A pusher/sweeper system can significantly impact your chip-to-chip time between material sheets. In this post, Chuck Shive with Chips & Tips runs a time trial of the automated pusher/sweeper system against a manual offloading process and discusses the differences.

Comparing the automated pusher/sweeper system and the manual offloading process side by side, Chuck starts the timer after each machine has finished its cycle on sheet #1 and stops the timer when each machine begins processing sheet #2. This time trial does not compare cycle cut times but rather chip-to-chip time between sheets.
As predicted the pusher/sweeper takes the win with a 58-second chip-to-chip time. The manual offload ends with a 148-second chip-to-chip time.
The pusher/sweeper is faster and cleaner …
One of the major advantages that comes with the pusher/sweeper system is its offload table. This allows finished parts to be pushed off the machining bed onto the offload table, so a new sheet can be loaded. Additionally, the pusher/sweeper system cleans off the top and bottom of your finished parts as they traverse from the machining bed to the offload table.
During a manual offload, cleaning the dust off your table and parts adds significant time to the off-loading process and makes for a messy work area.
But what does that mean for you?
Let’s say you run 50 sheets of material per 8-hour shift. Between each of these sheets, you will be saving 89 seconds with a pusher/sweeper system. This means you’ll be saving 71 minutes each shift compared to a manual offloading system. That’s an extra hour plus of production every day which can add up to a significant return on your investment over time.
If you’re looking to increase your shop’s efficiency, contact us today about our automated pusher/sweeper option and other machine options that can be added to increase your productivity. Give our tooling department a call at: 704-508-7000, reach out via email: parts@cronsrud.com, or visit our tooling website: https://www.cronsrud.com/store/index.php
Or, if you’re struggling with any production issues and would like to see if we have a solution for you, please give C.R. Onsrud a call at: 704-508-7000 or reach out via email: info@cronsrud.com. We are happy to help you any way we can.





