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Like you, I am an entrepreneur. And I am sure that every day you are faced with a terrible reality: Every day you have to make a revenue. You need to ensure that your company makes a profit.
Do your best. Find new customers, make sure that they are satisfied, invest in machines that produce quality parts.
Maybe you are a witty entrepreneur and invest in cutting and deburring machines too….
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But you are not satisfied!!
They are not making you earn as much as you thought!!
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Why?
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You chose the best supplier, the best machine, the best process. You did not spare…
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But there is a problem!
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Maybe you’re making a serious mistake. I know because this is a very common mistake. So many companies make this error and, dramatically, they are in trouble.
Others instead have understood and they are getting equipped. Your competition has already deployed an army ready to strike. More and more businesses are turning to the automation casting system. Staying put will cost you so much money every day.
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We call the mistake I see more frequently
“The washing machine failure”
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Many times an unprepared customer thinks he is not buying a cutting and deburring machine… but an automatic washing machine. He thinks he is loading the piece, press start and there is the piece magically ready for delivery. He thinks he can clean the filter only when the red light is on and the washing machine does not want to work anymore.
A term that many customers use to tell me that they want to make the washing machine mistake and that makes me roll over laughing is BLACK BOX.
They would like a machine that if you throw the raw in the finished products come out. They don’t even want to know what is inside. As long as good parts come out. A MAGICAL BLACK BOX!
When you buy a car you are not just buying a piece of iron with electronics attached… you are buying a piece of my experience. You are buying the possibility to improve your company. I am selling your improvement to you.
I tell you everything in a simple way….
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But there’s a problem!
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It’s true, it is all as simple as I as I am telling you. But do not I think that my machine is an automatic washing machine.
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Nowadays washing machines are really fantastic: they think for you! Few instructions. Separate the cotton garments from synthetic, wool. Separate by colour.
Then load the washing machine. Tell the washing machine what kind of garment you loaded and she does everything. Choose the cycle and she tells you where and how much detergent to use.
That’s it, the garments are ready to be hung out to dry after 3 hours.
Speaking to those who know about washing machines (even I have important friends…) they told me that these automated systems give simple but mediocre results. The best result is obtained when you plan the cycle at pleasure.
With my machines, the difficulty is certainly greater.
You have to know the process, the materials, the quality you want to obtain, the quality and variability of raw parts, you have to know the type of operator that will work on the machine, you have to work according to the cycle time target.
So many variables.
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It’s not impossible to manage the machine.
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Like I said, I am not selling you just a machine but I am selling you all the rules that allow you to use the machine at best.
You must invest in order to integrate MY machine in your company.
You must ensure that a technician learns to use it. He must become a friend of the machine, give it a name and say hello every morning.
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I’m going to tell you a story that happened to me a few months ago.
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Two competitors contacted me. They must be producing a very similar piece. I sold the same machine to both of them and deliver them a few months apart. My technicians set the same work program. We make a super job for both. An incredible time cycle.
Everything seems the same. The same target, the same machine, the same cycle.
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But there’s a problem!
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But there is a big difference between these two companies.
The first company placed a prepared and willing technician at my disposal. The second one found no one to teach to. We taught a bit to everyone, but no one really learned.
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The result?
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After a while the first company started working 3 shifts 7 days out of 7, with a 99.5% efficiency. The technician we instructed in turn a small army of sergeants. Without my support, he made an evolution for the work cycle and reduced the cycle time by 5%. He found a way to make the tools last longer.
After a few months he ordered another machine.
This customer is really earning a lot of money.
The second company that had the same opportunities, is having so many difficulties.
Every week they have a problem that seems unsolvable and then it turns out that they have made a simple mistake and efficiency suffers.
The second company is earning little. I cannot say that they are not satisfied; after all they work all week with two shifts, but there is no comparison compared to the first.
The difference is that the first client has realised I was not giving him a WASHING MACHINE but a machine to understand and to use at best.
The second has his own washing machine and still hasn’t read the manual…
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Is there a way to be like the first company?
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Sure. You need to apply the Casting Automation System:
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– Buy machines that help your operators
– Find motivated operators
– Set up lifelong learning
– Invest in your machines
Buy machines that help your operators
Casting Automation helps you see the problems related to your process. The machines you buy should be made in such a way that their use is simplified. That operators can use at best and that they become more and more masters of the process.
Find motivated operators
If you do not have motivated operators, you will always be in trouble. You should give me a person to train and who will be able to pass on his knowledge to everyone else in the company
Set up lifelong learning
The technician I trained should always attend training courses and be updated and continue to train technicians in your company. Remember, you need an army, not just one good soldier.
Invest on your machinery
The machines you buy should always offer improvements and better and better performances. They should not be a copy of the machinery of 20 years ago.
The greater the number of machines you have the better the service you can offer your customer.
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Piercarlo Bonomi
The Main Expert in Robotic Cutting and Deburring Machines
