Hardware Podcasts

Adaptive Over Aggressive: Redefining Lights-Out Manufacturing with Camoren Schley, Ep #25

Lights Out · 26 Sept 2025 · 54m · Episode 25

What this episode covers

Camoren Schley, founder of Slytek, explains how adaptive control and process monitoring enable small to mid-size machine shops to run unattended 'lights-out' operations by mimicking expert machinists in real-time. He details a case study where Slytek’s Tool Optimization System (TOS) solved chronic tool breakage on aerospace parts by using high-fidelity spindle load sensors to trigger macro interrupts and swap tools automatically. Schley emphasizes that true lights-out manufacturing requires measuring peripheral factors like coolant concentration and chip management, not just spindle utilization, to avoid the 'automation trap' of vanity metrics.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Slytek, Hennick, ICS, Cloud NC, Fanuc, General Motors, Caterpillar, Smith and Wesson, Alfred Manufacturing, Ponderosa
Tools
ProShop ERP, Riverside
Also
CSU, Machine Shop Mastery, Making Chips, Lights Out

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