TrackMyMachines Resources

How DoorCo Improved Production by 26% with TrackMyMachines

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Mon, 11 May 2026 16:25:32 GMT

We interview Chris Mansfield, Senior Manufacturing Manager at DoorCo Ltd, who explains how TrackMyMachines has shifted the production culture at their Macclesfield Site.

About DoorCo

DoorCo is a global leader in composite door manufacturing, celebrated for its sustainable and thermally efficient doors. With over 3,750,000 units supplied worldwide to date, the company is committed to delivering high-quality products whilst pursuing innovation in its manufacturing processes.

The Challenge

Meeting increasing customer demand without compromising efficiency is a common challenge for manufacturers. At DoorCo, Chris Mansfield, Senior Manufacturing Manager, highlighted how inefficiencies in tracking production and downtime led to difficulties in maximising machine performance.

Previously, production planning relied on estimated metrics, such as predicting the number of doors each machine could produce daily. However, variations in door styles and complexities of process flow meant these estimates were inaccurate and the actual factory capacity was unknown and therefore under-utilised.

The Solution: TrackMyMachines

DoorCo partnered with TrackMyMachines to implement a real-time CNC machine monitoring solution. The system is now integrated into daily operations.

“Every CNC operator has it on their tablets. All the production managers have it. Even Aaron, our Operations Director, is checking it daily,” says Chris.

Key TrackMyMachines features utilized by DoorCo include:

Real-Time CNC Machine Monitoring: Quick visibility into whether machines were operational and productive via a simple red/green system.
Downtime Tracking: Identifying and categorizing downtime events to address recurring issues.
Customizable Reporting: Easy generation of reports for downtime analysis and uptime tracking.

“The reports are straightforward and easy to use. No matter who we’ve trained, they pick it up quickly,” Chris noted.

The Results: 26% increase in production rates

After using TrackMyMachines to help with management changes, DoorCo have seen an uplift in production by almost 26%.

The Cultural Shift: From Units to Hours

One of the most significant changes brought about by TrackMyMachines was a shift in how they planned production.

“It’s taken us from chasing units to chasing hours,” Chris explained. “In manufacturing, people often focus on pushing units out the door. Instead, we now prioritize minimizing downtime and maximizing machine hours. If all our machines run 9 hours out of 11, the units will naturally follow.”

This cultural shift empowered the team to focus on what truly matter for long-term efficiency: operational uptime.

Chris described the process, “So that’s exactly why this is really beneficial for us, because what we used to do is we used to plan for a predicted amount off each machine. so we would say we want 60 doors per day off each machine but ultimately we know that if we run in a certain style of door we can get more than that. If we run what about five doors or something like that, which is a little bit more intricate, we’re going to get less. Whereas now we’re tracking it in hours, we just want to make sure the machine is running to its maximum capacity. it makes planning so much simpler.”

Downtime Reasons captured from day 1

As part of the implementation, Manufacturing Cell Manager Abbie Lever was tasked with making sure downtime reasons were captured effectively by the whole production team. Without requiring training, she took the task head-on.

“It’s such a simple interface, I didn’t need any training to get started. I could set up the correct downtime reasons for our factory and make sure that they were being captured in a few days.”, Abbie explained. She added that ” When it comes to analysis, the reporting is easy to use and fast to visualise what’s happened on the shop floor”

Results and Benefits

Improved planning: Real-time data on machine hours replaced the reliance on estimated cycle times. This made production scheduling more accurate, even for complex door styles.
“We used to predict six minutes per door, but variations meant this wasn’t reliable. Now, we focus on keeping machines running to capacity.”
Simple but effective: The system’s simplicity encouraged widespread adoption among staff, regardless of technical expertise. “Our production managers aren’t tech-savvy, but they use it daily because it’s so intuitive.”
Actionable downtime tracking: Downtime tracking allowed DoorCo to identify and address recurring issues, from tool maintenance to process adjustments.
“If we notice consistent downtime for maintenance, we can dig into why and make changes.”

