Manufacturing lead times are getting longer, and this trend will likely continue as more small shops close down or are bought by bigger shops. On the flip side, today’s customers expect lead times to be shorter than ever—three weeks or less in our recent experience. 

Never one to shy away from an opportunity, our aerospace and medical machine shop is committed to being the small shop customers need in this challenging climate. Keep reading to learn how we’ve improved efficiency to meet even the tightest deadlines. 

Award-Winning Manufacturing Software Integration

When manual data entry was slowing us down, we knew it was time to integrate our quoting software and ERP system. So we collaborated with Paperless Parts and ProShop to develop a solution that would work not only for us but also for other shops. 

Paperless Parts takes the data we initially enter, converts it accordingly, and sends it directly to ProShop for fast and accurate generation of estimates, parts, and purchase orders. ProShop then creates the purchasing requirements so we can quickly order materials and other necessary items. 

It used to take us up to an entire business week to enter a PO and order materials. Now, when we receive a PO, we can have the material on order within 30 minutes. It’s not uncommon for us to receive the material at our aerospace and medical machine shop quicker than some shops enter an order into their system

Focused on Machining Wins NTMA and AMT’s Technology Excellence Award 

We’re proud to say that our work helping to integrate Paperless Parts and ProShop won Focused on Machining NTMA and AMT’s Technology Excellence Award in 2023. The award recognizes member companies working to improve their businesses with advanced technology. 

Eliminating Bottlenecks on the Shop Floor

We’re not only increasing efficiency at the front end of projects. We’ve also implemented measures to streamline operations on the shop floor. 

Waiting on programming departments to program parts creates a bottleneck in many shops. To prevent this problem at our aerospace and medical machine shop, we’re training our machinists to become skilled programmers. 

Now, when we’re in a rush situation, we can bypass the programming department entirely and have the machinist assigned to the part perform the programming. 

We’re also brainstorming solutions for making our quality control process more efficient for tight tolerance parts, which tend to require time-intensive inspections. 

Innovative Solutions to Real Industry Challenges

In an unpredictable industry, Focused on Machining strives to be a source of stability and reliability for our customers. We’re committed to continuously improving our internal processes to keep lead times short and customers happy. 

Request a quote and let us know how we can support you.