Our shop went from scrapping 15 parts a week to maybe 2 after we started using a $40 dial test indicator for every single tool touch-off.

Has anyone else found that one simple, cheap tool completely changed your scrap rate?

3 comments

3 Comments

That's a huge improvement, but calling a dial test indicator a "simple, cheap tool" is selling it short. It's a precision measuring instrument. The real change is forcing a consistent, repeatable process instead of eyeballing it. A cheap caliper is simple. That indicator gives you hard data, and data beats a guess every single time.

nora11015d ago

Exactly! It's like when you start actually using a kitchen scale instead of just guessing cups of flour. That one tool forces you into a better habit that fixes a ton of small errors you didn't even see before. The right tool just makes the right way to do things the easiest way.

bettyroberts15d ago

But where do you draw the line? @leo_fisher is right that it's about the data, but a kitchen scale is also a precision tool in its own way. Is it just that the dial indicator gives you MORE specific data, down to the thousandth, that changes the whole game? That tiny number forces a new level of care.