Crucial CNC Trends to Watch in 2024!

Only a month to go until we say goodbye to the first half of 2024! Curious about what the rest of the year has in store for New Zealand’s CNC environment? Big things are happening behind the scenes, so let’s break down the top five most important industry trends to help you stay ahead of the curve. 

Automation and Robotics

We’ve always been headed this way, but with rising labour costs and a shortage of skilled workers, workshops are turning to automation to fill the gaps. Manufacturing is evolving faster than anticipated, and is increasingly seen as a high tech career choice. It is crucial for companies to stay ahead of these changes if they want to attract and retain skilled workers. 

Have a look at some of the interesting new machines about to take the world by storm on our LinkedIn!

Sustainable Practices

Growing environmental concerns are particularly relevant for New Zealand. Decades of concerted efforts have made us an environmental world leader, and keeping it that way requires sustainable industrial practices. For the industries of CNC, the key points are a  reduction of emissions, use of sustainably sourced materials, and the reduction and safe disposal of waste products. Understanding and adopting regulations before they are enforced will keep your business running smoothly. 

Integration of Additive Manufacturing 

3D printing has quietly become one of the fastest growing and most competitive manufacturing markets. Many still see it purely as a prototyping tool, but the world’s top manufacturers are now combining 3D printing with CNC to create complex and customized parts. New Zealand will shortly follow, and integrating it into your manufacturing process early will enable your business to take full advantage of the untapped market when it gets here. 

Smart factories

We’ve talked before about industry 4.0, but the first stage is already here. Workshops are combining CNC machines with IoT sensors and data analytics over factory wide computer networks to provide real-time feedback and control. This dramatically reduces machine downtime and errors, while only requiring a small team of skilled staff. Many large workshops have already adopted this, but it’s becoming increasingly common in smaller ones too, and is now ready for integration into New Zealand. 

We Dive into this in more detail in our article: Industry 4.0.

Adapting to Economic Pressures 

As rent, workers, and materials become more expensive, workshops are focusing on high-mix, low-volume production to stay competitive. This shift requires more adaptable technology and manufacturing processes than a traditional high output production line. Adopting the skills and machinery required to run this sort of production needs to happen before rising costs make the switch impossible. 

You can see how some of our business partners have made the transition in our Case Studies.

Stay tuned as we delve deeper into each of these trends in our upcoming posts!