An older machinist shows a young apprentice how he works a part at the bench

For job shops that run on experience

Setup notes and know-how live in people's heads

The CNC setup sheet covers the basics. The person who ran the job last knows the rest: the offsets that work, the fixture that holds, the feature that always needs a second look. When they're out, or they retire, that know-how goes with them.

Book a call about shop know-how

Sound familiar?

A lot of what your shop knows is still tribal, or buried in a folder on the network that nobody opens.
A repeat job runs slow because the person who set it up last time is on vacation.
New hires learn by following someone around, and that someone is busy.
Your best machinist is getting close to retirement, and very little of what they know is written down.

What it costs you

Repeat jobs take longer than they should, because each setup starts from memory.
Scrap and rework come back on parts you figured out once already.
Your experienced people spend their day answering questions instead of running parts.
When someone leaves, years of learning walk out the door with them.

Why it keeps happening

Writing things down feels slower than just doing the job, so it waits.
What notes there are sit scattered across binders, marked-up prints, program comments and phone photos.
Keeping setup notes current isn't part of anyone's job.
The people who know the work best have the least time to explain it.

Common questions

What is tribal knowledge in a machine shop?

It's the know-how that isn't written down anywhere: how a job really gets set up, which fixture holds best, what to watch on a tricky feature. It lives with the people who've done the work.

Don't setup sheets take care of this?

They help when they're current and complete. In a busy shop they fall behind, and the details that matter stay with the person who ran the job.

What happens when a key person retires?

Whatever they never wrote down leaves with them. Repeat jobs get slower, and the next person learns the hard way what the last one already knew.

What exactly do you build?

It depends on how you work today; we figure that out on the call.

Tell me who your shop can't run without

A lot of the effort here is busywork, and that kind of work can now come off your people's plates. Every shop runs differently, so the fix gets shaped around yours.

The call is with me, Kevin Kirchner. Tell me which jobs only one person in your shop can set up.

Book a call about setup know-how