Last year we enhanced the algorithm that is used to generate G-Code for our CNC drill after customers upload their requirements to our Drilling Service. Previously, we just drilled holes for test probes in the order that they appeared in the uploaded files. But for some fixtures that order was far from optimum and the drill spent much of its time on travel moves.

Re-arranging the order to minimise the travel time is an example of the travelling salesman problem, and is NP-hard. There are a number of sophisticated approaches to tackling this problem, but we found that a straightforward nearest-neighbour algorithm produced a significant reduction in machining times in the vast majority of cases.

Since deploying this update our machining times have reduced, helping us to achieve our goal of same day shipping on most fixtures.