Emergency Rework: Recovering a Surveying Instrument Base Plate Order Against the Clock

An emergency recovery job involving an aluminium base plate carrying tribrach threads and levelling feet: what went wrong at another source, how we planned the recovery in parallel, and how usable parts reached the customer line in time.

The call

The customer called because their existing stock of an aluminium base plate carrying tribrach threads and levelling feet had been rejected and a line stoppage was hours away.

There was no time to argue about blame, so the first action was to establish what could still be recovered and what had to be made new.

Assessment

Every rejected part was inspected to separate recoverable parts from scrap, and we confirmed that the drawing requirement, thread accuracy to 5/8-11 with mounting faces flat within 0.02 mm, was achievable in the time available.

We told the customer immediately which pieces could be saved, because a plan built on optimism fails later than one built on bad news.

Parallel planning

Programming, material preparation and fixture decisions ran simultaneously, with first parts cut while the inspection strategy was still being written.

Overtime was booked on both shifts before it was needed, since waiting to ask for it wastes the hours it was meant to buy.

Production

A dedicated machine was left set up for the duration, with an operator released from other work and a runner carrying parts between machining and inspection.

Parts were made in the sequence the customer needed rather than in the sequence that suited the machine.

Outcome

The first usable parts reached the customer within 12 working days and the balance followed to the agreed schedule.

We then ran a review with the customer so the failure does not repeat, which is the only part of this job that improves the next one.

Summary

What started as a single order became repeat business because the paperwork, the fixture and the inspection plan were all kept current.