Feather the Nest

New software and machine tools that automatically generate nests enabled this plant to eliminate a part-time nester and concentrate another employee on other work, since only 60 percent of his time is now dedicated to CAM-related tasks.

We are designers and manufacturers of sheet metal assembled solutions that were, prior to
a management buyout, formerly Midland Sheet Metal. Several years ago, our plan to purchase
a Pullmax P6000 FCP punch press with load/unload to integrate into our material handling
system led us to evaluate the market to find the most suitable CAM system to drive it.

Our previous CAM system did not have free form nesting and could not support the Pullmax,
so we evaluated several systems and chose JETCAM Expert Premium primarily because of the
way that the software handled the Pullmax part picker we could configure each part
to be unloaded to a specific location each time, rather than just allocating a single fixed
location for the part. No other system allowed us to do this.

Since JETCAM also has a close relationship with Pullmax, we felt confident they would be able to support all of the advanced features of our new machine. We installed eight licenses of the software in 1999 to laser cut, punch and fold 4 m long, along with free form high performance nesting and postprocessors to drive three LVD laser machines. We added an additional license several years later.

When the Pullmax punch press was installed in 2000, we purchased an additional postprocessor. Although the system ran well, after the management buyout we decided to re-evaluate the market
to ensure we were still getting the most out of our machines, because by then we replaced
those earlier LVD lasers with a new Bystronic Byspeed 3015. At that time, we had one full-time
person and a part-time staff member producing nests just for the laser.

After assessing other programming systems, we saw no reason to change. Then, later on, we
reviewed the JETCAM Remote Control Processing (RCP) module. We decided to evaluate it with
a view toward integrating this into our in-house bespoke MRP system. We initiated a trial
of RCP, which was ordered shortly afterwards, along with another license of Expert.

I was given a sample of what the input files should look like and also read through all the commands in the help file. Integration was easy. I made alterations to our system and had a working version by the end of the day of installation. We saw benefits right away. Nests were generated automatically from day one, meaning we no longer needed the part-time nester. Furthermore, the full-time staff member could now concentrate on other work since only 60% of his time was still dedicated to CAM-related tasks.

That’s not all. We now have the ability to quickly write RCP programs to automate simple tasks. For example, when we acquired the Bystronic laser we needed to amend the angle of rotation of 40,000 geometry files because of the width of the slats on the laser bed. I wrote a small script in RCP and ran it overnight, opening and updating each geometry file with the new settings.

Also, when we create nests we manually check them afterwards. Now we have a button created within MRP to rerun them, generate the NC code and report automatically through RCP. Since more of our CAD-to-CAM process is now automated, the support requirement has noticeably dropped. We subscribe to a software maintenance contract and have seen additional savings through updates and enhancements to the software.

We plan to further integrate our MRP with JETCAM and our existing CAD system to automatically provide JETCAM with material information, along with the CAD file, so that the process from
CAD-to-NC is completely automated. The RCP upgrade paid for itself in under a year due to our manpower savings alone. Our nesting efficiency has improved and the speed at which we can now automate functions has helped us realize other hidden benefits.

Pete Jones is the IT manager at Central Metal Manufacturing, Ltd., Leeside, Merry Lees Industrial Estate, Desford, Leicestershire LE9 9FS, 01530 230833, Fax: 01530 230302, [email protected],
www.cmm-ltd.co.uk.

JETCAM International, Terrasses du Port, 2 Avenue des Ligures MC98000, Monaco, +44 870 760
6469, [email protected], www.jetcam.com.