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Issue link: https://mms.epubxp.com/i/155490
feature Here is an example of machining work that demands a skilled employee's involvement. Non-straight housing sections are turned off of centerline. The finished part below has a slight bend. up and running, however, the company began to see other, very real sources of payback from automated production. Unforeseen Benefits Those additional benefits include all of the following: 1. Better pricing for contracts. Stabiltec is using the robot in a high-mix, low-volume mode. Order quantities are often as small as 10 pieces. Yet when the shop does have the luxury of running a steady quantity, the robot's consistent production allows the shop to reliably predict timing and costs. That predictability permits a tighter margin. As a result, the difference in pricing between short-term machining and contract production is greater for the robot cell than for any other production resource. On the basis of the price savings, some customers that had never previously committed to annual production contracts have done so now with Stabiltec. 2. easier insourcing. By expanding capacity for transmission parts, the robot cell has enabled the company to bring various other parts that had been farmed out to suppliers back in-house. Previously, the company was outsourcing so much machining that bringing this work in-house seemingly would have required something like six new machines and six new employees to attend them. The robot cell changed this picture. The automated cell essentially represents a large amount of potential capacity concentrated in one compact system. This concentrated and simplified capacity can absorb a lot of work, thereby permitting a lot of insourcing. 3. Customer iP protection. Stabiltec does not sell directly to the oil fields; it produces parts for OEMs. That means the shop has access to OEMs' designs before the rest of the market does. Keeping these designs close by limiting outsourcing helps the shop obtain customer trust. Thus, the insourcing capacity the robot provides is not just an efficiency advantage, but also a marketing advantage. 70 MMS September 2013 mmsonline.com