Had to pick between production speed and surface finish on a rush job yesterday

Got a call from my boss at 3pm saying we needed 50 parts done by 6pm, no excuses. I had to make a call between cranking up the feed rate to 200 inches per minute or keeping it at the usual 120 for a nice finish. I went with the fast route because I figured smooth edges don't matter when the customer is screaming for parts. Big mistake, man. The chatter on the first 10 parts was so bad I had to scrap them and start over. Took me an extra hour just to reset the tool path and dial it back down. My boss walked over, saw the pile of scrap, and just said "well that cost us." Has anyone else been in that spot where you choose speed over quality and it blows up in your face?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery9657d ago

Man, been there. I learned the hard way that cranking up the feed rate is just asking for trouble unless you've got the right tool and setup for it. Now I just tell the boss the truth up front - either we get good parts or we get fast scrap, pick one.

danielh817d ago

Yeah man, that line about fast scrap hits way too close to home. Had this one job last year on a big aluminum plate, boss kept yelling to push it harder. I argued with him for ten minutes before I just let it rip. Three parts later the insert was gone and the finish looked like a dirt road. Cost us more in material and tooling than if I'd just run it slow from the start. Took him a while to see I wasn't being lazy, just trying to save his money.