How can Kentucky Gauge improve my production? This is a question that gets asked repeatedly by our customers. The answer is quite simple:
- Increase operator efficiency: Kentucky Gauge allows your operators to perform their jobs at maximum capacity and increase overall throughput.
- Increase cut accuracy: Kentucky Gauge eliminates the need for operators to setup (and reset!) hard stops when switching jobs or parts. No more measure twice, cut once. Just cut!
- Reduce material waste: Using the programming function of the Kentucky Gauge controllers, you can fully optimize your cut lists to maximize your yield.
Of these three key points, reducing material waste and improving yield is often overlooked even though it is very simple to calculate. If you can maximize your raw stock, you maximize your profits.
As an example, here is a quick and simple visual representation of how you can use a programmable Kentucky Gauge length stop to reduce your overall material waste. A typical cut list may look like this:
| Customer name: XXXXX | Job number: 12345 | |
| Stock part length: 240” | ||
| Part ID | Part Length | Quantity |
| PART48 | 48” | 3 |
| PART60 | 60” | 6 |
| PART75 | 75” | 3 |
| PART84 | 84” | 3 |
| PART90.5 | 90.5” | 2 |
| PART94 | 94” | 2 |
| PART98.5 | 98.5” | 3 |
Traditional sawing/cutting methods typically include setting hard stops and cutting each part ID as a set prior to moving onto the next required cut length. Each time the operator needs to change part lengths, they will manually move a hard stop, which can take several minutes to accurately set and often requires 1-2 test cuts to verify the stop is set correctly. Using the traditional method, an operator would set the hard stop for one length, such as the 98.5” length in this example, and cut all three parts required for this job before moving to the next required cut length. Assuming a saw blade kerf of 0.125”, the job layout would look something like this:
Using the traditional method, the result is a staggering 30.625% in material waste over nine stock pieces. That’s nearly one third of your stock wasted!
Now let’s look at how Kentucky Gauge can drastically reduce that material waste.
Using the Kentucky Gauge programmable controllers, you can quickly and accurately switch between cut lengths in seconds, thus, you can optimize the job layout to maximize your material yield. Using the same cut list with our programmable length stops, the job layout would look like this:
That’s only 1.89% material waste! Not only is the material waste reduced, but the overall stock needed to complete the job is reduced. The traditional method required 9 stock pieces and the optimized cut list with Kentucky Gauge required only 7 stock pieces. You can have 100% ROI within months.
Immediate benefits of adding a Kentucky Gauge programmable length stop to your sawing/cutting process:
- Drastically reduce material waste
- Improve overall material yield
- Reduce the number of stock parts required
- Increase cut accuracy
- Eliminate miscuts completely
- Improve throughput
Stop throwing your profits into your scrap bin and let Kentucky Gauge improve your bottom line. Contact us for a quote.