The Fabricator - December 2015

By Tom Morris

Demonstrating and documenting cost savings has become essential for making a change on the shop floor. This is true for abrasives, which are highly commoditized products.

Metal fabricators usually focus on cost per unit when purchasing these types of products, rather than how many units are used or how those costs can tie up more time in labor-intensive operations.

Even when fabricators accept that time equals money, they may need hard numbers to be able to make the best decision. Firm estimates based on real data help fabricators see the bigger picture, including labor costs, instead of relying solely on the cost of the abrasives.

The approach also puts a focus on safety. High-er-cost abrasives are designed to remove material more aggressively than cheaper abrasives. They and the power tool do the majority of the work, helping to reduce operator fatigue over the course of a shift (see Figure 1).

The best way for a fabricator to document cost savings when comparing abrasive products is to conduct comparative tests both in a laboratory and on the shop floor using its own equipment. The process should be administered by experts trained to carefully differentiate between cutting, grinding, and rust removal applications to ensure that the test results are meaningful while remaining customized for the fabricator.

Some fabricators, however, may not be ready to engage in that sort of productivity investigation. Fortunately, they can still take small steps that lead to a thorough cost-savings effort.

Step 1: A Bucket Program

A fabricator looking to do an informal analysis of abrasive use and related costs might want to consider a bucket program.

Rather than simply taking the word of an abrasives sales representative about typical or average savings that might be achieved with a certain disc, the fabricator places a bucket on the shop floor and operators are asked to discard all their used abrasives in the bucket (see Figure 2). After a month, an expert performs a site analysis to visually analyze how operators are using their abrasive products, note the challenges, and evaluate ways of saving the fabricator money. Evaluators are able to make recommendations for potential process improvements and explain where the fabricator is literally throwing away money.

The analysis typically uncovers issues such as flap discs that show evidence of improper wear or 5-inch grinding wheels discarded when they are only worn to about 4 in., rather than the allowable 3 in. They may find glazed up, cut up, or broken wheels.

A bucket program offers a way to advise fabrica-
tors on equipment and abrasive changes that could
lead to cost savings. Examples include revealing
that the wheel being used is not right for the job at
hand or switching to a different tool could improve
the surface finish and reduce the amount of time
spent on a particular operation.

Step 2: A Safety Seminar

Safety is always a concern for metal fabricating shops. Safety training can also serve as the next step toward a more formal evaluation of abrasive usage in the shop.

Safety seminars complement mechanical finishing activities in a shop. All fabricators have to do is look at the visual evidence in the bucket from Step 1: They will find a great deal of broken product. When used improperly, cutoff wheels are quite prone to breakage (see Figure 3), which poses serious safety issues. These wheels are turning at about 180 miles per hour right in front of an operator’s face. Cutting wheels are usually among the most dangerous products used in the shop, and some shops even forbid their use altogether because they are perceived as too dangerous when misused.

A safety seminar can include operator training on the proper use of cutoff wheels to prevent injuries. It may even result in the recommendation to use a product that is safer for the given operation depending on the type and thickness of the material being cut. As such, a safety seminar can provide another way to increase productivity and possibly reduce expenses related to associated health and legal costs tied to injuries on the job and lost man-hours.

Step 3: A Productivity Program

After a fabricator has seen the visual evidence of just what is consumed during a month’s worth of mechanical finishing activity and explored the importance of maintaining worker safety, the shop is likely to be more open to a formal investigation of new abrasive products. This often leads to the request for a more formal productivity analysis from an abrasives product vendor.