Z-Fact0r mapped on
Material efficiency
General desciption of Material efficiency:
Material efficiency is a description or metric which expresses the degree in which raw materials are consumed, incorporated, or wasted, as compared to previous measures in construction / manufacturing projects or physical processes. Making a usable item out of thinner stock than a prior version increases the material efficiency of the manufacturing process. (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_efficiency)
Comment:
The solution provided byZ-Fact0r reduces the number of scrapped parts at different steps of the production process. The use of just the needed amount of raw materials is thus a consequence of applying Z-Fact0r, but it has manifold repercussions, as there is reduction of wear of equipment and tools by doing it right the first time. It also eliminates the duplication of auxiliary materials needed to produce the parts.
The Z-Fact0r platform, and the intensive monitoring of both product and process that accompanies it, has been key for the reduction of defective manufactured parts at the flute grinding process. Should similar solutions be implemented in the rest of machines at NECO premises with a defective rate reduction of around 25%, some 20.000€ could be saved by NECO yearly in the form of raw materials (outside-diameter-grinded High Speed Steel bars), which would instead require to be recycled. Furthermore, if the cutting angle happens to be wrong, the parts cannot be remanufactured and need to be scrapped.