Learning from the experts
By Wayne Hunter, operations manager, Emmegi (UK).
All the Emmegi engineers in the UK and Ireland attend the Voilap Academy at our HQ in Italy for regular top level training – to keep their skills up to date, advance their knowledge and skills and learn about new machines or features.
We recognise the importance and value of that to our business, and also to our customers’ businesses, because this is team of engineers who visit their premises and train their machine operators. It’s important that our engineers are operating at the highest level because when they share their expertise with fabricators, they aren’t just ensuring that our machines operate safely and efficiently, they’re providing a whole raft of other potential benefits as well
Well trained operators make a massive contribution to product quality, output and reliability and, if it helps them to feel valued and rewarded as well, the result can even be a more stable workforce with lower recruitment costs. In my experience, as well as performing better, operators who have been comprehensively trained take greater responsibility for the machine and its output, and even have a heightened sense of loyalty and improved levels of engagement.
Of course, a saw or a CNC machine represents a significant outlay, so it makes good commercial sense to maximise that investment by ensuring that your operators have real knowledge and understanding to use the machine to its full capacity and capability.
Some customers might have the resources and expertise in-house to undertake training themselves, but most will not; and it is far better to come to the machinery supplier direct for that training rather than relying on Chinese whispers between your team to share what each of them know – not all of which might be entirely accurate. And Emmegi (UK) can provide training at any point in the life of one of our machines and it doesn’t matter if the machine was bought new or on the second hand market.
You might be risking the safety of your team if they lack real understanding of the machine, but you’re almost certainly compromising on your product quality and even losing money on remakes and down time.
On CNC machines, one of the most common problems we see is collisions which come when the machine is out of tolerance; and this can weaken the components and eventually lead to failure. In fact, this is one of the key indicators of operator error that our service engineers see when they visit for a repair – but all too often that just comes down to a lack of training and knowledge.
Like every machinery supplier, Emmegi (UK)’s training starts with an emphasis on safety – safe areas of work and understanding the risks and hazards, as well as how to start up and stop the machine correctly and emergency stop and restart procedures.
Then, we obviously cover basic machine controls, loading and unloading materials, onboard software functions, adjustments and settings between materials, feeds and speeds, installing new profiles, creating preparations, and changing tools and saw blades. We also cover necessary checks and procedures, cleaning protocols and basic maintenance using the toolkits we provide.
However, it’s when you move beyond that basic level of training that you see the real benefits to fabricators from making sure that everyone who operates any of the machines in the factory understands exactly how to use them to their full capacity. Then they will know exactly how to apply the best method of operation for specific products and requirements. They will be able to troubleshoot effectively in case of an alarm, and they will be able to reduce unnecessary tooling costs by consistently applying the correct feeds and speeds.
The reality is that an untrained operator who makes the same mistake over and over again can end up costing the business a lot more than the training would have cost in the first place.
