Scope
The manufacturing industry has faced ongoing challenges in finding and keeping skilled workers. As experienced employees approach retirement and more production has moved overseas over the years, many machine shops struggle to maintain the workforce needed to meet demand.
The CAM Factory was created to address this gap. By providing ready-to-use CNC programs, it helps small and mid-sized machine shops keep up with their workload without needing to hire a full-time programmer. This gives shops more flexibility while still allowing them to deliver high-quality results to their customers.
As a Contract CNC Programmer with The CAM Factory, I supported shops across the United States by developing production-ready programs using Fusion 360. Because this work was done remotely, success depended on more than just programming—it required clear communication, detailed documentation, and careful organization to ensure each program could run smoothly on the shop floor without in-person support.
This experience strengthened my ability to understand both the technical and operational needs of manufacturing businesses, and to deliver solutions that are reliable, efficient, and easy for others to implement.
CAM Programming
Analyze engineering drawings to develop optimized fixturing and machining strategies that minimize setup count while maintaining required tolerances.
Design toolpaths for complex components, specify non-standard tooling when required, and maintain structured Fusion 360 tool libraries to ensure consistency and repeatability across customer programs.
Quality/Documentation Process
Perform full simulation of all operations to eliminate collisions, missed features, and process risks prior to release.
Provide comprehensive documentation outlining tooling, fixturing requirements, and process assumptions to ensure first-pass success in customer shops.
Summary
This role has strengthened my expertise in manufacturing process development, tooling strategy, and risk mitigation. Working across diverse customer environments has required adaptable, systems-level thinking to ensure reliable, production-ready CAM delivery.