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MAN VS. MACHINE
NuTek Machinery- Machine Solutions For The Wood Industry
Published by Rob Young in Machinery Purchase · 15 February 2021
Tags: machinepurchaseautomation
MAN VS. MACHINE

 
I grew up like many, watching Walt Disney in the 60s and 70s. I loved movies like “Old Yeller” and series like “Davy Crocket” and of course the cartoons! The cartoons were entertaining for kids but also conveyed serious and thought-provoking ideas.  One cartoon I think of occasionally is the Walt Disney cartoon “Paul Bunyan” produced in 1958. The story of Paul Bunyan is folk lore. Some of us know it by the phrase coined by William Thoms as a “Tall Tale”. It was humorous as a child to see the Grand Tetons being formed as a result of Paul and his big blue ox Babe horsing, correction “oxing” around. The cartoon ended with a confrontation between Paul and progressing technology brought to town by slick-talking salesman Joe Muffaw. Joe Muffaw urges loggers to put down their axes and use the new steam saw (chain saw) and the steam engine. The challenge was issued, Joe and Paul were to cut as much lumber in an hour as they could, and the results were to be measured. The final results tall-tale legend Paul Bunyan with a stack of logs 240 feet high.  Joe Muffaw, who we all rooted against, with his steam saw 240 feet and ¼ inch. Technology was changing in the 50s and 60s, so the message was very timely as workers tried to cope with a new way of manufacturing.  We are currently experiencing even more drastic changes to manufacturing processes that create a dilemma for company owners and craftsman. High quality cabinets and displays can be produced for less money by utilizing cutting edge machinery. There will always be the niche for handcrafted cabinetry, but that niche is shrinking and there is a limited number of customers willing to pay more for handcrafted with the improved quality resulting from improved machinery designs. To stay competitive in the market you may need to purchase your first CNC, upgrade that ten-year-old edgebander, or automate some of your production processes. I want to consider the ideas of reducing your production costs and improving the quality of your products to maintain and grow your sales and position in your marketplace with new and upgraded machinery.
 
 
Reducing Production Costs

 
Reducing labor hours reduces the cost of manufacturing. I have been asked a similar question by more than one customer “I need to hire another employee, or I can buy a new machine to speed up this process, which should I do?” I’ve been a technician for thirty-nine years and Nutek Machinery is now importing high quality European machinery for the woodworking industry, so my answer is always the same, “You don’t have to worry about a reliable well-built piece of machinery calling off work, bringing personal problems to the job that affects performance and morale, slowing down after a few hours of work due to fatigue, wasting time looking at a cell phone or leaving for a new job opportunity. You’ll also be gaining an asset that adds value to your company with the right machinery solution”. One of the most important words in my reply is reliable. Purchasing the wrong machine or a poorly built machine is a huge source of frustration and stress. I often use edgebanders as an example.
Edgebanders are often purchased at major trade shows as buyers inspect the improved quality of the panels compared to the quality of the panels produced in their facilities. But as many owners complain the quality in their shop only lasts for a few months before operators are constantly tinkering with adjustments, cleaning glue from panels, or filing poorly trimmed edges. The old saying “you get what you pay for” is proven true as sizable amounts of money were wasted on a machine that was not proper solution. Would you like to know what is really possible to obtain with the proper and right machinery solution? Invest less than a minute of your time to watch the linked youtube video from a visit last year to an Austrian Factory using an Ott edgebander https://youtu.be/Wk9Y2Ph3bTU.
 
There are a few things to notice from this video. There is only one operator at the machine. This is important to labor efficiency. The return and automatic stacking station cuts the labor in half compared to shops that use two operators. There is also a constant feeding of parts as opposed to shops that have one operator that feeds a few panels and walks to the outfeed end to retrieve them. Of course, you might argue that one operator feeding and retrieving panels is fine for your shop, there is not enough volume to justify a return system. This might be the case, or maybe it is not. This does not change the fact that you are still investing more labor hours to complete the process, hours that the operator could spend performing other tasks in your facility. If you are running your edgebander for four or more hours a day you should begin crunching the numbers to see if a return conveyor makes more sense than you may have realized.  

Returning to the example of a return conveyor on an edgebander, another argument against return conveyors I hear is that it is necessary to have the second operator to inspect the panels in case adjustments need to be made.  This is true depending on the machine.  That old saying “you get what you pay for” can come back to haunt you and result in the necessity of an operator to inspect each panel from the end of the machine. Notice in the video of the Ott edgebander in the Austrian factory, the operator is not concerned with inspecting each part before feeding it into the edgebander. The confidence in the finished product is so high the customer has optioned for automatic stacking as panels are tracked throughout the edgebanding process and stacked on the pallets to move to the next process. Customers that have invested in even more automation place finished panels onto conveyor belts with the same system or robotic arms integrated into the Beckhoff PLC that controls the Ott. The edgebander is several years old and still producing panels with invisible glue lines and perfectly finished edges. The operator does not “hope” the panel is right, she “knows” it is.

Consider the true cost of labor.  You will need to consider the hourly rate of the employee, payroll tax, vacation and holidays, health insurance benefits, 401 K matching, worker compensation, and more.  The true cost of a $15/hour employee depending on these factors can be between $20 and for generous employers $30 and hour.  If you can trim 4 hours a day from a process you will save $21K to 31K a year in labor hours. If you can reappropriate an employee from your edgebanding process for use in another process within your facility and eliminate the need to hire an additional employee, you can easily save $50K a year in labor costs while adding an asset to your company. There is no substitute for purchasing reliable machinery that produces a quality product that raises the value of your end product.
 