Looking Ahead

With the TrackMyMachines system now embedded into their operations, DoorCo is exploring ways to utilize the wealth of data generated. As Chris puts it:

“We’re now stable enough to use the system to its full potential. The next step is analyzing the data for broader efficiency gains.”

By embracing real-time monitoring and shifting their operational focus, DoorCo exemplifies how door manufacturers can leverage data-driven insights to improve productivity and foster innovation.

“Hopefully we’ll be rolling out to other sites in the new year.”

This transformation reflects not just a technical upgrade but a shift in mindset—one that prioritizes efficiency, sustainability, and growth.

Gardner Denver saves almost £20,000 per year with machine monitoring

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Mon, 11 May 2026 16:14:03 GMT

As part of Ingersol Rand Transport Solutions, Gardner Denver manufacture and assemble truck-mounted compressors, blowers and vacuum pumps for the transport industry. Some of their manufacturing is done in-house, and as a constant pressure they must keep up with customer and internal demand.

Most of the compressor components are machined on-site either from cast or billet material on 6 different machining centres. Although they managed to maintain good productivity, they wanted to be able to track exactly how they were doing over time.

After installing TrackMyMachines on their shop floor it was clear where the best gains in productivity could be made.

Add more offsets to the machine tool

Track my machines showed that a certain VMC with zero point work holding and specialised cutting tools still had considerable downtime from work setting.

Further investigation showed that the machine tool software could be upgraded to hold more tool data. This would reduce the setting time per month, increase productivity and reduce the risk allocated with operator input.

Cost savings: 10 hours/month saves £7200 a year

Identification of cycle with too many tool changes

It’s obvious with TrackMyMachines where the tool changes are in your cycle.

After finding the cycle with lots of tool changes, the component was analysed and bespoke cutting tools were designed to reduce the number of tools required. As a result the cycle times were reduced.

Cost savings: £6800 per year

Spot non-conforming castings with spindle power usage

In an FMS system, where multiple types of components are loaded into a pallet system, the inconsistent tool life of a particular tool has been a major concern. In trials the tool life was acceptable, but in production it was unpredictable. It was hard to pinpoint a single cycle that was drawing a larger spindle power than expected when the system is automated and run lights-out.

Carl Parry, Manufacturing Engineer at Gardner Denver explains how he identified the problem: “Track my machines was so simple in showing where the spike in spindle power was, which was then quickly tracked to a particular component and operation. That component was identified as pulling too much power when compared to similar components.

Upon investigation we identified that the initial cutting parameters were incorrect due to non-conforming castings. An additional 5mm of material was present, This was the cause for tool life reduction and tool breakage. Initial tool life was increased after adding additional passes to the machine program.

Because the machine tool has numerous components due to the FMS setup it was very hard to pinpoint the due to the different number of times this particular cutting tool is utilised. Without TrackMyMachines, it would have taken an operator to be present and alert when that particular cycle was being run.”

Tool life increase: 40% Cost saving: £4900 per year

Total cost savings £18,900 per year

If you think you could spot inefficiencies with a machine monitoring system, request a demo now to find out how TrackMyMachines can help improve the way you run your machine shop.

What the 2025 Budget Means for Manufacturers: Getting More from Existing Machinery

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 04:30:00 GMT

The November 2025 Budget reinforced a clear priority for UK industry: improving productivity. While investment incentives remain in place, many manufacturers are focusing on a more cost-effective approach, maximising the performance of existing machinery before committing to new purchases.

Real-time monitoring technology is becoming a key tool in achieving this.

Productivity pressure makes efficiency essential

Rising labour, energy and material costs mean manufacturers must deliver more output without proportionally increasing spend. Instead of immediate upgrades, many are turning to data-driven efficiency improvements to extract more value from their current machinery.

Why real-time machine monitoring matters

Real-time monitoring provides visibility over how each machine is performing throughout the day, helping factories to:

Identify downtime and inefficiencies
Improve utilisation and output
Spot issues before breakdowns occur
Reduce maintenance costs
Streamline planning and scheduling

In an environment where every minute of production counts, visibility is becoming essential.

