Article of Interest: Business Benefits of Standardizing on Configurable vs. Custom Components

Business Benefits of Standardizing on Configurable vs. Custom Components

Featured Article – Design Engineering (Canada) Magazine (September 2011)

By: Patrick J. Esposito, Marketing Manager, MISUMI USA

Even in a tight economy, machine building OEMs can find new ways to reduce costs and maximize profit margins, while improving quality and customer service.

Business Benefits of Standardizing on Configurable vs. Custom Components

In challenging economic times, manufacturing companies serving the consumer and industrial electronics market are striving to remain competitive by reducing costs while increasing efficiency and productivity. These are tough goals to achieve when the costs of materials and supplies, energy and plant operations, transportation and logistics have been steadily rising.

If manufacturers could order all of these components from a single source, configured to their specific and precise requirements regarding dimensions, materials and finishes – and do so at reasonable prices and fast turnaround times – the benefits would be significant. Increased efficiency, higher productivity and faster time-to-market are just a few advantages.

Here’s a brief look at how a prominent Canadian machine builder has adopted the configurable component alternative and reaped significant measurable returns.

ATS Automation Tooling Systems

ATS Automation Tooling Systems, Inc. of Cambridge, ON, provides innovative, custom designed and built manufacturing solutions to many of the world's most successful companies. Founded in 1978, ATS serves the sophisticated automation systems' needs of multinational customers in industries such as healthcare, computer/electronics, automotive and consumer products. ATS employs approximately 2,700 people at 17 manufacturing facilities in Canada, the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and China.

ATS discovered the value and convenience of specifying MISUMI’s configurable components as the company was planning the launch of its modular FlexsysPAK System. The FlexsysPAK System is an automated packaging, assembly and dispensing platform based on the company’s Supertrak pallet conveyor line. Such a complex, configurable system would typically require substantial lead time because of the vast number of components involved in its design and production.

According to the ATS CAD support specialist for the company’s mechanical design group, using MISUMI’s easy-to-access online Configurator and ordering system was instrumental in saving time and labor for engineers responsible for designing and specifying components for the FlexsysPAK machinery. Previously, in modeling a new part, design engineers would need to find a catalog, either online or hard copy, then model the part from the dimensions provided, which increased the possibility of modeling errors and the need for rework.

Various component materials and surface finishes can also be specified through the MISUMI catalog or e-catalog part number, while dimensional specifications can be selected in 1-millimeter increments. Additional configuration options available include wrench flats, location of wrench flats, set screw flats, key grooves and V-grooves.

ATS is just one example of the value proposition of configurable components and convenient online configuration and ordering. Other leading machine builders have reported similar positive results, including:

• Time savings of up to 60 percent due to ordering of precision configured machined parts
• Cost savings of up to 50 percent over the expense of in-house custom production and machining
• Greater modularity and flexibility of systems and interoperability of parts
• Higher productivity, reduced build time, and faster time-to-market

An additional plus unique to MISUMI’s business model is the company’s “no minimum order” policy and guaranteed delivery of many of its 1,000,000 configurable components within days rather than the weeks (or months) typically required. This allows manufacturers to design and make prototype machinery and systems, or even one-off specialty devices, economically and quickly.

About the Author

Patrick Esposito, Marketing Manager for MISUMI USA, has 25 years of professional experience in the industrial manufacturing sector. He has held executive positions in Product Management and Sales and Marketing Management, and has authored numerous articles and white papers for a wide range of industrial trade publications.

About the Company

MISUMI USA is a leading global supplier of fixed and configurable mechanical components used in the design and manufacture of factory automation machinery and systems. For more information, visit https://mx.misumi-ec.com/en/