Grinding Boot Camp

The Grinding Boot Camp is one week of intensive, company-focused grinding education. Attendees come out with an in-depth, practical understanding of grinding, with a focus on their company’s specific grinding operations.

Contact The Grinding Doc to schedule a Grinding Boot Camp.

For companies that want to achieve significant, long-term improvements in their production-grinding operations.

 

Overview: A one-week visit. Dr. Badger spends two days on the shop floor evaluating the company’s grinding operations and three days in the conference room educating attendees on grinding.

 

Company-specific education: This is the best choice for companies wanting to gain an in-depth understanding of grinding in general (grinding, dressing, cooling, burn, chatter, etc.), but also with an emphasis on applying this knowledge to the company’s specific grinding operations. The two days on the shop floor are of vital importance, as these findings are used during the classroom session, generating lively discussions among attendees about the company’s specific grinding issues.

 

Focus: Dr. Badger’s focus is not on providing consultation and recommendations, but rather on giving attendees the tools and knowledge to make their own evaluations and take control of their grinding operations.

 

Long-term results: This long-term education is supported by The Book of Grinding and The Grinder’s Toolbox. Most companies find that, even years after the Grinding Boot Camp, attendees are using these resources to continue to learn about grinding. In addition, Dr. Badger frequently hears back from attendees about the progress they are continuing to make, even years after the Grinding Boot Camp.

A long-term investment in your company’s grinding operations.

Schedule

Cost

FAQs

Long Term Resources

Testimonials

Schedule1

Day 1    Dr. Badger on machines2

Day 2    Dr. Badger on machines2

Day 3    Classroom education & group discussion3

Day 4    Classroom education & group discussion

Day 5    Classroom education & group discussion,

              creation of six-month company gameplan4

  1. Typically Monday through Friday; however, other scheduling is possible (for example: Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).
  2. The purpose of the two days on machines is for Dr. Badger to gain an understanding of your grinding operations and the issues your company is facing. Typically, one person guides Dr. Badger to three or four representative grinding operations, where he spends several hours on each operation asking detailed questions about speeds & feeds, wheel choice, issues, etc. This information is then used in the classroom discussion. Classroom attendees should not be present during these two days.
  3. Most companies choose to send between four and twenty people to the classroom session (maximum is 20). Dr. Badger asks companies to give serious thought to the number of attendees and the level of interest of potential attendees. It is good to have many people involved and learning to “speak the same language” in grinding. However, if there are too many attendees, the content may get diluted.
  4. At the end of the classroom session, Dr. Badger works with attendees in coming up with a long-term gameplan (typically over six months to one year), for gradually evaluating processes and implementing improvements.

Cost1,2

United States, Canada & Mexico

Europe & Australia

Asia, Africa & South America

 

 

$US 28250

€ 24750

contact The Grinding Doc3

  1. Flat cost. Dr. Badger pays his own travel and hotel.
  2. Includes one copy of The Book of Grinding and The Grinder’s Toolbox for each attendee who attends the classroom session, up to 20 attendees.
  3. Price varies by region. Contact The Grinding Doc to discuss.

Q: How many people should attend the classroom session?

Most companies choose to send between four and twenty people (maximum is 20). Dr. Badger asks companies to give serious thought to the number of attendees and the level of interest of potential attendees. It is good to have many people involved and learning to “speak the same language” in grinding. However, if there are too many attendees, the content may get diluted.

Q: Some people in our company speak English well, others don’t. Will this be a problem?

Dr. Badger has lived and worked around the world and speaks standard, easy-to-understand, international English. Hundreds of non-native English speakers have attended his grinding courses and lectures. Moreover, the classroom session has a very graphics-heavy emphasis – charts, graphs, figures, even cartoons – rather than a word-heavy emphasis. Therefore, even people with limited English typically gain a lot from the classroom session. In addition, attendees receive The Book of Grinding – which has an emphasis on graphics and visuals, rather than text. Attendees can study the book after the visit.

Q: May our company publicize the event?

Some companies choose to publicize the Grinding Boot Camp in their internal company newsletter. Others choose to keep their participation confidential. This decision is up to the company.

