Manufacturing analytics software supports 30% growth for precision machining company
18/08/2023
A precision machining company specialising in the extrusion tooling and subcontract machining industries has achieved 30% growth in turnover following the installation of a manufacturing analytics platform. 
Chesterfield-based Sterling Machining installed FourJaw’s manufacturing analytics platform on 14 of its computer numerical control (CNC) machines, to support and inform its continuous improvement strategy.
Andy White, Co-owner and Production Manager, Sterling Machining, said: “We had an enterprise resource planning (ERP) in place, but no way of accurately measuring jobs and their profitability until the jobs were finished. If a job took longer than expected, we could not see why. FourJaw’s machine monitoring system has given us valuable data that we use to understand machine utilisation, operational efficiency and profitability. In the last 12 months, our business has grown from £3.8m to £5m turnover.”
FourJaw’s MachineLink Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) device can be easily and quickly self-installed on any manufacturing machine, regardless of brand, type or age, which makes it suitable for small and medium-sized businesses that would prefer a low-cost no-fuss ‘plug-and-play’ solution. By monitoring and analysing machine data, FourJaw enables manufacturers to make machines run productively and profitably.
The Industry 4.0 technology has also inspired a degree of competitiveness among the workforce. Andy explained: “Initially, the guys on the shop floor were a little reluctant, but soon became interested to see how it worked. It did not take long for them to become competitive, wanting to get the best machine efficiency scores resulting in utilisation going from 75% to 100%.
This means that we are making more products with the same resources, lowering the cost of manufacturing the goods and therefore improving profitability.”
The extra capacity created by utilising the existing machinery more effectively has also created additional jobs. The company identified that they could change the way the shop floor was configured and put in an extra machine operator. Doing so made them more productive and the extra operator pays for themselves because the machines will not be stood idle.
Since installing FourJaw on its machines, the team at Sterling Machining has improved many of its processes, informed by the platform’s accurate real-time data. For example, the team uses historic data to see how long similar jobs have taken and uses this information to quote more confidently for future work.
The management team at Sterling has also used FourJaw’s data insight to make informed decisions when considering large capital outlays, such as new machines. Andy described the situation many manufacturers come up against: “You may have been in the position where you think you need to buy another machine because you think you have a capacity problem, but now that we use FourJaw we can see where we have capacity that we are not using.
“In summary, FourJaw is the tool we use to maintain a ‘drumbeat’ of improvement and create a healthy, competitive environment to keep trying to do better.”
FourJaw was founded as a spinout from the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in 2021 and from then on has been focused on its mission: to deliver accessible technology that empowers manufacturers to achieve their productivity potential.
