw special diagrams in which they calculate transfer batches and critical paths (the bottleneck project that cannot be delayed under any circumstances) and determine the time that can be spared.

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Another problem is logistics. It makes sense for large companies that have a limited number of electric carts. Project managers try to group batches by CNC manufacturing level and move them together to the next work area to maximize cart utilization.

How do you save costs? You get detailed timelines of your current projects and see all critical areas so you don't miss any deadlines. Your parts will not stay in the same place for long while waiting to be transported to the next technical operations. Overall processing costs and time are therefore lower.

Human resources management and outsourcing

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Human resource management is important for lean production. Nowadays, people are seen differently. Digital technologies allow us to hire people all over the world, so the company's real staff is not just people sitting in the office or at machine tools, but a whole range of other people who can be contacted via the Internet . With lean project management, you must also take these people into consideration. Finding the ideal person to carry out the task is not easy and sometimes requires a large network of suppliers and other employees.

How do you save costs? Project management services create a list of people who can perform tasks for the company, supply cutting tools or blanks to CNC companies, etc. They then select the person or supplier who can provide the best service in the shortest possible time.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

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Companies, even small ones, use many different resources and controlling them is a real problem. However, there are software project tools that help with production management, called ERP systems. They help monitor what materials the CNC production unit has at any given time, such as what steels and bearing diameters are present. This allows for production downtimes due to shortages of materials, instruments, etc. are minimized. Another important feature of ERP systems is that you know which devices have free time and which are overloaded.

How do you save costs? You can estimate in advance what materials, cutting tools, and other supplies need to be ordered for the next project. You can schedule supplier orders in batch, saving shipping costs. Your projects don't have to wait for these additional materials or cutting tools to arrive before production can begin.

Product lifecycle management for project development

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PLM technology has proven to be one of the most efficient approaches to industrial project management. Since the beginning of digitalization, numerous software tools for design, manufacturing and production planning have been developed. However, they and the individual phases of project development (R&D, technical analysis, manufacturing, repair, recycling) are seen as independent of each other. PLM integrates all phases of the project. This way, some later problems can be resolved in advance. For example, if the CAD model of the project has been developed, materials can be ordered before construction plans are ready. Additionally, PLM has an integrated plant-wide workflow so that no documents are sent back and forth between departments and all design changes are immediately available to all participants.

How do you save costs? An integrated approach eliminates errors of any nature arising from the exchange of information between departments. Automation saves time on simple tasks like bill of materials. It is possible to monitor the completion of all processes at any time.

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