FEATURE ON CNC & CAM

Sheet metal factories ready for change

Lantek found that manufacturers in the sheet metal industry were ready to integrate all their production and business systems at the recent MACH 2024 exhibition in Birmingham. By demonstrating its Lantek Expert software, which is capable of nesting and programming parts for hundreds of makes and models of cutting machines, visitors could see how to increase business efficiency and reduce workloads by automating and integrating their operating systems.

Commercial director Adam Ball says: “Sheet metal is a niche industry and, at Lantek, we’ve been working and developing solutions in this sector for more than 35 years. Over 32,000 companies use Lantek to drive their sheet metal machinery and many of them already depend entirely on Lantek software to run every aspect of their business.”

Advances in how companies work can be introduced in stages, making it easy to implement Lantek’s technology gradually with the minimum disruption. By adding IQuoting, for example, companies can achieve consistent and highly accurate pricing in a few minutes. This takes the subjectivity out of the task as well as the tedious calculations involved and, when hundreds of quotes are necessary, saves many hours of work.

New at MACH, Lantek demonstrated machine connectivity. This capability enables real-time feedback from the workshop on the status of machines and parts, and the time taken during manufacture. Not only does this make it easy to find parts in production and check delivery date targets, it also keeps track of costs to make sure every component is profitable.

Lantek’s Integra software brings the whole system together, connecting to existing accounting and business systems, delivering MES capability, controlling stock levels, subcontracted parts, non-CNC operations and traceability of material and more. For more information www.lantek.com

AMS drives efficiency and sustainability

AMS (Architectural & Metal Systems), a manufacturer of aluminium extrusion and façade systems, has achieved a 19% improvement in machine utilisation and identified annual efficiency and sustainability improvements worth more than €30,000 within three months of installing machine monitoring technology from FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics.

AMS, which employs more than 300 people at its 400,000 sq ft facility in Cork, introduced FourJaw’s plug-and-play machine monitoring system in December 2023 to measure machine utilisation and support its move to shift-based working patterns. AMS wanted to provide site managers with an objective view of production visibility during lights-out manufacturing and improve its ability to deliver products to customers within short lead times.

FourJaw’s platform, which AMS installed initially on several CNC machines, immediately provided reliable real-time data on machine utilisation, enhancing resource planning and enabling the manufacturer to identify areas for process improvements and cost reductions. Enhanced communication between managers and machine operators, and interventions inspired by analysis of downtime data, are enabling AMS to reduce time lost on each monitored machine by an average of 20 minutes per shift.

AMS is also improving machine utilisation levels, which ran at an average of 39.8% at the time of installing FourJaw, to 52.9% within three months. AMS calculates that these initial efficiency improvements are worth between €19,000 and €28,000 a year.

Analysis of energy consumption data recorded by FourJaw is also identifying opportunities to reduce energy use by as much as €8000 a year on some machines, as well as further savings worth €12,000 per annum by reducing energy wasted on machines that were not isolated correctly.

Chris Ryan, continuous improvement manager at AMS, says: “FourJaw was an easy investment to make and a giant leap forward in our digitisation journey.”

For more information www.fourjaw.com

HyperMILL sparks productivity gains

With a growing machine shop boasting over 40 machine tools, subcontractor Future Advanced Manufacture (FutureAM) soon found its existing CADCAM system lacking capability in several areas. The Cheltenham-based business subsequently turned to Open Mind Technologies and its hyperMILL CADCAM system.

The shop floor at FutureAM has a diverse mix of machine tools that include three- and five-axis machining centres, and multi-axis turning technology from brands such as Doosan, Mazak, DMG Mori, XYZ, Colchester, Hardinge, Correa and many more.

Oliver Allen, head of R&D at FutureAM, says: “With our previous CADCAM supplier, five-axis machining was more a bolt on to their CAD system whereas with hyperMILL, the five-axis suite is incorporated in the system and Open Mind provide full support. Our previous supplier could not offer that.”