The proper solution will reduce overtime hours, the need for additional employees for some processes, and quite possible the need for additional shifts that result from production bottlenecks. I worked with a family-owned company that consisted of the father and three brothers that were regularly working seven ten-hour days a week. The sons had children that were involved in sports and other extracurricular activities that they simply missed out on. An upgraded CNC reduced their labor to a five-day week working eight hours a day. The proper solution gave them their lives and families back. The amount of money they earned per hour increased dramatically.  

There are at least three other reasons to opt for machinery over labor hours.

1. Wages are rising. There is a push for a $15/hour minimum Federal wage.  It's impossible to say if wages will raise to that number but there is for certain demand for higher pay. A higher entery level wage will result in raises across the board.
2. The average tenure for an employee age 25-34 is 3.2 years.  This results in a constant cycle of training new employees,
3. High tech machinery will attract younger employees that have grown up in our current age of technology.
 
You can not control every aspect of your production costs, but you do not have to be a victim to inefficient processes that result from outdated or poor-quality machinery.
 
 
Reducing Maintenance Costs And Production Downtime

 
It is one thing to buy a new piece of machinery for your company, it is a totally different thing to buy the proper solution. Declining quality of parts produced is one trait of poorly designed and aging machinery but there is another factor that can be even more devastating. Poorly designed and aging machinery will also break down more often resulting in unplanned downtime and unexpected repair costs.  
 
It is difficult to assign a dollar value to the cost of lost production time. The results of a critical machine in your shop that is down for days or weeks may be damaging to your reputation by eroding customer confidence in your ability to deliver on time. Eroding customer confidence results in lost contracts and opportunities for new contracts.  I often see the slow down hill slide of companies that fail to upgrade outdated technology in their facilities.  Their competitors that stay on the cutting edge of machinery purchases and processes are able to outbid them for contracts and produce a higher quality product.  The longer the trend continues the less work the company that refuses to take advantage of the tools available is able to secure. This results in less cash flow and less money to spend on capitol purchases. The process accelerates and results in companies permanently closing their doors with few assets to justify another party purchasing the company.  Small and medium size shops are often owned by individuals, not share-holders.  It is important to plan ahead to maximize the value of your company that may end up in the hands of your children or sold. Employees are assets, but not the kind of assets that show up on a ledger.  High quality machinery adds value to your company should you someday sell it.
 
Unexpected repair parts can also drain your company’s cash flow. There are a few manufacturers out there that do indeed build excellent machinery but there is a catch, a high percentage of proprietary parts.  I am not referring to mechanical parts that are a result of patented designs. I am referring to unnecessary proprietary parts such as inverters stamped with the manufacturers name that result in your paying five times the value for that inverter should it fail. You may pay $14K for a $400 dollar desk top due to one completely unnecessary connection or software that was part of your machine purchase that apparently some manufacturers feel justified in making you repurchase. We were extremely careful at Nutek with the machinery we import to ensure a low percentage of proprietary parts are used by our machinery partners. You may also want to consider the mark up machinery distributors have on parts they sell that are not proprietary parts. You can always seek out these type of parts on your own, but it is time consuming and not a simple task for someone that does not have the machinery repair background. Recently a customer of mine purchased proximity sensors for $248 instead of the $900 the machine manufacturer wanted. Unfortunately, he purchased a negative syncing sensor instead of a positive sourcing sensor. I was able to provide the proper sensor for him, but he lost quite a bit of the savings of outsourcing due to purchasing the wrong sensor. High mark ups like this are common with machine distributors.  Nutek Machinery provides repair parts at fair prices.  This is something to consider when purchasing new machinery as well.
 
 
Automation To Increase Efficiency And Reduce Labor Hours

 
This was mentioned earlier when talking about the benefits of return systems and stackers but deserves a little more thought to determine when it is appropriate to automate. Automation can be used in only one process at a single piece of machinery or an entire line of many processes can be automated with proper software integration and transfer systems. Machinery that is not reliable will result in automated lines and functions shutting down. Machines that produce poor quality parts results in the need to inspect parts more often resulting in slow downs in processes.  Parts that are cut out of square at a beam saw that are automatically fed into a vertical machining center to be drilled and hardware inserted will be unsalvageable. Resulting in wasted material and machine time.  If you want to automate you need to get it right. Never purchase based on price, always purchase based on quality. You can absolutely gain a competitive advantage when you automate if the machinery you are purchasing produces high quality parts consistently and your machinery is reliable. Keep in mind, if one of the machines in your automated line fails the line fails. The youtube video from Stema shows an automated line in use in a large European furniture manufactures facility. https://youtu.be/ElcsNpi-11k   
 
 
Nutek Machinery Supplies Solutions

 
The philosophy of Nutek Machinery is the formula to our success and yours, the high-quality European machinery we import needs to work as a stand-alone machines but should also be capable of performing in an automated lines. This will attest to the quality and value of the machinery Nutek Machinery imports.  The machinery lines we offer have to meet this criteria giving confidence to our customers that they are making the best possible decision when purchasing new machinery and purchasing solutions that do not come with buyer’s remorse. The knowledge that machines only have value when they are producing consistent high-quality parts defines are commitment to customer service and offering the best built machines in their class.


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