Custom Fixturing
A well-planned fixturing system can make or break the efficiency and accuracy of your manufacturing production processes. Poorly designed fixturing creates bottlenecks that slow down your entire operation.
However, with the right fixturing, an assembly line moves quickly and efficiently from one production phase to the next. In-house fixturing reduces lead time, cuts costs, and improves accuracy by frequently eliminating the need for outside support.
Producing fixturing in-house allows you to tailor your tooling precisely, so it's an optimal fit for all required operations. To understand how important custom fixturing is to your manufacturing process, we need to determine how it improves your production flow.
When you consider its role in various operations and its potential benefits, you'll know exactly when and where fixturing could help you cut costs, increase employee output, and reduce waste.
What Is Custom Fixturing?
Custom Fixturing refers to the temporary mounting of components or tools to a support structure adjusted to fit the needs of a specific operation, such as welding or machining. It's important to note this support structure is not part of the final product; instead, it provides temporary stability and alignment during the manufacturing process. When properly designed, the custom fixture fits a specific component or tool, allowing easy insertion and removal without using tools and wasting precious production time.
Schuette Metals' Custom Fixtures
Our custom fixturing capabilities set Schuette Metals apart from most metal fabrication companies. What may take other companies months, we accomplish in days or weeks!
When Schuette Metals accepts a fabrication project requiring a high quantity of complex welding, we build a custom fixture. The build-time for fabricating our custom fixtures in-house is exponentially faster than contracting with a third-party vendor.
Designing and fabricating a custom fixture in-house is substantially less expensive than purchasing it from an outside source. With our ability to create customized fixtures for each fabrication project, we ensure the correct position for every component.
A well-designed fixturing system helps our welders consistently place components correctly, ensuring each unit produced is identical to the last one.
Benefits Of Custom Fixturing
Custom fixturing has many benefits—increasing efficiency is one of the most significant. Manufacturers reduce the time to produce a part or component using custom fixtures, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient manufacturing process.
Benefits of custom fixturing include:
- Increased efficiency
- Accurate and secure holding of parts
- Improved quality control
- Higher-quality products and greater customer satisfaction
- Greater flexibility in the manufacturing process
- Customized fixtures tailored to the specific needs of a manufacturing process
- Quick and easy adaptation to changes in demand or setup
Importance Of Precision In Manufacturing
Precision is critical in manufacturing—the slightest deviation results in a defective product. Custom fixturing is essential in ensuring that parts and components are held accurately and securely during manufacturing, helping to minimize the risk of errors and defects and ensuring that the final product meets the specifications.
Besides ensuring precision in the manufacturing process, custom fixturing reduces waste. By holding parts and components in the correct position during production, manufacturers reduce the likelihood of errors and defects, resulting in less waste and a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process.
Custom Fixturing Improves Quality
Custom fixturing can significantly improve the quality of products by ensuring that parts and components are held accurately and securely during the manufacturing process reducing the likelihood of errors and defects in the final product. Custom fixtures also allow for greater precision and consistency in the manufacturing process, resulting in higher-quality products.
In addition to improving the quality of products, custom fixturing can also help improve the manufacturing process's efficiency. By holding parts and components in the correct position during production, manufacturers can reduce the time it takes to produce a part or component, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient process.
Custom fixturing is a crucial component of the manufacturing process. It ensures parts and components are held accurately and securely during manufacturing, resulting in higher-quality products and greater customer satisfaction.
Custom fixturing also improves the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the manufacturing process, resulting in significant savings over time. To achieve manufacturing success, it is essential to invest in custom fixturing and work with experienced providers who build fixtures tailored to the specific needs of your process.
By doing so, manufacturers achieve greater precision, efficiency, and quality in their manufacturing processes.
The Fab Times
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