ITC tools take centre stage at Signcraft

Located north of Stockholm in Taby, Signcraft AB is a sign manufacturer that is celebrating its 30th year in business. The Swedish business offers a comprehensive service that ranges from company signage and displays, through to 3D scanning and vehicle decoration. For 20 years, the company has been purchasing its cutting tools from Industrial Tooling Corporation (ITC).

Recently, the company manufactured 3.4 m high stage prop ‘hands’ for the Swedish version of ‘The Voice’ TV programme. On this occasion, Signcraft AB applied a 20 mm diameter ball nose tools from ITC to cut more than 20 m3 of Styrofoam.

“We use a lot of ITC’s LG series single-flute tools for machining our plastic materials, and the STA series for machining aluminium or similar metals,” says company founder Henry Barker. “On occasions, we also use special ITC tools for machining stainless steel or other challenging materials.”

In Sweden, the government has committed a percentage of its budget for infrastructure and new buildings to creating art. One artist with a commission for a project to create sculptures for highway roundabouts approached Signcraft AB to manufacture ‘Selectric Typeballs’ from 1970’s typewriters. Standing at 2.5 m high, the spherical Selectric Typeballs was constructed from 22 cast aluminium sections measuring 1 m x 750 mm. The respective aluminium sheets were cast in a foundry, with Signcraft making the mould tools from high-density polyurethane sheets. The 3D forms were rough-machined on the company’s Kimla CNC routing machine with a 20 mm diameter ball-nose LG series tool from ITC, while finishing operations took place using a 6 mm diameter ball-nose LG series tool.

“We’ve found that the quality, tool life, quality and performance of ITC cutting tools is outstanding,” concludes Barker.

For further information
www.itc-ltd.co.uk

Comez adopts planning software

Comez International, a specialist in crochet warp knitting machinery technology, is using Dassault Systèmes’ digital planning and scheduling solutions to improve its production efficiency and competitiveness. Comez deployed Delmia Ortems applications to digitalise its manufacturing planning and improve the measurability, predictability and continuity of production processes.

With real-time data updates in a collaborative digital environment, Comez has a global view of all production elements, including machine tools, work orders, set-up and working hours. The company can quickly make decisions regarding the allocation and distribution of resources to fulfil orders and meet deadlines and product lead times, while reducing repetition and wasted time.

Since deploying Delmia Ortems applications, Comez has reduced forecast errors by 30%, production delays by 27% and set-up times by 20%, as well as increased production by 8%.

“We needed to become more efficient, effective and offer reliable and practical management planning,” says Paolo Malnati, general manager at Comez International. “We found the ideal partner in Dassault Systèmes, and their Delmia Ortems applications have helped immensely. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we had an unexpected and extremely important need: to double production for our mask-making machines. We had to quickly convert our production equipment to produce double the quantity in a very short amount of time. Without Delmia Ortems, this planning would not have been possible.”

Philippe Bartissol, vice president – industrial equipment industry, at Dassault Systèmes, adds: “Comez is able to meet the needs of its customers and boost its competitiveness by using Delmia Ortems to increase management capacity, strategic collaboration, productivity, visibility and agility.”

For further information
www.3ds.com

Hypertherm releases ProNest 2023

Hypertherm has announced a major version update to ProNest 2023, the company’s advanced CADCAM nesting software for automated profiling. The release contains a collection of new features and ongoing enhancements designed to help customers improve their operational efficiency while reducing non-value-added tasks.

ProNest 2023 includes full functionality for PlateSaver, a SureCut technology that combines the arc stability of X-Definition plasma with specialised software parameters to increase material utilisation when cutting mild steel. In addition, the latest ProNest contains enhancements to Production Manager, a web-based module that seamlessly integrates with Hypertherm’s Edge Connect CNC to capture real-time machine data automatically.

Further improvements include the ability to edit production times for completed nests, set job status changes and search for nests by customer. There is also a feature that merges XPR set-ups. The software will now automatically detect and merge changes made to the process parameters or bevel spreadsheets into a new set-up during installation. Customers can choose to use their existing customisations or the latest factory cut charts.

Finally, the software is even easier to use. Changes to the user interface include a new welcome screen and customisable ribbon. The welcome screen contains an informative dashboard that highlights training videos, application tips and other valuable resources, while the ribbon allows users to add, remove and rearrange tabs. Customers can save different ribbon configurations and easily switch between them as needed, to best fit their workflow.

Tom Stillwell, product marketing manager – CADCAM software products, says: “Our software developers have focused on reducing the waste inherent in most cutting operations. Features like PlateSaver do this by maximising the number of parts on a plate so customers have to buy fewer plates and waste less metal.”

For further information
www.hypertherm.com

WaldrichSiegen perfects processes with Vericut

Machine tool manufacturer WaldrichSiegen is defined by two words: accuracy and performance. The company specialises in large machine tools and its customers are mainly manufacturers of heavy marine engines, crankshafts and turbine rotors, all of whom are increasingly demanding. That is why WaldrichSiegen has invested in future-oriented technologies such as Vericut simulation, G-code verification and optimisation software.

With the production simulation of NC data, WaldrichSiegen recreates the real machining situation with a “virtual processing machine on the desk”.
The company not only uses Vericut simulation software to streamline its own manufacturing processes, but that of its customers too. Indeed, the company wants to use digital transformation and its integral elements, such as the digital twin in Vericut, to develop new fields of activity and provide customers with real added value.

Timo Hees, application technician at WaldrichSiegen, says: “When a customer orders a machine we often carry out studies upstream so that we can determine and evaluate subsequent machining times at an early stage. It’s well thought out and well done: we simulate the customer’s machining in Vericut to demonstrate the cutting and process times for the parts, even before the actual machine is installed at the customer’s premises. This makes it possible to make valid business decisions at all levels. Vericut is an integral part of the project. The machine is then made available to the customer with the kinematics developed in collaboration and tested by WaldrichSiegen. This is the only way to guarantee that all functions can be performed appropriately, so that the customer can already perform their own simulation and check internally in Vericut if everything is in line with what they had planned.”

For further information
www.cgtech.co.uk

Data drives Technoset forward

Technoset, a subcontract precision engineering company based in Rugby, has entered a new phase following the expansion of its customer base into new markets with the modernisation and digitisation of its business. The company has centred its manufacturing operations around PSL Datatrack production control software since 1999 and invested in additional modules over the years as the business has grown or requirements changed. The most recent addition is dynamic status boards that deliver instructions to the shop floor and provide key management information.

For further information
www.psldatatrack.com