Could I have a bit less, please?
Taking a realistic look at tolerances
“Could I have a bit more, please?” If you have ever visited a butcher’s shop, you have most certainly heard this question being asked. “Could I have a bit less, please?”, on the other hand, is something you almost never hear. Although, it can also be a useful question. For example, when it comes to sheet metal tolerances.
Just like your butcher, we at SixPointTwo want only one thing: to satisfy the needs of our customers. With sheet metal, those needs are formulated in terms of dimensions and tolerances on working drawings. And, in that context, we may occasionally ask you, “Could we have a bit less, please?”
Consultation
Of course, we don’t ask that question lightly. We only ask it when we are convinced we can offer you a better alternative. An alternative that not only has the right quality for your application, but one that we know we can produce at a lower cost. In cases like that, we will ask you to critically review the specified tolerances together with us.
Case study: overly restrictive tolerances
We received a working drawing from a client for a curved, welded, metal component that needed to be produced in considerable quantities. The component had an opening (a hole) with a tight tolerance for its diameter and its location. The specified tolerances were so tight that they were difficult to achieve in the production process, especially since they needed to be produced in larger quantities at costs that could be kept consistently low. To meet the specifications on the drawing, additional measurement and correction work would have to be carried out. The additional labour time required to do this would have had too great an impact on the cost.
Good conversation results in win-win situation
We called a meeting with our client to discuss this. The result? Upon closer examination, the tolerances specified for diameter and location were too restrictive. The customer indicated that the engineer had defined the tolerances in this way “to ensure that the product would be high quality”. After further consultation, the solution was quickly found. With modified, less strict tolerance levels for both the location and the diameter, the component would still be just as practicable and reliable. What’s more, this allowed us to produce the component at a lower cost. A win-win situation for the client and for SixPointTwo!
Reliability and quality always come first
Of course, your engineers will go for product quality and operational reliability. And it is totally understandable that they always start from safety first. Occasionally, however, this leads to unnecessarily tight tolerances and higher costs. So, in those cases, we will definitely ask you that unconventional question: “Could we have a bit less, please?”