Customer Need
Company A, a medium‑sized industrial automation company, was developing a new high‑speed parallel robot for pick‑and‑place applications in food packaging lines. The robot required both high rigidity and light weight, plus an aesthetic protective enclosure. Key parts included:
6 precision aluminum alloy linkage arms (CNC machined)
2 reducer mounting brackets (CNC machined)
1 robot base and protective housing (sheet metal welding + painting)
1 electrical control cabinet (sheet metal bending + silk screening)
Pain Points
Company A had previously outsourced CNC parts and sheet metal parts to two different suppliers, encountering several problems:
Mismatched lead times: Sheet metal parts were delivered 10 days later than CNC parts, repeatedly delaying final assembly.
Quality disputes: During assembly, the mounting holes on the sheet metal enclosure did not align with the threaded holes on the CNC arms. The two suppliers blamed each other, forcing Company A to rework – adding three weeks and extra cost.
High coordination overhead: The project manager had to manage two suppliers’ drawings, quotations, and schedules simultaneously.
Urgent deadline: Company A needed 10 prototype robots within 3 months to exhibit at an international automation trade show.
Core Requirements
Company A wanted a single supplier capable of both CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication, who could:
Take full responsibility for manufacturing both types of parts and ensuring assembly fit
Guarantee hole alignment without on‑site rework
Compress total lead time to ≤6 weeks (including prototypes)
Provide full dimensional inspection reports to ensure consistency
- Analyzed the 3D model provided by Company A and found that the mounting holes on the sheet metal enclosure and the threaded holes on the CNC arms used different datum references (different edges), causing accumulated tolerance errors.
- Proposed modification: Change the hole datum on the sheet metal enclosure to the same datum as the CNC arms, and add locating pin holes on the sheet metal part for quick alignment during assembly.
- Also optimized wall thickness of the CNC arms – reduced weight by 12% while maintaining rigidity, lowering material cost.
- CNC machining: Used 4‑axis machining centers for aluminum alloy arms, holding critical mating tolerances to ±0.01mm, with in‑process probing to compensate for tool wear in real time.
- Sheet metal fabrication: Laser cutting, CNC bending (±0.1° accuracy). For the welded base, we used welding fixtures to prevent distortion, followed by stress‑relief annealing.
- Pre‑assembly verification: After welding the sheet metal enclosure, we brought the first CNC arms to the sheet metal shop and performed a virtual assembly check (using CMM data to simulate fit) before painting.
- Defined Critical‑to‑Quality (CTQ) characteristics: bearing bore diameter of CNC arms, position tolerance of mounting holes on sheet metal enclosure, flatness of the welded base.
- Provided First Article Inspection Report (FAIR) and process capability data (CPK) for each batch.
- Performed dye penetrant inspection on the welded base to ensure no cracks.
- Reserved dedicated capacity for Project A: 20 hours of CNC + 10 hours of sheet metal per week.
- Set up a WeChat group + weekly progress report with real‑time photos of key manufacturing steps.
|
Metric |
Customer’s original expectation |
Actual achievement |
|
Total lead time (prototypes) |
6 weeks |
4.5 weeks (10 days early) |
|
Assembly fit |
On‑site rework expected |
Zero rework – all holes aligned perfectly |
|
Quality pass rate |
98% (average of two previous suppliers) |
99.6% (only two minor cosmetic scratches, reworked and passed) |
|
Cost |
Original split‑supplier total |
18% lower (no separate tooling/programming fees, less logistics and management cost) |
|
Coordination time |
~8 hours/week managing two suppliers |
~2 hours/week (single point of contact) |
- Thanks to early delivery, Company A successfully showcased the prototypes at the trade show and secured three orders worth over RMB 2 million (approx. $280,000 USD).
- Our full dimensional inspection reports helped Company A pass an on‑site supplier audit by their end customer.
After the project, Company A reduced its CNC supplier base from three to two. We are the only supplier that provides both sheet metal and CNC machining.
- Signed a blanket purchase agreement with an estimated annual spend of RMB 3 million (~$420,000 USD). In return, we reserved 20% flexible capacity for their urgent orders.
- Quarterly QBR (Quarterly Business Review) meetings to explore cost reduction ideas – for example, converting some CNC arms to precision casting + light machining, which further reduced cost by 15%.
We used to believe that splitting CNC and sheet metal between specialized shops was more professional, but we suffered from mismatched lead times and quality disputes. This supplier proved the value of a one-stop solution – not only less hassle, but also faster delivery of qualified parts. They are now on our preferred supplier list, and we have directly awarded them two more new projects.
Technical ownership: We proactively identified and solved the datum mismatch problem instead of just executing the drawing.
Process transparency: Customer could view inspection data at any time.
Single accountability: Any assembly issue was resolved internally – customer only needed to talk to one window.
Over‑delivery: Not only met the lead time, but delivered 10 days early, helping the customer capture a business opportunity.
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