Machinist Shortage: Adopting Technology to Fill the Experience Gap and Do More with Less

The "experience gap" is a problem that manufacturing shops across the nation have felt for years, and it's one that only continues to grow as there are fewer and fewer workers in the manufacturing industry.

Gene Granata, Director of Product Management at CGTech on Facing the Machinist Shortage: Adopting Technology to Fill the Experience Gap and Do More with Less.

The shortage of experienced manufacturing professionals is an issue that manufacturing shops have been facing for years. As the current workforce of NC programmers and machinists get ready for retirement, there’s less and less talent coming in to take their place. While the push to develop additional paths through education and training are underway, what can shops do in the meantime to collect and protect their current machining expertise while meeting increasing demands for speed, quality, and innovation? One solution is adopting advances in technology to develop smarter machining processes.

Manufacturing software has made huge advancements in smarter manufacturing such as verification, simulation, optimization, and more. These advancements have made it easier for shops to verify toolpaths, simulate machine movement to avoid crashes and unexpected behavior, and NC programs and feed rates to ensure cuts are performed at optimal levels without breaking the cutter or causing undue wear – all without requiring NC programmers and machinists to have expert machining experience.

Explore the benefits of using software to establish "smarter" manufacturing processes to enable more, quality production with fewer resources.

Key takeaways include:

• How shops can create ideal NC programmers by using VERICUT to verify, simulate, and optimize their NC programs.
• How software “learns” from experienced NC programmers and machinists so those with less experience can achieve “expert” results without jeopardizing cutting tools, NC machines, and stock.
• Building better, more accurate digital twins with data available from tool manufacturers, machine parameters, and data directly from the machine on the shop floor.
• Using software and technology to build machining processes to meet demand and stay competitive in the future.
• How unattended or “light’s out” manufacturing can be made possible and increase profitability.
• Achieving substantial production gains with existing equipment and personnel.