At Reconext, we never stop looking for ways to optimize, even if business is already secured. If there’s any opportunity to push quality higher and recover more value, we’ll dig it up and build it into the program.
One example of this drive shows up in our work with a major camera manufacturer.
In this program, we’ve moved from a manual polishing step to a fully automated one, using a 3-axis robot that applies polishing material and executes the full polishing cycle without operator intervention. A controlled, standardized process removes variability from a step that once depended heavily on individual skill.
The Old Way: Manual Polishing
Under the previous process, an operator polished each camera screen by hand until it was free of scratches, applying as many passes as the piece required.
It worked, but it came with limits.
Every screen took anywhere from two to ten minutes to finish, and the final quality depended on the operator doing the work that day. One person could only run one unit at a time, and getting good resultsrequired highly trained staff. On top of that, manual polishing tended to use more material than necessary, and no two screens went through quite the same process.
The New Way: Automated Polishing
The automated process addresses each of those limits directly.
Quality holds steady on every unit, and because the robot runs largely on its own, a single operator can now oversee multiple machines at the same time.
It doesn’t require highly trained personnel to operate, keeps material use tightly controlled, and puts every part through an identical process from start to finish.
Processing time drops to about forty-five seconds per unit. On the rare occasion a pass doesn’t fully clear the streaks, the fix is simple: the piece just goes back through for another round.
Results That Speak for Themselves
| Metric | Manual | Automated | Change |
| Seconds per unit | 284 | 168 | −116 sec (41% faster) |
| Minutes per unit | 5 | 3 | −2 min (41% faster) |
| Units per hour | 13 | 21 | +8 units |
| Units per day | 114 | 193 | +79 units |
For our customer, the improvement translates directly into more consistent output, faster turnaround times and lower processing costs, without requiring their teams to compromise on quality.
Reach out to Reconext if you’re looking for a partner committed to implementing meaningful improvements that strengthen program performance long after launch.