Optimisation before investment

Although capital allowances encourage machinery investment, many manufacturers are prioritising optimisation first. Monitoring helps businesses understand:

Whether a machine truly needs replacing
Which assets offer the best ROI if upgraded
Whether performance issues are operational, not mechanical
How to improve workflows without major capital spend

This protects cash flow while still improving performance.

Data led decision making strengthens competitiveness

Access to machine performance data helps manufacturers:

Improve forecasting and planning
React quickly to production issues
Enhance product consistency
Align capacity with customer demand

Better use of existing assets supports stronger margins in a competitive market.

How TrackMyMachines helps

At Track My Machines, we give manufacturers real-time visibility over their machinery, enabling better decisions, reduced downtime and improved efficiency, all without unnecessary capital investment.

If you want to get more from the machinery you already have, Track My Machines can help you optimise performance across your factory floor.

If you are ready to see what is really happening on your shop floor, book your free demo today and start making smarter, data-driven improvements.

Continuous Improvement: What is Kaizen in Lean Manufacturing?

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 11:00:00 GMT

At TrackMyMachines, we spend a lot of time helping manufacturers do more with what they already have. Often, the biggest gains come not from big changes but from small, consistent improvements, and that’s exactly what Kaizen is all about.

Kaizen isn’t a project. It’s a mindset. It’s the daily habit of spotting waste, solving problems, and making every process a little bit better than it was yesterday.

What Does Kaizen Mean?

The word Kaizen comes from Japanese: “Kai” meaning “change” and “Zen” meaning “good.” Together, it translates to “continuous improvement.”

In manufacturing, Kaizen means everyone (from operators to managers) takes responsibility for finding better ways to work. It’s not about waiting for major overhauls or expensive investments. It’s about the steady, ongoing pursuit of efficiency, safety, and quality.

Kaizen in Lean Manufacturing

Kaizen is a core principle of Lean Manufacturing, a philosophy focused on reducing waste and increasing value for the customer.

Lean identifies seven types of waste (Muda):

Transportation
Inventory
Motion
Waiting
Over-processing
Over-production
Defects

Kaizen gives teams the tools to tackle these wastes one by one. Over time, these small optimisations build up to huge performance gains.

Small Steps, Big Results

In a Kaizen culture, improvements are quick, measurable, and repeatable. For example:

A team rearranges a workstation to save 10 seconds per part.
An operator suggests a fixture change that prevents tool breakage.
Maintenance introduces a daily 5-minute check that prevents costly downtime.

Each one seems small, but multiply them across shifts, teams, and months, and the results become transformational.

Real-World Examples of Kaizen in Action

Our customers often see this first-hand.

A machining cell might appear to be running flat out, yet live utilisation data shows it’s only 45% utilised. By applying Kaizen thinking, identifying setup delays, improving tool preparation, or adjusting job sequencing, that same cell could deliver 20–30%more output without a single new machine.

Another customer reduced unplanned downtime simply by logging every downtime reason for one week. Those insights led to changes, one of which saved £5000 over 6 months.

That’s Kaizen in practice: simple observation, small change, measurable impact.

Why Data is the Missing Link

Kaizen thrives on facts, not assumptions. The challenge for many manufacturers is collecting reliable, real-time data to back up improvement ideas.

That’s where systems like ours at TrackMyMachines come in. By automatically recording spindle uptime, stop reasons, and performance data, you gain a live picture of what’s really happening on the shop floor.

No paperwork. No guesswork. Just accurate information that helps teams make the right changes, faster.

Bringing Kaizen to Your Shop Floor

Kaizen works best when it becomes part of your culture:

Encourage operators to share ideas daily.
Review performance metrics together in short “Gemba walks.”
Celebrate small wins as much as big ones.
Keep improvements visible using data boards, dashboards.

