AI-enhanced parts procurement paves the way for the future of manufacturing
A new paradigm in custom components is accelerating the American manufacturing revolution, saving customers both time and money.
By WP Creative Group
July 19, 2023
Manufacturing is at an inflection point as David Mackey, senior manager of design engineering at Central Engineering Automation Group, MasterBrand Cabinets LLC, will tell you. He’s witnessed an unprecedented transformation in his company’s approach to automation and machinery and seen a significant shift toward robotics and advanced analytics—all changes he welcomes.
Mackey recalls earlier days when his employees spent hours working on the tedious early stages of projects that left them unfulfilled and frustrated. “We’ve got a small shop of just four mechanical technicians,” he said. “If I’ve got them tied up doing machining work, they’re not doing assembly and final work, which is where I really need their skills and expertise.”
Enter MISUMI’s meviy. meviy is an advanced custom parts platform that revolutionizes the way parts are quoted, ordered and manufactured. Designers can upload 3D design files and have the parts they need manufactured and shipped within days. Already more than 100,000 meviy users globally have loaded over 10 million 3D models into the platform and meviy is the market share leader in Japan, the company’s homebase, for AI-enhanced custom parts manufacturing.
“Our parent company MISUMI is big on factory automation components,” said Jeffrey Trzaskus, associate director of meviy’s Industrial Digital Business Company. “We have this huge catalog of components. It’s 80 sextillion different configurable components, which is 80 with 21 zeros after it. Well, as it turns out, our 80 sextillion configurations weren’t enough for people. They wanted more customization, so we made meviy,” he explained the genesis of the custom parts procurement platform that eliminates the need for 2D drawings.
Brice Hiner, head of sales and marketing at meviy’s Industrial Digital Business Company, shares a real-world example of meviy in action: “If a company has a machine that needs a slight change in its parts, they can come to meviy and say, ‘Hey, I need this piece of metal to hold two pieces of metal together. I need it to be this height, this width, this size and it needs to be aluminum with a black oxide finish.’ meviy can tell them in two minutes if that’s possible and then manufacture it and have it to them in about 10 days.”
Simply put, meviy is a convenient automation tool that can elevate a company’s parts procurement workflow to Industry 4.0 standards.
What is Industry 4.0?
The term “Industry 4.0” encompasses the advancement of smarter processes in all industries due to increased digitization and connectivity. This progress involves the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and data in manufacturing to enhance and automate processes.
Adapting to these technologies might seem like a given, but the transition can be daunting for businesses, especially when they rely heavily on legacy processes. That’s why MISUMI focused on making meviy user-friendly, packing sophisticated technology into a simple interface to ease this transition rather than be an additional pain point at a high-stakes moment for manufacturing.
And MISUMI’s efforts are paying off. Since meviy’s launch in Japan, the platform has gained widespread acceptance and adoption by nearly every major Japanese automaker and production facility, according to Hiner, and boasts an impressive base of 85,000 users in Japan. meviy’s popularity has surged in the United States since its launch less than a year ago. In fact, MISUMI has recently had to double its American salesforce to keep up with demand.
Cutting costs, keeping quality
MasterBrand Cabinets’ procurement workflow has undergone a remarkable transformation with the implementation of meviy, says Mackey. The result? “We’ve seen quite a bit on cost savings,” he said. “When meviy first came out, I compared costs with local shops and meviy had them beat. They were probably at least half of what the local was.”
“When meviy first came out, I compared costs with local shops and meviy had them beat. They were probably at least half of what the local was.”
– David Mackey, MasterBrand Cabinets
Mackey insists craftsmanship is never sacrificed for price. “It’s extremely high-quality,” he said. Not only that, he added, “It’s just unreal what they do to package everything. They make sure the parts are not damaged in shipping.” And his experience is not unique. According to feedback from meviy customers, a whopping 93 percent of meviy customers expressed satisfaction with the quality of the product.
Quickness counts, you can quote them on it
Over 90 percent of meviy customers have shortened their design and procurement time thanks to meviy. Mackey concurs, saying meviy’s speed is unlike anything he’s seen before.
“If I take 10 parts and send them down to a machine shop, it’ll take them a week to get me a quote. With meviy, I have a quote within two minutes.”
– David Mackey, MasterBrand Cabinets
“I’ve got machine shops in my backyard that are not very busy sometimes and it still takes weeks to get components from them,” he explained. Specifically, the price quoting turnaround is what impresses him. “If I take 10 parts and send them down to a machine shop, it’ll take them a week to get me a quote. With meviy, I have a quote within two minutes.”
The platform eliminates the need for time-consuming processes like creating 2D drawings and manual back-and-forth interactions.
With meviy, obtaining a quote is as simple as uploading a 3D model to their secure servers. The platform then automatically dissects the design into distinct shape elements, identifies the manufacturing process for each shape, calculates the price and lead time and generates a price within a couple of minutes. All of this is possible directly from a browser, no additional software or trainings required. meviy is available round the clock, 365 days a year, ensuring convenience and accessibility at all times.
And if the design isn’t computing? “When we put a drawing into their system and it says it’s not a quotable design, you can pass off a quick email to meviy customer service and usually within an hour or two they’ll come back and say, ‘If you just change this little bit, it’ll be quotable.’” In contrast, Mackey highlighted that traditional suppliers often take weeks to provide a quote, and there have been instances where they couldn’t manufacture the requested part at all. That meant a long wait to be right back at square one.
And the time from placing an order to delivery? It usually takes 10 days, which Mackey calls “unbelievable.”
The global revolution in custom parts procurement is available now
For early adopters like Mackey, manufacturing’s future is already his reality. And more and more American businesses are joining his ranks.
According to Mackey, meviy presents a brilliant and cost-effective opportunity to optimize existing resources and staff allocation. He says leaving the “grunt work” to meviy allows his staff to work on the projects they enjoy, thereby increasing employee happiness and providing his company with a competitive edge. meviy is an effortless and accessible means of embracing the future of manufacturing and staying ahead in an ever-evolving industry—one custom part at a time.
Learn more about how meviy can save your business time and money.