When you organize your CNC machine shop to reduce waste, downtime, and inefficiencies, that’s called lean manufacturing.  The underlying principles of lean manufacturing were formed almost a century ago at Toyota Motor Works.  In the years since, countless books and papers have been written on the topic and it has become the dominant system in […]

For decades, manufacturing process R&D has been an integral part of shaping MacFab’s service capabilities and technological advancements. Our lessons learned include “what not to do” as well as “what to do”. Although many of our research projects were, at the time, product specific, the knowledge and experience gained were transferable to a variety of […]

We get it.  Quality control isn’t the most exciting topic.  You get paid for production, not QC.  But we’ve never looked at quality control that way at MacFab.  More than anything else, quality control is what brings our customers back.  It’s also how we gauge our own professionalism.  We derive a sense of pride from […]

It goes without saying that you want a good finish on your CNC machined parts.  If they’re painted or powder coated, you want a nice, shiny defect-free finish.  If they’re passivated, plated, anodized, or even bare metal you want to see parts that look like care was taken and attention was paid to making them.  […]

You may think it doesn’t matter to you what kinds of machines your CNC machine shop has, but it should.  There are distinct differences between horizontal CNC machining and vertical CNC machining and those differences can save you money. Keeping a Clean Work Area Horizontal CNC machining has some serious advantages over its vertical cousin.  […]

You don’t stay on top of your game by sitting still.  For CNC machine shops, that means keeping up with the latest technology and maintaining the latest abilities for your clients.  Macfab has just completed a multi-million dollar round of investments in CNC machines to make sure we can continue to provide the most advanced […]

You’re designing a new part for CNC machining.  Design parts for CNC machining with cost savings in mind from the beginning. There are a few details you can address that can cut the cost of your CNC machined parts and speed up production. Know Your Materials Find out the standard size your raw materials come […]

When a new disease emerges, there’s a race to find the cause -bacterial, viral, fungal, environmental -some combination of those?  The cause informs us on how to fight the disease.  You wouldn’t think of a precision CNC machining shop like Macfab being involved in a race for a cure for a deadly disease, but that’s […]

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  It’s an old Chinese proverb, and it describes the fortunes of one of Macfab’s clients perfectly. The First Step – to the Garage Years ago, a young Canadian engineer started a company in his garage.  He developed a machine which could do a simple […]

It seems like if you want to get a part manufactured today, you’re going to run into 3D printing and CNC.  It’s as if the entire world of manufacturing has gone to those two technologies.  Really, though, that’s not the case.  3D printing is a different beast; it’s almost always plastic-based; it’s slow, and generally […]