When everyone contributes, small adjustments compound into a major competitive advantage.

Start Improving with TrackMyMachines

Continuous improvement begins with understanding what’s really happening on your shop floor. When you can see where time is being lost, you can start fixing it quickly.

Learn more about how TrackMyMachines CNC monitoring helps manufacturers improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness by revealing the hidden inefficiencies behind every spindle stop, tool change, and idle moment.

With live utilisation data, job statistics and downtime insights, you can make confident, measurable improvements that bring Kaizen to life, one small change at a time.

TrackMyMachines provides live CNC and OEE monitoring solutions for manufacturers across the UK, Europe and the USA, helping production teams achieve world-class utilisation.

Hidden Capacity: Unlocking CNC Productivity and Profit with OEE Monitoring

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 08:15:00 GMT

At TrackMyMachines, we see it all the time: CNC hidden capacity OEE reveals untapped potential on shop floors that feels maxed out.Every spindle may seem busy,every operator occupied, yet hidden capacity remains..
The knee-jerk answer when orders pile up? Buy another machine.

However, the numbers tell a different story.
Our customers operate at between 26–51% utilisation. Imagine what extra capacity you’ve got if over 50% of the time your machines aren’t running. We call this your Hidden Capacity.
So before signing off on another six-figure machine, consider how to find that hidden capacity and turn it into profit.

The Costly Misdiagnosis

Adding a new CNC machine can cost hundreds of thousands, and it brings long lead times, installation downtime, and training delays.
If your real problem is wasted spindle hours, that investment won’t fix it instantly.

In fact, industry data shows world-class plants hit 80%+ utilisation without adding hardware.
The gap is pure opportunity.

OEE: The Gold-Standard Metric

The fastest way to uncover that opportunity is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
Put simply, OEE answers one questions:

How often are your machines making good parts, as fast as possible, with no stop time?

OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality

Availability – Is the spindle running when it should?
Performance – Is it running at the correct speed?
Quality – Are you making good parts first time?

Typically, a starting OEE is around 60%, while world-class manufacturing aims for 85% or higher.

As a result, even modest gains can release significant hidden capacity.

The Three OEE Pillars in Action

Availability
Hidden downtime adds up fast. Waiting for inspection, hunting for fixtures, or pausing for tool setting may seem minor; however, those “few minutes” can steal hours per machine every day.

Performance
Feed-rate overrides, worn tooling, or sub-optimal programs all slow cycles. Without live data, these losses remain invisible. By contrast, continuous monitoring highlights them immediately.

Quality
Scrap and rework waste more than materials. Every defective part consumes valuable spindle time that could have made a sellable one. Therefore, improving first-time yield directly increases capacity.

Proof from the Shop Floor

“We’ve seen how powerful accurate data can be,” says Rowan.

“For example, Gardner Denver uncovered ten hours of setting delays every month. A single software change saved them £7,200 a year and even shortened cycle times with better tooling.

Meanwhile at DoorCo, a culture built around OEE lifted production by 26% without buying a single new machine.

These aren’t one-off wins. They show what’s possible when you measure what matters and let data guide every improvement.”

Why Manual Logs Fail

Paper sheets and spreadsheets can’t keep up.
They rely on memory, miss micro-stops, and create untrusted data.
As a result, operators have extra admin distracting them from their more important priorities, while managers see numbers they cannot act on.

The result? Manual data capture schemes create more work than they save.

Automated Monitoring: Simple and Powerful

TrackMyMachines flips the script:

Automatic data capture – every cycle, stop and spindle-power spike.
Real-time dashboards – spot issues as they happen.
Zero operator burden – no more pencil-whipping.

Because installation is quick to install and “set and forget,” our system delivers accurate, live OEE data from day one.
That data becomes your single source of truth for improvement and investment.

From Metric to Money

Raising OEE isn’t about theory. It’s about measurable business results.

For example, higher OEE helps you:

Unlock hidden capacity – produce more with the machines you already own.
Quote with confidence – base pricing on real cycle times and downtime.
Justify investments – prove the ROI of new tools or processes with hard numbers.

