Give Yourself a Shop Audit 2/14/2012 10:31:00 AM Now is a great time to take a good hard look at your shop and shop tools. In 2011, you may have spent unnecessary time and money keeping you from being profitable. Taking a good look at your tools, people and the systems in place, you may find that by spending a little time and effort now you will gain huge profits overall. I receive many calls asking for assistance on finishing systems, equipment as well as help conducting shop audits to help streamline business and gain more profit. Finishing is the last step before we deliver our goods and many times we blame the profit losses because we had to delay or rework the finish due to unforeseen circumstances.
Let’s look at some key things to analyze that may really be the reasons.
Compressor: Some common issues I see in the field are that the shop starts to grow in employees and with that, the demand on your compressor also increases. Look to see if your compressor is adequate in size for your current business. You may have out grown its peak performance levels. This over usage is causing not only the compressor to strain to keep up with the demand, but it is also costing you thousands of dollars in damage to itself, the tools running off the air, and the air itself could be contaminated now with oil or moisture or rust. Check your cfm delivery. Is it keeping up with the demand of tools running off it at any given time? What is your recovery rate, what kind of air lines do you have? What is the diameter of the lines? How are your lines piped through the shop; are they looped or do they dead end like octopus legs? The wrong piping and how they are channeled through your shop can cause lots of problems to the work stations making the difference between clean dry air or dirty wet contaminated air. Do you have a dryer? Do you have coalescent filters? What kind of filters do you have at each drop? Are there regulators at each drop? Maintenance schedules on your air filters and oil changes can save you BIG money every year in rework. What type of quick disconnects are we using; are they high flow or standard? High flow connectors will give you approximately 75 percent more air volume than most standard fittings. Be sure to purchase quality fittings, let’s NOT make them a consumable item in our shop! The more you use your fittings the more important it is to stay away from buying cheaper fittings. Air leaks at these fittings and pin holes in air lines are silent money pits. Don’t “pisssssssss” your money away! Your compressor is like the heart of your business, pumping air through the pipes of your shop like blood running through your veins, and like blood if we have clogged arteries or internal bleeding or open wounds, we have a serious problem. Your air flow in your shop can be a big reason for many problems you face daily that you overlook assuming the issue is the spray gun, the sander the edgebander, etc. Many things in your shop run off the air it supplies, and if your heart is too small or veins are struggling then we all know what happens.
Lighting: Poor lighting can cast shadows or be too dark to catch simple mistakes in our work, costing us dearly. Finishing in improper lighting can be the root of mismatched color, sanding flaws and missed areas in our finish. Even if you have enough light but it has tons of dust piling up on the light bulbs or lens, then this still needs attention.
Spray booth: Are you currently working in a spray booth or do you have a “spray area” in your shop? Do you have air make up? Your finish is only as good as your environment. Air flow (both compressed air and fresh air), cleanliness, spray equipment, material and the finisher all play a part in the quality of the finish. It is important to take a look at all variables. Pay attention to your booth filters, are you using the proper filters for intake and exhaust? Are they full of overspray or sanding dust and not properly allowing the air to flow through them? This not only poses a problem with overspray but it also cost us unnecessary trash to land in our finish not to mention a fire hazard. Speaking of fire, do you have fire suppression on your booth or fire extinguishers, and are they well marked?
Sanding Area: Do you have down draft sanding tables or sanding benches? Where are they in conjunction to the spray area? Do you check you’re sanding before staining with lights, Naphtha or other solvents? What type of sanding tools are you using and what is is the condition of these tools? Have a maintenance program in place to be sure they are clean, balanced, oiled and running at the proper RPMs? If using air sanders, be sure to use the high flow quick disconnects, hoses 5/16” ID or larger and no longer than 25’. This is important to be sure we aren’t causing unnecessary swirl marks. Are you using the proper density back up pad for the job? What type of sandpaper are you using, garnet, aluminum oxide or silicon carbide? Do you change grits for different substrates to even your color when staining? How soon after the sanding process are the pieces being finished? All of these can be reasons for sanding too much, sand through, blotchy stain work or just plain wasting time.
Spray equipment: What type of equipment are you using to get the best performance and transfer efficiency; conventional, HVLP, airless or air assisted airless? Are you working with a system that feeds the need effectively or are you using a quart cup filling it 10 times a day when a pressure pot or air assisted airless would end that wasted time? Are the needles, nozzles and air caps all in good shape? Do you clean your gun regularly? A clean spray gun is as important as a sharp blade on the table saw, any small nick can change the results of your spray pattern, and it won’t matter how many times you spray the piece over you still will have the signs of “striping.” When finishing are you using simple tools like a viscosity cup, tack clothes, strainers and wet mil gauges to help keep consistent clean and measured results.
Finisher: How skilled is your finisher? Do you make sure s/he is kept in the loop on the designing or building and deadlines of the job so we aren’t expecting miracles to happen when things run off schedule? Do you keep them educated on the latest technology and materials? Do they have the tools and safety equipment necessary to do their job? Most importantly do they know how to make and follow a story board? Have they been instructed how to properly dispose of the waste they create everyday in on the job?
Having some standard operating procedures in place in your workshop in all areas will help maintain order, efficiency and cut down on costs. Making sure that finishing projects have story boards and proper timelines will also keep you from unwanted rework and costly repairs. Taking the time to walk around your shop and look at the tools you use with a critical eye evaluating their performance and condition may find you some money that has been spent unknowingly. Contact your current suppliers and see if they have a service or people in place that can make suggestions to help you. Before this year gets too far ahead of us let’s do a shop audit.
