As I visit different companies, I realise more and more how the world is changing.

Apparently, the feeling is that everything is becoming increasingly complicated. Actually, these changes are offering new business opportunities.

Now, I would like to focus on a request that the market is increasingly insisting on, i.e. the production of lots ranging from 500 to 5000 pieces per order. Usually, this is the quantity that your typical customer is mostly looking for and, again in the vast majority of cases, it is the quantity that no producer would want to deal with.

WHY IS THE PRODUCTION OF LOTS FROM 500 TO 5000 PIECES A PROBLEM FOR MOST MANUFACTURERS?

If you are not particularly keen on this sort of quantity, you should know that the market out there really really likes it. And, to be honest, guess who I listen to?

Not you! Simply because I am not interested in being convinced by someone like you, someone who rejects epochal market changes. Personally, it is much more interesting to attempt to satisfy these momentous changes by coming up with some solution.

IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME ON THIS, YOU MIGHT AS WELL STOP READING NOW, AS YOU ARE ONLY WASTING TIME…

…OTHERWISE, KEEP ON READING AND YOU WILL FIND SOME VERY INTERESTING IDEAS.

Once this issue has been cleared up, and with the aim of wanting to find a solution to the problem, now let’s analyse why these quantities are a problem for “traditional” manufacturing companies.

For example, let’s suppose your company’s sales office has an average order of 2000 pieces: below is a description of the dynamics and the 2 breaks, or balances, which I often see at “traditional” companies.

• The sales office, in order to be able to find new opportunities on today’s market, is forced to accept lots from 500 to 5000 pieces. In this case, when it submits the request to the customer, it is attacked by the production department, who claims to have a problem in meeting these quantities within the requested deadlines.
• The production manager does not usually react this way because he is crazy, but rather because, on average, he has two technologies available, in other words MACHINING CENTERS or TRANSFER machines.

The requested quantity is too high to be produced with a traditional MACHINING CENTER, and the required times would not satisfy the market; on the other hand, the quantity is too low for the use of TRANSFER machines, which indeed offer very fast production rates, but also take a lot of tooling time, in addition to requiring highly qualified personnel for their preparation.

In this case, the set-up time would be very long and the production time very short. Whether you accept making this lot of 2000 pieces or you refuse to take it into account, in either case the company suffers considerable damage.

THIS IS WHY PRODUCING A 2000-PIECE LOT CAUSES CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE…

As explained before, the damage is certain in case you are working with the two traditional technologies, in other words MACHINING CENTERS or TRANSFER machines, and I will tell you why.

For the first case, let’s suppose you decide to produce these 2000 pieces. With either one of the aforementioned technologies, you will not be able to carry out this job and generate a profit for your company, which is in any case the ultimate goal of any business.

Usually, the classic attitude I witnessed time and time again is that the pieces are indeed produced, knowing this will not generate any profit, in fact it may result in a loss, but mentally the job is nevertheless carried out in the name of the famous phrase: “We need to sow our seeds, how else will we be able to find new customers and hold on to the existing ones?”

In and of itself, the attitude of investing in customers by satisfying these “inconvenient” requests in order to perhaps bring home additional orders involving higher quantities in the future is not entirely wrong.

Were it not for the fact that your customers have well understood this little game, so they order low quantities first, promising larger lots in the future, which often never materialise, unfortunately!

I then see this being repeated by one of your competitors which, in the name of “sowing”, accepts this condition to then regret it after a period of time, when nothing comes from it in terms of future orders.

SO, IS REJECTING THE 2000 PIECES THE WAY TO GO? ……. NOOOOOO!!!

 

In fact, this entire discussion seems to lead to the more logical solution of not accepting the order for 2000 pieces because there are many of your customers, existing or potential, that take advantage of companies like yours which, with the best of intentions and plenty of sacrifice, want to develop a relationship.

Unfortunately, by turning down the 2000 pieces again and again, certainly the larger lots will never come, that’s guaranteed.

Actually, one out of ten times, the high quantities actually come, but this is too low of a percentage to set up a sales policy based on it.