Every percentage point of OEE gained is more quality parts, more revenue, and bigger margins.

How to improve your Gemba Walk

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:00:00 GMT

At TrackMyMachines, we love the power of Gemba. It means going to the shop floor to see what is really happening. This Lean manufacturing principle has helped countless leaders spot waste, understand processes, and make improvements that last.

But here’s the challenge. If you only rely on what you see during your walk, you are getting just one snapshot in time… and you may be missing the real story.

What is Gemba?

The word Gemba (現場) comes from Japanese and means “the real place”, which refers to the place where value is created

In manufacturing, that means the shop floor. A Gemba walk is when leaders or managers visit the floor to observe work, talk with operators, and understand processes firsthand. It is a cornerstone of Lean manufacturing, rooted in the Toyota Production System , and helps leaders to:

See processes as they really happen
Identify waste or inefficiencies
Understand challenges from the operator’s perspective
Support continuous improvement in a respectful and collaborative way

When combined, these principles show why Gemba is such a powerful way to connect data with reality.

As we like to put it:

Data shows you the problem, the what. Gemba shows you the context, the why and how.

The Limits of a Walk-Only Approach

A Gemba walk can be powerful, but it is only one moment in time. It cannot tell you what happens overnight, how long changeovers actually take, or how often machines stop when no one is watching. These blind spots can hide costly inefficiencies that never make it onto a report.

See it in action

Find out how TrackMyMachines helps manufacturers pinpoint downtime costs with real-time data so your next Gemba walk is backed by facts rather than assumptions.

Upgrading Gemba with 24/7 Insight

That is where TrackMyMachines makes the difference. Our real-time machine monitoring runs day and night, giving you:

Machine cycles and uptime so you can see how your assets really perform
Changeover durations so you can measure and improve setup times
Downtime tracking so you know when, why, and for how long machines stop
Operator input without manual logging so you can capture accurate, in-the-moment data

This means your Gemba walks become laser-focused. You know exactly where to go, what to look for, and how to back up your observations with hard data.

It is still Gemba, simply upgraded with the power of 24/7 visibility. A synergy between Gemba and Machine Monitoring, OEE, and Uptime Data.

Why This Combination Works

By pairing the principles of Gemba with continuous monitoring, you get the best of both worlds. On one hand, live data points you toward the problem areas. On the other, the walk gives you context and insight from the people who work there every day. Combined, they allow you to address issues quickly, improve processes, and make changes that stick.

The Complete Picture

Machine monitoring does not replace Gemba. It enhances it.
With TrackMyMachines, you are no longer limited to a single snapshot of operations. You have the full story — what happens during the day, at night, and through every changeover — so you can act with confidence.

If you are ready to see what is really happening on your shop floor, book your free demo today and start making smarter, data-driven improvements.

How to Apply Continuous Improvement in CNC Manufacturing

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Everyone talks about continuous improvement. But in most CNC shops, it’s not always clear where to start.

The reality is: continuous improvement doesn’t have to mean huge overhauls. Often, it’s about fixing the basics—then building from there.

Here’s how to apply continuous improvement practically, starting with low-effort changes that can deliver immediate results.

1. Control your procedures

Before investing in tech or starting Kaizen events, make sure your basic procedures are under control:

Tool setting and fixturing: Are setups documented, repeatable, and easy to follow?
Releasing work to the shop floor: Do operators have clear, up-to-date instructions for each job?
Job booking and feedback: Are you collecting real setup and cycle times—or guessing?

Shops with good procedures already have a head start.

2. Control your process

Once your CNC procedures are in place and your operators know exactly what to do, you can start to control your manufacturing process. If your programs are littered with optional stops (M00 and M01) for swarf clearance and tool changes, your process is uncontrolled.

This will make it harder to run efficiently today, as you can’t predict how long a job will take to run. It will also make it harder to automate, as you can’t leave the machine unmanned for long periods of time.

