How far can CNC machining actually be automated?
We’ve been working on a CNC projects for a while now, including some titanium fasteners that we’ve been machining.
But I’ve started noticing a new wave of machining shops and technologies in Europe where more and more of the process can be fully automated — loading, machining, inspection, even running multiple machines with very little human input.
It got me thinking about where this leaves the industry.
On one hand, automation obviously makes production faster, more consistent and potentially much cheaper. But if you can produce the same part with significantly fewer people involved, does that eventually drive machining prices down to the point where traditional shops struggle to compete?
And what happens to the skilled machinists themselves? Does the industry shift towards fewer people with much more technical/engineering responsibility, while the actual production becomes increasingly robotic?
Interested to hear what people working in CNC/machining think about where this is heading.