FEATURE ON CNC & CAM

Manufacturing analytics software supports 30% growth

A precision machining company has achieved 30% growth in turnover following the installation of a manufacturing analytics platform. Chesterfield-based Sterling Machining installed FourJaw’s manufacturing analytics platform on 14 of its CNC machines to support and inform its continuous improvement strategy.

Co-owner and production manager Andy White says: “We had an ERP in place but no way of accurately measuring jobs and their profitability until they were finished. If a job took longer than expected, we couldn’t see why. FourJaw’s machine monitoring system has given us valuable data that we use to understand machine utilisation, operational efficiency and profitability. In the past 12 months our business has grown from £3.8m to £5m turnover.”

FourJaw’s MachineLink IIoT device is suitable for easy and quick self-installation on any manufacturing machine, regardless of brand, type or age, which makes it suitable for small and medium-sized businesses that prefer a low-cost, no-fuss ‘plug-and-play’ solution. By monitoring and analysing machine data, FourJaw enables manufacturers to make machines run productively and profitably.

“Initially, the guys on the shop floor were a little reluctant but soon became interested to see how it worked,” says White. “It didn’t take long for them to become competitive, wanting to get the best machine efficiency scores, resulting in utilisation going from 75% to 100%. This means that we’re making more products with the same resources, lowering the cost of manufacturing and therefore improving profitability.”

Since installing FourJaw on its machines, the team at Sterling Machining has improved many processes, informed by the platform’s accurate real-time data. For example, the team uses historic data to see how long similar jobs have taken and uses this information to quote more confidently for future work.
For further information www.fourjaw.com

Acquisition leads to record year for Mestec

A UK provider of cloud-based manufacturing execution systems (MES) has posted a record year just 12 months after its acquisition by Eyelit Inc. Bracknell-based Mestec has seen sales grow by over 40% this year, as more manufacturing companies use its solutions to create smarter factories that improve productivity, OEE, quality and compliance.

The business has created more than 15 new jobs because of its growth, with the workforce now totalling 26. Plans are currently in place to grow this figure again over the next 12 months. One of the key drivers for future expansion will come through the footprint of its US-parent and ability to deliver new opportunities in North America.

“We’ve already won our first three pieces of business in that part of the world since the acquisition, which is definitely something we want to build on,” explains general manager Mark Carleton. “Our SaaS-based solution is configured for each client and works best where there is a level of production complexity and compliance required. This has seen us build up strong client bases within the aerospace and defence, automotive, electronics, food and beverage, and medical sectors, delivering operational performance benefits to the likes of Sheffield Forgemasters, Siemens and Thales.”

He continues: “What makes us different is the time we take on the shop floor to understand all the different processes and labour issues, generating a clear picture of where our technology can make a real difference. It allows us to deliver the fastest deployment times in our industry, meaning customers can be enjoying cost and time savings within a matter of weeks/months.”
For further information www.mestec.net

ModuleWorks 2023.04 offers new control options

The 2023.04 release of ModuleWorks’ digital manufacturing software components is now available. This first major ModuleWorks release of 2023 offers several new options for controlling the machining parameters across different subtractive and additive processes.

For instance, a range of new options for the deburring, roughing and finishing cycles offer flexibility and control for five-axis and rotary machining. Users can choose between the new climb and conventional cutting methods, and define the contact point between the tool and the workpiece. This is relevant for non-ball cutters like chamfer mills where careful control over the cutting conditions creates chamfered edges with a high-quality finish.

In addition, the new horizontal step-overs for rotary wall finishing make it possible to add cuts in shallow, cylindrical areas for a homogeneous finish across the workpiece, eliminating the need for consecutive finishing tool paths.

To speed up the programing of roughing and finishing cycles, 3D containments are now generated automatically from the selected floor surface. As a further point of note, applying tilting during the lead-in ramps and defining the start points and tool engagement offers enhanced control over the roughing and finishing process.

ModuleWorks also provides a new unified solution for three-axis machining, delivering improved performance and reliability with consistent features available across all cycles. It also offers a simple bridge to 3+2 axis and five-axis machining, and enables ModuleWorks to develop and deploy new three-axis features quickly.

Among further additions is a new two-axis contouring cycle that takes a simplified and generic 2D polyline as input. From here, the cycle generates a tool path suitable for plasma and laser cutting processes with specific lead-in and lead-out motions and parameters to control the feed rate, plasma flow rate and pierce-point behaviour.
For further information www.moduleworks.com

Designs for life as father and son seal transatlantic deal

A Herefordshire father and son team has overcome personal adversity to develop a software platform that can change the way the world’s designers and engineers make products. Ryland and Michael Johnson leveraged each other’s talents in manufacturing and software engineering to create CloudMilling, the industry’s first and only cloud-native CAM solution.

The enterprising duo’s efforts attracted the interest of some of the sector’s biggest solution providers before US-based industrial software company PTC recently acquired their company. Both experts will remain in the business, working collaboratively with PTC’s developers across the world.

“CloudMilling has been a real labour of love and it has taken more than 10 years to get to where we are today,” explains Michael Johnson, who studied at Loughborough University and endures severe disabilities because of complications during birth. “As an experienced pattern maker with 40 years in the industry, my dad knew there was a real need to change the way CAM software operated, so we set about developing a platform that could sit in the cloud and would eventually offer two- to five-axis tool paths that could support virtually any design job in a matter of seconds.”

He adds: “Our solution means that engineers don’t need massive investments in hardware and can cut paths using just their iPad or a mobile. The aim is to make the whole process easier, faster and more accessible. Trying to get the simulation right – especially at this complex level – was the hardest task, but we believed we’d mastered that when we heard about interest from overseas.”

PTC has approximately 7000 employees across 80 offices in 30 countries. As part of the agreement, CloudMilling will become CAM Studio, with availability to Onshape users expected shortly.
For further information www.ptc.com

Engineered to deliver, enhanced by Vericut

CGTech’s Vericut software has created a confidence-boosting, reassuring safety net for Hyde Aero Products over the past 20 years or more. As one of the UK’s largest independent engineering companies, Hyde Aero Products has a prominent reputation for the design, manufacture and assembly of components that it supplies to a broad spread of customers.

Comprised of over 20 manufacturing units that specialise in all elements of metallic component manufacture, Hyde Aero Products relies on Vericut CNC simulation, verification and optimisation software across a number of its sites. In particular, Stoneswood Precision Components (SPC), which specialises in the subtractive manufacturing of soft and hard metal aerospace components, is harnessing the functions of Vericut to deliver high-quality components, first time.

“From small three-axis aluminium brackets, through to large, high-value five-axis titanium structural components, everything runs through Vericut,” explains Rob Westley, senior technical engineer at SPC. “No single program, no matter how short, is output to the shop floor without gaining the Vericut seal of approval.”

Tom Whitbread, SPC technical engineer adds: “The simplicity of Vericut and its speed of use has led to it never being seen as a burden to the programming element of our production chain. In my five years as a programmer and through my SPC apprenticeship programme, Vericut has always captured my training errors and helped me develop skills for program optimisation and enhance the quality of the components I engineer.”

SPC also uses Vericut to manage production capacity. The log and run-time estimation output by Vericut allows SPC to review and optimise the balancing of workloads and manufacturing capabilities of the factory’s various machining cells.
For further information www.cgtech.co.uk