Process engineering is a key part of Continuous Improvement. It means selecting the right cutting tools, workholding and parameters. The first aim should be to produce quality parts reliably with zero operator intervention, then to reduce cycle time if required. It’s better to make a good part a few minutes slower than a bad part as fast as possible.

3. Schedule Work with Capacity in Mind

Now your shop is run by good reliable procedures and the processes are controlled, you can now use historical production data to schedule work more predictably.

Continuous improvement in production planning means:

Estimating job times based on actual history—not guesses
Factoring in real machine availability

These two things together mean you can schedule work more consistently, and machines aren’t starved or overworked.

This starts with tracking how long jobs actually take to run. If your planned vs. actual times are always off, that’s the first thing to fix.

4. Automate the Quoting Process (or Make It Smarter)

If you’re still quoting manually or relying on tribal knowledge, you’re missing a major opportunity for improvement.

Accurate job data = accurate quoting. With real setup and cycle time feedback from the shop floor, you can quote with confidence—and stop underestimating job costs.

If you can start to build spreadsheets that help with quoting, responding to customer requests quicker and accurately without relying on a single estimator will mean more jobs won.

5. Introduce Live Feedback Loops

Once you’ve got your house in order, start bringing live data into the mix. That’s where systems like TrackMyMachines come in to automatically measure some of the things you measured manually:

Monitor actual machine uptime and downtime
Track job progress in real time
Identify setups or shifts with higher performance
See where machines are waiting, and why

This turns improvement from a monthly task into a daily habit.

6. Empower Your Team to Act on Data

The best ideas usually come from the shop floor. But your team needs data to back them up—and a way to see what’s working.

With live data and historical trends, operators and engineers can:

Prove where changes are needed
Track the results of new tooling or fixturing
Build a case for investment

It turns improvement into something measurable, not just gut feel.

Start small. Fix your job instructions. Track your setup times. Get quoting accurate. Then bring in monitoring, live dashboards, and feedback loops.

The shops that improve the most don’t wait for the perfect time. They just keep getting better—one step at a time.

Why OEE might not be the right metric for CNC productivity

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 23:45:00 GMT

OEE (Definition) is a measure touted by a lot of manufacturing management experts. It supposedly combines three metrics into one single measure that represents your shop’s productivity. Like many simplifications however, this doesn’t fully capture the major differences between manufacturing methods. What works for a bottle-making facility won’t work for a CNC machine shop.

What is OEE?

First let’s find out exactly how OEE is calculated:

OEE = Availability * Performance * Quality

Where

Availability = Actual uptime / Planned uptime
Performance = Actual cycle time / Ideal cycle time
Quality = Good parts / Total parts

Availability is really easy to calculate, either by hand or with machine monitoring. We even show it pride of place in our TrackMyMachines dashboard:

Quality is, again, easy to calculate. Once you’ve inspected your parts, you know the proportion that are good. There’s other statistical techniques if you’ve got a large and only want to inspect a certain subset of them.

Performance however is tricky, what’s the best possible cycle time for a given part? It’s as low as possible - right? Well if your only limiting factor is your cycle time, then it must be. But no machine shop only optimises for cycle time because there’s not always someone available all the time to changeover a part. Sometimes if a machine has a longer cycle time, you can save on tool wear, and an operator can run more machines.

It’s a little more complicated than just reducing cycle times.

What is an “ideal” cycle time anyway? If you’ve got a new part or manufacturing process there’s no way to know how long it’s going to take. The job of estimating this cycle time is often left to an extremely experienced individual, whose best guess might still be out by a factor of 2 or more. So the Performance portion of OEE isn’t realistically possible to calculate in many cases.

There’s another point here as well, if you’ve got a long running part that you set in the evening and leave to run overnight, you’re getting “free productivity” whether or not you optimise its cycle time.

It’s these 3 factors that, in my mind, make the Performance measure not only misleading but incorrect however it’s calculated. If this measure is wrong, then that affects 1/3 of your OEE calculation. I would suggest that trying to make improvements using a measure that’s 1/3 wrong is probably the wrong approach.

