Expanding on my previous post talking about using Kaizen in machining, I'd like to give an in-the-field example of what that would look like.
For this truck project, I've pretty much got the entire operation completed and checked; however, there is a lot of wasted time and efficiency in machine movements and incorrect speeds and feeds that could be improved on. It works, and changing it won't get a different outcome, but the program run time would be reduced and increased tool life.
My process consists of a bunch of small immediate improvements to the toolpaths as the program is running. For this project specifically, many mirrored toolpaths run on each side of the truck, making it especially easy to make fixes as I can run through one side, make changes, and run through the other with the improvements. I'll have my laptop right in front of the machine in which I can do the quick edits while the operation is running, then pause the mill, and upload the new file. Making these improvements immediately allows me to get feedback on how I'm doing. If I were to put it off, I would risk forgetting the change or not applying it to all the toolpaths.
For the instance of roughing this part out, I found a lot of wasted time when the tool ramped down into the material that I missed in the simulation. So while it was running through one of the toolpaths, I made the change and continued watching it run to see if I could spot any other areas I could improve on. The key is not stopping the machine every time; it's only pausing it between toolpaths after they finish so that you still get the same outcome.