GlossaryKind of term: Manufacturing termManufacturing decision
What is a manufacturing decision?
A manufacturing decision is a choice about how a part is made, such as the process, machine, setup, tooling or whether an operation is outsourced.
Such a choice is often between two defensible options: turning or milling, a 3-axis or a 5-axis machine, a standard vice or a dedicated fixture, reaming or boring a fit, doing an operation in house or outsourcing it. Together, the manufacturing decisions set the part's route and how each step in it is carried out. The drawing sets what has to be made; the manufacturing decision sets how.
What does the manufacturing decision depend on?
A manufacturing decision does not follow from the drawing alone. It depends on geometry and tool access, tolerances and roughness, material and condition, quantity, the machines and workholding on hand, available capacity and lead time, and the subcontractors for finishing. The decisions affect each other: another machine can change the number of setups, and a tight position tolerance can decide which features must be made in one setup. For the same part several routes are often defensible, and two experienced engineers may well choose differently.
How does the manufacturing decision work in practice?
A manufacturing decision carries through to the estimate: machine time, setup time, programming time, tooling, subcontracted operations and lead time. A 5-axis machine can save a setup but often runs at a different hourly rate. Whether you outsource an operation depends on your own capacity, know-how, rates and lead time. Which route is cheapest depends on quantity, rates and what is already in house. If the decision is not recorded anywhere, the reasoning stays in the head of whoever made it, and on a repeat order nobody can trace why it was done that way.
What is the manufacturing decision often confused with?
A manufacturing decision is not a drawing requirement: the drawing asks for ⌀20 H7, for example, and the decision sets whether that is drilled and reamed, bored or ground. Where the drawing itself prescribes a process, such as a 'ground' note, rolled threads or a finish, that is a requirement, not a free choice. Machine selection is one kind of manufacturing decision, alongside setup, tooling, sequence and outsourcing. And make or buy is a manufacturing decision too, but the term covers more than that trade-off.
How do you see the manufacturing decision in Blake?
In Blake your machines sit in the factory with envelope, axes and their own hourly rate; for each machine, a first check on envelope and axes shows the deciding limit. You enter the setups per route yourself and accept or undo them. An outsourced operation appears as a separate line from your subcontract library; a missing price stays open. Any change to an estimate line is recorded with a reason. More on the factory.
Frequently asked questions
How do you capture the knowledge of experienced manufacturing engineers?
By recording each decision with the part, together with the route, the setups and the reason for any deviation. It can then be found on the next order, even after the colleague has left.
Who makes the manufacturing decisions in a shop?
That varies by shop. Often the manufacturing engineer, in smaller shops frequently the same person as the cost engineer. The CNC programmer and the operator fill in the detail; where programs are written at the machine, the operator makes some of the decisions.
Does the decision from the last order still hold for a repeat order?
Not automatically. Machines, workholding, quantities and rates may have changed since the last order. The earlier decision is a good starting point; check whether the reasons behind it still apply.