Chris Gilmore is a robotic welding and fabrication solutions specialist at Capital Machine. With extensive experience in weld cost analysis, process validation, and automation readiness assessments, Chris helps manufacturers strengthen upstream fabrication processes before investing in robotics — ensuring automation delivers measurable, long-term value.
A plant tour can reveal a lot.
During a recent visit to a customer that manufactures farm implements and skid steer attachments, I was walking the shop floor with the owner when he pointed out a bottleneck near their plasma cutting operation.
The issue was familiar to many fabrication shops: plasma cutting can leave slag on the underside of steel parts. Before those parts could move to the e-coat line, someone had to clean them.
In this case, that “someone” was a team of five to six people working two 10-hour shifts, four days a week.
A New Machine Caught My Attention
I remembered that Timesavers had been developing a new machine specifically designed to deslag steel parts.
The machine combined a grinding belt on the back with a rolling pin on the front fitted with pins designed to remove slag from the parts.
I mentioned it to the customer, and he wanted to learn more.
At the time, this was the first machine Timesavers had sold in North America.
That made the installation particularly interesting. After the purchase order was signed, the Timesavers regional team came in with the machine to help install it and make sure everything was running properly.
Then the Numbers Started to Change
A few weeks later, the customer shared the results.
The operation had gone from:
5–6 people to 1–2 people
Two 10-hour shifts to one
Four days a week in both cases
The labor savings were significant. But the customer noticed another benefit: the parts coming through the machine were more consistent and better prepared for e-coating.
The machine was doing more than reducing the number of people needed for a repetitive task. It was creating a more consistent finishing process.
What Happened Next
The customer was happy enough with the results to allow Timesavers to use the machine in a marketing campaign.
Because this was the first Timesavers machine of its kind sold in North America, the installation also gave the manufacturer an opportunity to collect valuable feedback and production data.
That information helped Timesavers continue developing the technology and establish deslagging as a standard application for the product line.
Look Beyond the Bottleneck
This customer didn’t come to us looking for a slag grinder.
They had a production problem.
The opportunity came from walking the floor, understanding how parts moved through the operation, and identifying where labor and time were being consumed.
That’s often where equipment decisions become most valuable. The right machine can do more than replace a manual task. It can change how the work moves through the shop.
In this case, it meant fewer people dedicated to deslagging, one production shift instead of two, and more consistent parts ready for e-coating.
For manufacturers looking to improve throughput or reduce the labor tied to repetitive finishing work, it’s worth taking a closer look at what happens between cutting and the next stage of production.