Commercially speaking, nowadays the most effective and fastest way of advertising your company and increasing your business is to satisfy ALL those customers that place orders for 500 to 5000 pieces

The problem is that, if you do this and cannot turn a profit or, even worse, you only see it as a future investment in the hope of taking home larger companies, you risk bankrupting your company!

WOULDN’T IT BE NICE TO PRODUCE LOTS FROM 500 TO 5000 PIECES AND GENERATE A PROFIT FOR YOUR COMPANY AT THE SAME TIME?

This is the right way: not passively accepting the customer’s conditions, but rather taking advantage of them and turning them into an excellent business for your company which then will also lead to bigger orders, while you will also be generating a profit with the low quantities. So, where is this magic formula?

Let’s go right to the point.

In order to be able to satisfy these quantities, the machines that you have in your department today are not suitable, regardless of whether they are MACHINING CENTERS or TRANSFER machines.

This is the reason why years ago, way back in 2005, when the need for 500 to 5000-piece lots was still very limited, we designed a machine capable of meeting these needs. The machine in question is called MULTICENTER, with the most popular version being the 4-pallet one with 3 work modules. Each module can be set up with 24 tools, for a total of 72

The MULTICENTER is becoming more and more popular thanks to its excellent flexibility properties in dealing with complex processes and, even more, to its changeover properties, since it is able to replace a part clamp in the record time of 20 seconds!

All this flexibility and speed are a perfect match for the request of the famous lots of 500 to 5000 pieces.

In fact, it is precisely this quantity that led to the design of the machine which we are proposing today as the answer to this problem.

After the first installations in 2005, and after spending the first two years fixing the initial mistakes on the product, we have gained a huge amount of experience in the field.

This is mainly thanks to customers which, on the one side, were very patient and, on the other, very pressing as they were in urgent need of a machine with performance equal to or better than the Japanese and German machines.

The MULTICENTER allows you to quickly switch from one product to the next without wasting any time, thanks to the large tool magazine.

The part change only consists of changing the part clamp using quick release/lock systems, with no wrenches required, while the tools for various parts can be left in the magazine.

With this approach, serving customers requesting lots from 500 to 5000 pieces will not only be a pleasure, it will create added value for your company.

As I have already observed at companies that started to use this method, orders for larger quantities suddenly start to appear.

It may seem absurd but today there is more competition for extremely low numbers and fierce competition in the area of large orders. Equipping your company to satisfy the middle quantities is a good way to hold on to your customers, even when it comes to larger quantities.

THIS SYSTEM WILL OPEN UP NEW MARKETS AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR COMPANY

In order to be able to this, however, there is just a small PROBLEM: you need to change the way you look at things. If the available tools are outdated and inappropriate, the situation can only get worse.

What exactly do I mean by that? That in order to generate a profit margin even with lots that may not seem to be interesting, you need to be willing to change your attitude and invest, as it always has been done.

A group of companies has understood this and is taking action, which is why, this year, PORTA SOLUTION will close with a 28% increase in its turnover, thanks to the MULTICENTER.

Other companies replied that until their machines are not at full capacity with orders, they will not consider any investment…

The bad news for these companies is that an outdated fleet of machines will never be at full capacity, since the job has changed!

THE RECIPE IS: DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY LOTS FROM 500 TO 5000 PIECES USING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT!

HERE IS WHY THE MULTICENTER WORKS:

• SUPER FLEXIBLE, IT ADAPTS TO ALL PARTS TO BE PROCESSED
• FAST TOOLING: CHANGEOVER IN 15/20 MIN.
• FAST PRODUCTION: 3 SPINDLES ALWAYS IN OPERATION
• LOWER TOOLING COSTS
• LOWEST INVESTMENT COST IN ITS CATEGORY

Since 2005, in other words for the past 10 years, we have been gradually introducing this new product on the market, opening up a new segment in the world of TRANSFER machines, giving this machine the name MULTICENTER.

Thanks to our 10-year experience, we are proud to say that we have the largest installed machinery fleet in the sector of flexible machines with rotating table and independent tool magazine.

MULTICENTER: 10 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND RELIABILITY!

For more information on the Flexible Production…

please CLICK HERE

Maurizio Porta
Expert in Flexible Production