Just found out how many parts a single machine can make in a year

I was looking at a report from a shop in Detroit that runs three shifts. They said one of their 5-axis mills made over 200,000 small aluminum parts last year. I always knew these machines were fast, but that number blew my mind. It really makes you think about how much planning and tool management that must take. Do you guys track numbers like that at your shops, or is it more about just keeping the spindle running?

4 comments

4 Comments

sandra_bennett592mo ago

Honestly that number seems a bit over the top to me. Like, how many of those parts were just simple brackets or spacers? Running three shifts means a lot of that time is just loading and unloading. Maybe it's just me but I feel like shops throw out these big numbers to sound impressive. The real work is in the complex jobs that take all week, not the tiny stuff you pump out by the thousand.

avery_flores172mo ago

You make a good point about simple parts inflating the count. What's the actual ratio of those quick-turn brackets to the complex multi-axis jobs on a typical shift? I'd guess the real money is in the setups for the hard stuff, not just moving pallets.

davis.noah2mo ago

Sandra's right, most of those parts are probably just washers.

sean_cooper584d ago

@avery_flores17 thats exactly what my buddy over at a shop in Ohio was saying. He told me they had a run of 50,000 tiny brass fittings one time and it took forever just to prove out the program on the first part. Most of the real money came from a single aerospace bracket that took 3 days of setup. Does your shop mix those quick parts in between the long jobs or do they batch them all together?