Mechanical hazards are always present within the manufacturing environment and in places of mechanical operation. These hazards pop up in any place where bits, blades and presses are in use. With so many potential dangers within the production environment, there are few things as important to a manufacturer as coming up with and maintaining continuous and repeatable safety measures. Better processes used correctly safeguard employees and the machinery they operate.
Avoid Work Stoppages
Despite instituting a host of safety precautions, including the use of safety guards, there can be still be regular safety concerns in manufacturing. These concerns come in the form of burrs on metal and some plastic products. Burrs show up as a thin ridge or area of roughness that occur through the act of cutting and/or shaping during the production process. Although small in nature, burrs can be the cause of stoppages in the production line and safety hazard to employees in the form of workplace injuries like, cuts, bruises, both minor and major.
As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that is certainly true when it comes to the practice of deburring. Any accident or injury can result in lost time and money. In the bigger picture, accidents add costs in the form of increases in company health benefits costs, product recalls and a need for redesign in some cases. One simple way companies can avoid these issues is a consistent investment in deburring processes. Throughout the manufacturing process, deburring can be a way to keep employees safe through the production of consistent, smooth, clean edges on machinery and parts.
Deburring for Safety
Deburring’s effectiveness relates to the strength of metal, making a consistent finishing process necessary. Soft and easily moldable metals have a higher tendency to burr while hard metals like cast iron are less likely to burr. Because burring projections can be difficult to see with the naked eye, it’s always a good policy to deburr whether the piece looks like it needs it or not. Even the smallest burr can carry the potential to hurt an employee through a cut or damage machinery through jamming, electrical short circuiting or burn out, cut wires and/or fractured edges.
Burrs that are not eliminated through deburring can also cause an increase in friction. Friction occurs when small pieces break off and end up inside of machinery, causing an additional safety issue and a potentially costly fix. If small pieces go unnoticed, there’s a related possibility of the machine in question could overheat without notice.
Deburring provides manufacturers with a safe, flexible and efficient system that keeps workers and equipment safe. Considered the so-called last step of the manufacturing process, deburring can also increase productivity and make the maintenance of parts and machinery easier while eliminating downtime from injuries and slowdowns on the line.
Cost-Effective Deburring
The Cleveland Deburring Machine Company (CDMC) offers reliable, consistent and repeatable deburring processes in a range of cost-effective deburring solutions. Our deburring offerings suit high-volume, repeatable processes for flexible, easy solutions. Learn why CDMC is the last word on the last step in the manufacturing process.
