Meeting manufacturing deadlines is hard. It is especially difficult if you’re bruised and battered from resource constraints (it is challenging to find, attract and retain skilled workers, right?). Many of our customers are ALWAYS hiring for CNC Machinists. They can never find enough. So what do you do when orders are strong, but you don’t have the internal resources to deliver on time?
The Professional Services department at In-House Solutions was designed with that problem in mind. Designed to be an as-needed extension of our customer’s CNC machining team.
Our customer, let’s call them ABC Machining (actual customer cannot be named due to confidentiality), specializes in manufacturing aerospace components. They have a completely in-house (no pun intended) process that includes 3D printing their stainless-steel parts, and then finishing those parts on their Matsuura MX 520 CNC machine.
Our Professional Services department was first contacted by ABC Machining in early 2022, because their CNC programmer was at maximum capacity. They could not keep up with demand. They manufacture a lot of parts that are all unique from one another, so it’s a programming heavy environment. When business is good there is a lot of programming and machining that needs to be done. As Mastercam and CNC machining experts, In-House Solutions stepped in immediately to provide programming support so that ABC Machining could get their jobs done and out the door on time.
Fast forward a few months later, and unfortunately ABC Machining’s programmer resigned to pursue another career opportunity. Again, ABC Machining contacted us, coveting help from somebody who knew their process and could immediately take the reins on programming + machining until a suitable replacement was found. We stepped in again to get the parts done and out the door on time.
ABC Machining has since hired a new programmer (no easy feat in this market), who we are now training on 1) the manufacturing process at ABC Machining, and 2) Mastercam multi-axis. Note: the new programmer did have good Mastercam experience, albeit not with 5-axis programming specifically.
To-date we have helped ABC Machining with ~ 140 hours’ worth of work. They continue to purchase bulk hours and use them as needed when their projects hit. They don’t always require our support, but since we are familiar with ABC Machining’s processes and equipment, we are completely plug and play when they do need the help.
On a go-forward basis, we will continue to be an extension of ABC Machining’s team. They won’t always need our hands-on support. But when they do, they know we are reliable resource who can help them meet their important customer deadlines with little stress.
For more on how to get started with IHS Pro Services, see here
