In the world of precision manufacturing, time is money — especially when it comes to CNC programming. For MSP Manufacturing, a company serving the aerospace and defense sectors, finding experienced programmers had become a critical challenge. But in mid-2024, they discovered a game-changer: CAM Assist, the AI-powered programming engine from CloudNC.
And the results speak for themselves:
A programming task that used to take 2 hours now takes just 27 minutes.
The Bottleneck: Skilled Programmers in Short Supply
Johnny Goody, President of MSP Manufacturing, explained that one of the company’s biggest pain points was a lack of skilled CAM programmers in their geographic region.
“Programming was a bottleneck for us. There just weren’t many people we could hire locally.”
MSP handles a wide range of parts — including instrument cases, clamps, switch cards, cooling ducts, and more — and much of the work is build-to-print, tailored to customer specifications. Each job required significant programming time before it could go to the machine.
The Solution: AI-Powered CAM
In July 2024, MSP integrated CAM Assist into their workflow. The results were immediate and measurable:
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CAM Assist handled 70–90% of the programming workload
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Programming time dropped from 90–120 minutes to just 27 minutes
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Engineers simply reviewed, fine-tuned, and certified the toolpaths before production
“Multiply that time savings across 10+ parts a day, and it’s easy to see how the ROI adds up fast,” said Goody.
Financial Impact: Higher Throughput, Lower Overhead
CAM Assist has helped MSP avoid the need to hire more staff, which directly reduces overhead — a critical cost component in their shop, where overhead accounts for nearly two-thirds of total costs.
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No need for new hires
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Same team, more output
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Consistent pricing, higher profit margins
“We’ve been able to keep our pricing steady while increasing profit margins on every job.”
Beyond the Shop Floor: Unlocking Leadership Bandwidth
Goody also noted a personal benefit: CAM Assist has taken over much of the routine programming work he used to manage, allowing him to focus on business development and customer relationships.
“It can do a lot of what I used to do. Now I can travel more, meet customers, and grow the business.”
