At Focused on Machining, we’ve spent years perfecting our lights-out capabilities as part of our production machining services. After all, even in this era of incredible automation and precision programming, it requires total confidence in your processes to leave high-value equipment running unattended while machining critical parts for trusted customers.
With our refined process, we know we are maximizing the productivity and efficiency of our equipment without any risks to quality. Discover how our lights-out manufacturing capabilities can reduce your costs and accelerate delivery times, and explore which parts are ideally suited for our automated production.
The Benefits of Overnight Production
Lights-out manufacturing simply allows orders to be run around the clock, but at our shop we’ve pushed beyond basic automation. By combining our horizontal and vertical machining centers, we’re able to carefully test setups to ensure we can ultimately produce parts as efficiently as possible.
This continuous operation translates to clear benefits for customers:
Faster production times through constant manufacturing
Competitive pricing from enhanced efficiency
Reliable long-term delivery from upfront programming
The Lights-Out Manufacturing Approach in our CNC Machine Shop
Fixturing is key to lights-out manufacturing—after all, if multiple setups are required, attendance is necessary. Our custom-designed fixturing (like the fixturing featured in the image to the right) enables serious versatility, allowing us to easily transfer parts between machines while maintaining precise tolerances.
We start our lights-out machining by developing the process on our vertical machining center with a machinist monitoring closely. This allows us to prove out tooling and optimize speeds and feeds in a controlled environment.
Once we’ve perfected the process there, we move production to our horizontal machining center, adjusting our process as necessary to ensure we maximize the machine’s additional power. With our custom fixture system, we run multiple parts simultaneously, 24/7 with minimal operator intervention.
Identifying the Best Lights-Out Manufacturing Projects
Lights-out manufacturing is a specialized process, and not every part will benefit from this setup. We typically find that the best options share these characteristics:
Repeat orders: The upfront optimization required in lights-out machining involves significant time and resources. Long-term production commitments allow us to turn this upfront investment into savings for the customer.
Moderate complexity: Our process is best for parts with high cycle times, typically an hour or longer. To estimate cycle times, consider how much material is being removed from the part—parts requiring removal of 60% or more of the original material often align best with our cycle time requirements.
Design maturity: Because long-term partnerships are critical to lights-out manufacturing, stable designs are an essential factor, making it well suited to defense or aerospace machining projects.
Proper size: We can accommodate stock up to 25”x25”x6”, although weight is more often the critical factor. We’ll carefully evaluate weight considerations during the quoting process.
Partner With Us for Faster Production
If you have a recurring part that could benefit from lights-out manufacturing, we encourage you to reach out early in your project planning. Collaborating near the start of your project allows us to develop the most efficient process and, ultimately, offer the most competitive pricing.
Of course, lights-out manufacturing is just one facet of our comprehensive capabilities. From titanium machining to complete contract manufacturing services, we deliver excellence across every project.
Request a quote today to explore how our precision machining can enable success in your next project!