The Industrial Metal Cutting Benchmark Study was recently released by LENOX, the maker of a line of high quality metal cutting saw blades that we carry here at Westway Machinery. The study polled more than 100 high production metal cutting organizations in an effort to help manufacturers see how they measure up to their high producing competitors. Most of the responses came from metal fabricators, metal service centers, and machine shops. Take a look at the results below and see where your shop fits into the findings.
Key Insights from the LENOX Metal Cutting Survey
“Despite a trend toward internal process improvements, machine downtime (34.75%), blade failure (27.12%), and operator error (15.25%) remain the top–three sources of frustration for industrial metal cutting operations on the shop floor.” These common concerns were followed by time to job completion (15.25%) and excess scrap (3.39%).
The results of the survey indicate 3 key areas to focus on to gain higher productivity levels and efficiency on the shop floor. We have included the 3 areas along with some key statistical findings from each section of the report:
Invest in smarter, more predictive operations management
- 73% of respondents said metal-cutting machine uptime is greater than 75% “always” or “mostly”
- 76% of operations that allow scheduled and planned maintenance on their machines also report that their job completion rate is trending upward year over year
- 51% of organizations that “always” follow scheduled and preventative maintenance plans said that blade failure is predicted “always” or “mostly”
- Takeaway: Preventative maintenance can help metal cutting operations predict blade failure and even plan for downtime (which can improve cutting performance and extend machine life).
Embrace proactive care and maintenance of saws and saw blades
- 70% of the respondents who reported that their scrap and rework costs were less than 5% also stated that they “always” break in their band saw blades
- Takeaway: Consistently breaking in new band saw blades can help your company reduce “soft” failure that lead to excess scrap and waste, cutting into your bottom line.
Invest in human capital
- 64% of organizations that cite their metal-cutting operator turnover is decreasing year-over-year, also reported that on-time job completion is increasing
- Takeaway: Investing in employees can reduce the occurrence of operator errors but also improve on-time deliveries, lower rework costs, and increase revenue per operator.
We hope these stats help you find ways to improve your metal cutting jobs, saw blade setup, and saw maintenance.
Want to read the whole report? Download the Industrial Metal Cutting Benchmark Study here.