Where did OEE come from?

It’s obvious that focussing on an OEE measure doesn’t capture any of this operational complexity. That’s probably because its origins were in specialised plants with assembly lines. Factories that make products like bottles, pharmaceuticals or cars. These kinds of factories make much larger volumes predictably. CNC machine shops are in some sense the opposite, especially the shops who take different work in every day in small batches.

Take a more nuanced approach

Instead, a less rigid approach is needed that takes into account the business’s needs and its engineering capabilities. Rather than just observing a simplistic metric, try to follow the thread from [machine uptime][machine_up] on a certain part, to how much profit that part produced.

It’s the closing of the loop between expected machining time and actual machining time that’s going to supercharge your growth as a business.

Although this investigative work by hand is certainly possible, but can be really time-consuming. A automated machine monitoring system makes this information transparent and easy to build a clear picture of what’s happening on your shop floor.

If you’re interested in improving your machine shop productivity, get in touch with me by clicking the “Request a demo” button below, or send me an email at rowan@trackmymachines.com.

The Hidden Cost of Long Lead Times on Your Shop Floor

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 17:30:00 GMT

Long lead times aren’t just an inconvenience—they’re a red flag. They point to underutilised equipment, inefficient processes, and missed opportunities. If your production schedule depends on who’s available rather than what’s possible, it’s time to rethink how your shop floor works.

Lights-out manufacturing means your machines keep producing after the last person clocks out. It means turning evenings, weekends, and downtime into throughput—without hiring more people or working longer hours. And it might be the easiest way to cut lead times without cutting corners.

Lead Times: More Than Just a Number

Lead time is simple: it’s the span from when a customer places an order to when they get their parts.

Short lead times are preferred by almost everyone in the business and outside it, from your accountants to your customers. The earlier an order can be invoiced, the better.

But long lead times have complex effects. They slow down cashflow, frustrate returning customers, and can cost you the next order. Buyers are increasingly choosing suppliers who deliver quickly—and reliably. If your delivery is two weeks slower than the next shop’s, your quote might not even get read.

The Real Cost of Sticking to Day Shift-Only Work

If your shop’s only productive 8 hours a day when someone’s attending it, you’re using a third of your available capacity. That’s a problem.

Especially as UK labour costs climb, every minute of your engineering team’s time counts more than ever.

Most machines sit idle through:

Evenings and weekends
Lunch breaks and shift changeovers
Setups and first-article inspections
Delays while waiting for someone to notice and fix a problem

You paid for 24/7-capable machines. Why only use them a third of the time?

Compare a shop running 8 hours a day to one running 16+ via automation. Same headcount. Same machines. Double the throughput. That’s how you reduce lead times without buying a single new spindle.

Long-runners vs short-runners

Even without automated machinery that can change a component, if you’ve got long and short-running operations you can leave machines running after the end of the day for the rest of the cycle. Some engineers might balk at the idea of leaving a titanium roughing operation unattended, but how many of your jobs are actually simple finishing operations that don’t have a high risk of tool breakage?

One option is to rough components on the day-shift, then leave the long-running finishing operations to run overnight. Reducing the risk of a tool breakage.

What’s Slowing You Down?

Here’s what often gets in the way:

No smart planning of operations during a day
Long cycles that eat into shift hours
Long setup times resulting from difficult workholding and tooling changeovers
Operators reacting to problems instead of preventing them

All of these add up to machines sitting still when they could be making parts.

Using Monitoring and Automation to Shrink Lead Times

Automation

Your CNC machines are already automated. Once you hit cycle start, they don’t need help—until they do. The challenge is reducing the number of times they stop unexpectedly.

Start with your biggest sources of downtime. If you’re constantly changing over work, ask why. Is it because you’ve got the wrong person-machine ratio? Or because your fixtures aren’t repeatable enough? Solving these is a faster way to improve throughput than quoting for a new 5-axis.

