Do You Seriously Want to Improve Your Shop's Operation in 2025? Here's How
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence's Principal Product Manager, Olivier Thenoz, explains how the shift toward digital transformation is unlocking new opportunities for job shops in five main areas -- streamlining their operations, enhancing customer satisfaction, and allowing them to remain competitive in an evolving market.
Many machine shops still rely on manual processes, which are prone to error and can harm productivity. To address these challenges, many manufacturers are transitioning to digital tools and innovative workflows that improve accuracy, flexibility, and operational efficiency. If you haven't started already, here are ways for you to begin the transition.
Quoting and Planning
Automating Quoting Processes
Quoting is a critical step in manufacturing, where accuracy can significantly impact profitability and customer satisfaction. By automating the quoting process, shops can reduce dependency on manual tools like spreadsheets, which are prone to errors and inefficiencies. Automation enables shops to generate accurate quotes quickly, meeting customer demands for speed while optimizing profit margins.
Inaccurate quoting can lead to underestimating job costs or overpricing projects, both of which hurt business performance. Leveraging automation ensures quotes are consistent and precise, helping manufacturers confidently promise fair pricing while protecting their bottom line.
Learning from Job Performance
Data-driven insights are a game-changer in quoting and planning. By analyzing historical job performance, shops can learn from past experiences to refine future estimates. Access to accurate data removes the guesswork from quoting, ensuring estimates align with actual production costs and timelines.
For example, when reviewing past jobs, a shop might discover inefficiencies in material usage or unexpected delays that increase costs. Using this data, teams can adjust workflows or negotiate better pricing with suppliers to improve margins. This iterative process drives continuous improvement, positioning shops to compete more effectively.
Design and Review
Streamlining Design Processes
The design and review phase is where innovation meets practicality. However, lengthy review cycles can delay production and increase costs. Adopting collaborative design tools enables teams to work on CAD files in real-time, ensuring that all stakeholders -- from engineers to clients -- are aligned. This integration reduces errors, shortens timelines, and ensures designs are feasible before they reach production.
Collaboration tools also improve adaptability. For instance, when a customer requests design changes late in the process, a real-time review system allows teams to make adjustments quickly without derailing the project timeline. This flexibility is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction in a competitive market.
Implementing Advanced Design Tools
Advanced design software enhances creativity and precision by automating repetitive tasks and enabling sophisticated modeling capabilities. These tools not only speed up the design process but also allow engineers to simulate how materials and structures will behave under real-world conditions. This foresight minimizes errors and rework, which can be costly and time-consuming.
Another benefit of advanced design tools is their ability to facilitate innovation. By enabling engineers to test unconventional approaches without committing physical resources, these tools empower teams to push boundaries and develop better products faster.
Manufacturing Preparation
Integrating Digital Simulations
Preparation is the foundation of efficient manufacturing. Digital simulations allow engineers to test and refine production setups before materials are ever cut or formed. This approach ensures design integrity and consistency while identifying potential issues early.
Simulations also improve resource allocation. For instance, by testing different machine setups digitally, engineers can identify the most efficient configuration for a given job, reducing cycle times and waste. This leads to higher throughput and lower production costs, especially for high-volume orders.
Optimizing Work-Holding Components
Another critical aspect of preparation is ensuring that work-holding components are optimized for the task. Robust software can simulate these setups, allowing shops to test and refine processes virtually. This reduces the likelihood of errors during production, resulting in better-quality components and fewer delays.
Manufacturing
Enhancing Machine Operation Monitoring
Even the most skilled operators can benefit from digital tools that enhance shop-floor visibility. Real-time monitoring systems provide insights into machine performance, enabling operators to identify inefficiencies and potential problems before they escalate. This proactive approach reduces downtime and ensures that production schedules stay on track.
By automating routine monitoring tasks, shops can free up operators to focus on higher-value activities, such as process optimization or quality assurance. This shift not only improves efficiency but also helps retain skilled workers by making their roles more engaging and impactful.
Automating Processes
Automation is a cornerstone of digital transformation. From assembly lines to finishing operations, automating once-manual tasks improves consistency, accuracy, and speed. By implementing automated workflows, shops can scale operations without proportionally increasing labor costs.
In addition to streamlining tasks, automation allows for better use of data. For example, integrating real-time feedback into automated systems ensures that any deviations from the norm are addressed immediately, preventing small issues from becoming major problems.
Adopting Shop-Floor Measurement Tools
Precision is critical in manufacturing. Digital measurement tools empower workers to conduct immediate checks during production, identifying inaccuracies before they affect downstream processes. This reduces bottlenecks and ensures that products meet specifications from the outset.
Real-time measurement data also provides actionable insights for process improvement. For instance, if measurements reveal consistent deviations in a particular operation, teams can investigate and address the root cause, improving efficiency and quality across the board.
Quality Inspection
Enhancing Quality Assurance Processes
Quality inspection is the last line of defense in ensuring customer satisfaction. Advanced inspection technologies, such as 3D scanners and coordinate measuring machines, enable teams to detect issues earlier and with greater precision. By catching defects before they leave the shop, manufacturers can reduce rework and maintain high standards.
Modern quality assurance tools also improve traceability, which is increasingly important in industries like aerospace and medical manufacturing. Having a detailed record of inspection data helps shops demonstrate compliance with customer and regulatory requirements.
Utilizing Advanced Inspection Technology
Combining multiple inspection tools provides a comprehensive view of quality throughout production. For example, integrating 3D scanning with traditional measurement systems allows teams to verify both surface details and internal tolerances, ensuring that parts meet all necessary specifications.
This layered approach to quality control not only reduces defects but also supports continuous improvement. By analyzing inspection data over time, shops can identify trends and make targeted adjustments to enhance efficiency and output quality.
Reporting
Automating Reporting Processes
Manual reporting methods, such as paper logs or spreadsheets, are slow and prone to errors. Automating these processes simplifies data collection and improves access for all stakeholders. Real-time reporting capabilities enable faster decision-making and better collaboration across departments.
Automated reporting also supports compliance and accountability. By centralizing data in a secure system, shops can ensure that all information is accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible for audits or client reviews.
Centralizing Data for Better Insights
Data silos can hinder efficiency and decision-making. Centralized reporting systems break down these barriers, providing a unified view of shop-floor performance. With access to comprehensive datasets, teams can analyze trends, identify areas for improvement, and implement changes that drive efficiency and profitability.
Centralized systems also enhance communication. For example, when teams across departments share a single source of truth, they can collaborate more effectively to solve problems and optimize workflows.
Driving Excellence Through Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is not just about adopting new tools -- it's about re-imagining how work gets done.
By integrating automation, data analytics, and advanced technologies into every aspect of operations, manufacturers can achieve greater efficiency, precision, and adaptability. These advancements not only streamline production cycles but also foster innovation, improve customer satisfaction, and position shops for long-term success in a competitive market.
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