And there are many more benefits, as Justin Talboys-Cotton, a sales manager at Open Mind Technologies, reveals: “Previously, FutureAM had no graphical simulation and they were running programs to the best of their knowledge on the machines. By adopting hyperMILL Virtual Machining, the company now has a full digital twin of the machines running NC code simulation. It doesn’t stop there: FutureAM have also invested in the Optimizer module, which will automatically work out the best and most optimal solution to fit the required tool path within the machine envelope. With their previous supplier, the business was limited to just milling only. HyperMILL has now also given this customer turning capability – all in one supply.”

Adds Allen: “Now that everyone here is using hyperMILL, it’s very apparent that our productivity levels are increasing and efficiency is improving, with the company subsequently making more money.”

For more information www.openmind-tech.com

PTC becomes strategic supplier to VW Group

PTC has established a strategic supplier relationship with Volkswagen Group. The arrangement focuses on the adoption of PTC’s Codebeamer application lifecycle management (ALM) solution to support the software development for the next generation of electric vehicles (EVs) from the Volkswagen Group and its brands. Codebeamer will enable greater efficiencies in Volkswagen Group’s engineering practices for software requirements management, test management and release management as part of new EV development.

“Our close collaboration with Volkswagen Group will advance PTC’s efforts to make Codebeamer the leading ALM solution for the automotive industry,” says Jim Heppelmann, chairman and CEO, PTC. “We look forward to working with Volkswagen Group on the successful adoption of Codebeamer to enable more efficient EV engineering practices.”

An ALM solution like Codebeamer is an important tool for enabling the efficient development of software and to help ensure the planning, testing and releasing of software components. PTC will work collaboratively with Volkswagen Group on the transition to Codebeamer from pre-existing ALM tools and on the definition and implementation of software best practices for the automotive industry. Volkswagen Group’s use of Codebeamer will inform future Codebeamer roadmap priorities and requirements to enable PTC to gain ALM market share in the automotive industry.

“Software and electrification represent the future of the automotive industry, and Volkswagen Group is harnessing the two together to meet the expectations of customers and provide a superior driving experience,” says Klaus Blüm, head of Volkswagen Group IT products andarchitecture. “Volkswagen Group views PTC as a strategic supplier for our group-wide product development strategy, and we look forward to our work together to make Codebeamer a successful tool for our software development and vehicle engineering teams.”
For further information www.ptc.com

FourJaw enhances job-tracking capabilities

FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics has launched FourJaw 2.2. The latest update includes major upgrades to work booking, FourJaw’s job tracking feature, as well as enhancements to features that will provide a more intuitive and unified real-time and over-time view of the factory floor.

New work booking tools enable managers to import, filter, track and export job data on the FourJaw platform. It is now faster and easier to load new jobs, update existing jobs and track job status, and use data from FourJaw to inform production planning, pricing/quoting and factory improvement projects. 

Enhanced work-booking also makes life easier for machine operators. It is now quicker and easier for operators to review work lists, access job notes, assess progress and provide feedback to managers. FourJaw 2.2 also makes it easier to switch allocated jobs between machines and operators, enabling greater flexibility and agility on the factory floor. 

In addition, FourJaw 2.2 provides a custom asset hierarchy that allows production managers to create a bespoke digital map of their factory and processes. Particularly valuable for larger manufacturers with extensive machine monitoring needs, this capability shows how different machining cells, production lines, assembly areas and business units interact, helping managers to identify the root cause of production issues and new opportunities to improve throughput.

Robin Hartley-Willows, CTO at FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics, says: “FourJaw 2.2 is a major step forward for our manufacturing software platform. The new updates, as a result of customer feedback, support more efficient, productive and responsive manufacturing environments. We are changing the game by offering new and improved insight to production managers and machine operators, streamlining data management, and enabling better collaboration across the factory.” 

For further information www.fourjaw.com