Q: Can you supply names of companies who have done the Grinding Boot Camp?

Many companies choose to keep their participation confidential. Therefore, The Grinding Doc does not publicize company names. However, here is a representative sampling of companies who have done the Grinding Boot Camp in the past five years: Bearing-manufacturer, Grinding Boot Camps in five of their production sites in the U.S., typically one per year • U.K. manufacturer of aerospace components • Large U.S. job-shop doing primarily creep-feed grinding for the aerospace industry • U.S. saw-blade manufacturer, HSS & carbide • Mexican company doing cylindrical grinding for the automobile industry • U.S. tool manufacturer – round tools and sawblades in HSS & carbide • Japanese automobile manufacturer – camshafts and crankshafts in hardened steel • Second visit to Japanese automobile manufacturer, focus on rotary components • Aerospace company in the Philippines • U.K. automobile transmission manufacturer • European grinding-machine manufacturer • European medical implant manufacturer • Swedish tool manufacturer • Chinese carbide-tool manufacturer • Swedish cutting-tool manufacturer, carbide, PCBN, PCD & cermets • Mexican grinding-wheel manufacturer • Spanish manufacturer of rotary components in hardened steel • Italian tool manufacturer • Australian tool manufacturer • Swedish gear manufacturer • U.S. tungsten-carbide round-tool manufacturer • U.S. aerospace company.

Q: Should we sent engineers, shop-floor personal, management, or all of the above?

Dr. Badger has seen that companies that send only one group (for example, just engineers but not machine operators) do not benefit as greatly as companies that send people from all areas. It is important that everybody in the company feels their contribution is respected and that engineers and machine operators are “speaking the same language.” Many companies, after doing the Grinding Boot Camp, continue to send new employees to the three-day High Intensity Grinding Course, so that they are familiar with the concepts and terminology as taught by The Grinding Doc.

Q: This is a major investment. Is it worth it?

Depending on the size of your company, you are probably spending millions of dollars a year in labor and hundreds of thousands of dollars in scrap and consumables (grinding wheels, dressing tools, etc.). Even a modest reduction of cycle times, scrap and grinding-wheel consumption will more than pay for the cost of the Grinding Boot Camp, not to mention better and quicker troubleshooting of grinding problems that cause machine down-time. What’s more, many companies achieve much more than modest reductions; and some achieve major reductions.

For smaller companies, a better option may be the High Intensity Grinding Course.

Q: Our company has major problems, including grinding. Will the Grinding Boot Camp help?

Dr. Badger has done the Grinding Boot Camp in numerous companies in many countries. He has seen that company culture matters greatly to the success of the visit. The Grinding Boot Camp is designed to help companies master their grinding operations. It cannot change or improve a dysfunctional company culture. In addition, Dr. Badger prefers doing the Grinding Boot Camp at companies where the push for the visit comes from within the company, particularly from the shop floor, rather than as a directive from a corporate office. Dr. Badger urges companies to consider these factors before investing in the Grinding Boot Camp.

The Grinding Boot Camp is one week long. However, for many attendees, the course is just the beginning of their grinding education. Each attendee receives The Book of Grinding. This practical, graphics-focused, electronic, 4000-page educational resource has been 20 years and 20,000 hours in the making. Many attendees use this material for years after the course. Attendees also receive The Grinder’s Toolbox, a program for calculating optimum grinding, dressing and cooling parameters.

“Completely changed our approach to grinding. Our shop-floor people are now using science and methodology, not trial & error.”

European aerospace-component manufacturer

“For years we had quality problems from an overseas supplier – grinding burn, tolerances, roundness. We then had them do a Grinding Boot Camp. Since then, we’ve had no issues with this supplier. We’re now planning on doing a Boot Camp for a supplier in Asia.”

Large American engine manufacturer

“Now, when an issue comes up, we turn to The Book of Grinding, discuss the situation, calculate fundamental parameters, sometimes using The Grinder’s Toolbox, sometimes not, and make a decision. And usually it works.”

Mexican company doing cylindrical grinding

“We had no idea how much we didn’t know.”

A general sentiment uttered by many companies and course attendees