Kens latest book

[Neville Bastian]

Hi everyone,
Ken briefly touched on software for production control in his book. The interesting thing was that the software available didn't suit Kens requirements so he wrote his own.
A more detail explanation of how Thermwood's software works would make a great article in a future newsletter. A few report examples and photo's of the production line would be interesting.
Would anyone else be interested in this story?

Regards

Neville

[FredHirsch]

Neville,
I have not seen any of the book you speak about, but I would love to hear more about production control. We are currently looking for such software and have a patchwork of excel spreadsheets some project management software and web based tools, but are a long way from where we would like to be.
Fred

[Will Williamson]

Looks like we need to merge this post with Kerry's latest post Where do we go from here

[Neville Bastian]

Maybe a few have missed the books release but I stubbled across this at IWF and there hasn't been much fan fair about it. Unfortunately I left it to be posted home due to excess baggage as I read it on the plane.
The issue of in house software to take on the daily management from first phone enquiry to tracking the progress of the item through the factory with all its associated costs is a concern to firms who grow to a stage where the business owner is no longer on the shop floor doing his own mental addition on how all the jobs are progressing.
As there are a number of software programs for this purpose Kens statement that they all left him unable to purchase what was needed so he used his resources to produce his own software.
I just thought having a more detail examination on this software would be interesting and show the bigger firms who employ a few staff what can be possible.
How about it Ken. Any chance of a story in the next newsletter.

Regards

Neville

[Jason Susnjara]

I thought that the new book would be on woodworkerswholesale.com but it's not. The book is called Cell Based Furniture Fabrication and talks about the methods that we came up with and our using for our own furniture line. I will get someone to put it on the web store.

[FredHirsch]

Neville,
I did order and receive Ken's book. An interesting read. I do believe that this is the future of the manufacturing sector in the US. I'm only about 1/2 way through the book, but like you, I would like to have more detail on THM's setup and flow of order from start to finish. I know in our shop there is a lot to gain in efficiencies (just where to start?). Thanks again for pointing this book out. Did not know of it 'til you mentioned.
Fred

[Neville Bastian]

Hi Fred,
Yes it is a good read.
With so many of our main machines with PLC's it is feasible to have data flowing back to the office of what say the Thermwood is cutting, how long it was on that clients job,how much material cut and even the current stocking holding in real time.
It would be really handy to see this in graphical form so every job can be seen progressing through the shop. Also any redo's can be picked up and not hidden.Then when the job is completed you can see how long it stays on the floor before fitting or delivery.
The office management then can have a idea where things are and what things are not done.

Regards
Neville

[FredHirsch]

Neville,
We have come up with something that sort-of works for monitoring jobs through the machine. I modified the clock macro on the machine to write out the cut file name and date/time to a running log file. Our THM is on network so at any time the foreman can just open the log file that resides on the machine and get machine usage and when jobs were run. This works pretty well for us because we usually use the ticket number in the file name(s) on the machine so we can see which ticket was run by the file name. It all falls apart when the guys batch multiple jobs into one nest then you only get the file name for the first file. I'm slowly working on a visual basic app that will parse through the actual G code looking at THM's comments so I can get material counts and more job information. At this stage it is just baby steps, but we are slowly getting there.
Fred

[FredHirsch]

Folks at Thermwood. Saw the video on CabinetMaker with your furniture production. Any chance you guys could video more of the process? How are you finishing and banding those curved pcs.
Thanks,
Fred