Not every job is suited for full lights-out machining, but plenty of operations are. A simple finishing pass, a facing cut, or a long bore—these are exactly the kinds of cycles that could be running at 3am.

And it doesn’t take full automation to get started. Just make sure your existing machines are doing something when the lights go out.

Monitoring

Monitoring gives you the confidence to run lights-out—and the visibility to know what’s going wrong when it doesn’t work.

With machine monitoring you can:

Track expected vs real button-to-button time, live
Watch your changeovers reduce over time as your team gets better
See when setups overrun or jobs stall
Schedule smarter based on when your machines are actually free
Get real-time alerts when a machine stops
Let operators see how their shift compares to the last one

Most shops are still estimating utilisation. If you’re measuring it, you’re ahead. If you’re improving it, you’re winning.

When you can see the downtime reasons, you can fix them. When you can measure uptime shift-by-shift, you can schedule with intent. When you can spot the long-runners, you can choose the right jobs for overnight.

Running overnight shouldn’t feel risky. With the right data, it feels obvious.

Conclusion: Stop Limiting Your Throughput

If your machines only make parts when someone’s there to watch them, you’re voluntarily increasing your lead times.

Stop guessing. Start measuring. Your machines could be making parts right now—even if nobody’s there.

How Gardner Denver gained £5,000 of extra machine capacity

Rowan Easter-Robinson — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 02:00:00 GMT

At TrackMyMachines, we love seeing our platform drive real operational change. That’s why we’re proud to share how our long-time customer, Gardner Denver, used a single insight from TrackMyMachines to make a small adjustment — and reclaim over £5,000 in machine capacity savings in just six months.

The Challenge

When you’re handling large, heavy components, material movement becomes a necessary part of the process. However, it’s easy to underestimate how much time it can consume. After TrackMyMachines revealed a spike in material handling hours, the team at Gardner Denver, part of Ingersoll Rand Compressor Systems & Services, began investigating the root cause. With help from us they uncovered the truth: in the first six months of 2025, they had spent 130 hours moving materials across the shop floor. In many cases, skilled machine operators were responsible for these tasks, which directly pulled them away from production.

Before implementing real-time monitoring, the team had no clear way of identifying the issue. Once they had the data, though, the story changed. TrackMyMachines gave them the insight they needed to drive a fast, practical solution.

The Solution: Data Visibility Sparks Action

Gardner Denver used TrackMyMachines to monitor fork truck usage and track activity across their operations. As a result, they quickly discovered that production delays stemmed less from machine performance and more from the way materials were handled. To solve this, the team acted quickly and implemented two key changes:

They certified additional staff to operate lifting and handling equipment
They reassigned material movement duties, freeing machine operators to focus on machining

Consequently, the results came quickly. Fork truck time dropped from 130 hours over six months to just 7 hours in a single month — a dramatic improvement.

The Result: £5,000 in Machine Capacity Savings

These small operational changes led to major gains:

Machining time increased, allowing skilled staff to stay focused on production
£5,000 in reclaimed machine capacity was projected over just six months
The annual ROI was secured, as the savings outweighed the cost of the TrackMyMachines subscription
Furthermore, the changes were simple to implement, low-cost, and caused no disruption

More importantly, this wasn’t just about numbers on a spreadsheet. It was about making time visible — and giving the team the clarity they needed to act confidently.

We made a small change based on the data from TrackMyMachines, and now it's giving us extra machine time every month.

Why It Works

As Rowan Easter of TrackMyMachines puts it:

At TrackMyMachines, we believe that visibility drives better decision-making. Once people understand where time is being lost, and how much it’s costing them, the motivation to act becomes immediate.

Looking Ahead

This success story is just one of many. Across the manufacturing sector, we continue to help businesses uncover inefficiencies, improve productivity, and make better use of their people and equipment. If you’re ready to see where your time is really going, get in touch to book a live demo. We’ll show you how simple data visibility can unlock your next big improvement.