Fastems Systems GmbH

In aerospace and defence machining, processes are often already highly automated. Flexible manufacturing systems are widely used or planned. In principle, the machines are capable of running unattended.

In practice, however, this is where a typical limitation appears.

Machining itself runs reliably. But as soon as the system is expected to continue without operator intervention, the overall process begins to slow down or stop.

One common reason is the availability of prepared fixtures.

During staffed hours, this is rarely an issue. Finished parts are removed, new parts are set up, and production continues.

Without operators, this step is missing.

In many cases, there are simply not enough prepared fixtures available to keep the system running through an entire shift or over a weekend. At the same time, fixtures need to be freed up before new parts can be set up.

Adding more fixtures may seem like an obvious solution. In reality, this quickly becomes expensive, requires additional space, and does not address the underlying process limitation.

This is where the difference becomes clear between automated machining and truly continuous lights-out production.

For lights-out operation to work reliably, fixtures need to remain in circulation.

Finished parts must be removed and new raw parts loaded without manual intervention.

Especially in aerospace and defence, where parts are complex and machining times are long, every interruption directly impacts machine utilization and overall productivity.

Only when this cycle runs continuously does existing automation translate into stable and predictable lights-out runtime.

👉 How this process can be automated in practice will be shown by Fastems in an upcoming webinar:

• English session: April 16

• German session: April 28