Why Data Collection in Machine Shops Is Worth the Effort (Production Pulse)

Mike Payne, president and owner of Hill Manufacturing & Fabrication loves data and metrics. If he can pull information from a machine, he's doing it. Mike talked with IndustryWeek's Dennis Scimeca about why he collects all of that data, what he does with it and why, despite all of this technology, succeeding in manufacturing is still all about relationships and performance, not technology.

Payne noted that before data collection, managers would assign tasks to machinists with a time estimate. And, wouldn't you know it, that's how long it turned out they needed to make each part. Was the machine in use that entire time? How much of that time was setup vs. production? Could the company have cut those time allotments by 20% without harming quality?

Without data collection to monitor what was really happening, nobody knew.