Bracket fixtures that return

Repeat work deserves a fixture

Brackets, gussets and base plates come back in the same shapes month after month. If every repeat means measuring and clamping from scratch, the setup takes longer than the cut. A simple fixture built once, with datum pins and soft jaws, turns a forty-minute setup into five.

Make it come back the same

Photograph the fixture with the part in it. Label the pins and pockets with the job number. Store the photo, the cut file and the clamp positions together. When the order returns, the operator follows the photo instead of memory.

Seasonal orders

Farm and mining support shops often see the same bracket order every winter or before planting. A fixture that lives in a labelled box from one season to the next pays for itself the first time it returns.

The slip we see most

Building a beautiful fixture and then not labelling it, so it sits in a corner nobody recognises.

How you know it is working

A repeat order goes from email to first part in minutes, with the fixture photo on the bench.

Written by Andile Khumalo, Managing Director. Andile started CNCPME after years setting up router cells for small sign and furniture shops on the East Rand.