Run faster or last longer?

I hear some interesting discussions when visiting customers. Their main concern – Do they want tools to run faster or do they want longer tool life? During a recent visit, we addressed this very question.

I asked them, “Can you pick what you want and then achieve it?” In other words, can you have both and still achieve all your goals? The answer is it’s possible, but at some cost. Can I still use all the tooling and fixturing I have? Probably not. To reach these goals, you’ll need to ensure you have the best setup possible and the latest cutting tools and tool holding technologies. You’ll also need the most rigid setup and to make sure the machine tool in use is capable of the necessary speeds and feeds.

For many years, we’ve looked at the price of an item and not what the actual cost is at the bottom line. We say we’re looking at cost, but we measure price. In many cases, you’ll need to spend more money to reduce costs.

One example is machining high-temperature alloys. You could buy uncoated carbide and spend very little and produce your parts. However, your competitor may decide to buy new rigid machine tools along with advanced cutting tool materials and produce parts in half the time. Their tooling expenditures will be higher than yours; however, their cost will be less. Their quoted lead times, price, and delivery times will be less, and you’ll lose your contracts. I’ve seen this many times and can assure you if you measure your success on purchasing cheap tools you won’t see it reach your bottom line and your customers will see you as noncompetitive in the marketplace.

Working with your tooling and machine tool suppliers, you always want to obtain the best deal possible. Hold them accountable to make sure you produce parts at the lowest possible cost. It’s their job to ensure you are the most productive, lowest cost producer. Don’t be afraid to spend money on tooling and hold all suppliers accountable to maintain your competitiveness in the marketplace.