CADCAM & PRODUCTION IT PLOTTING A PATH TO SUCCESS
Focusing on both thick and thin laser
cutting, from 0.2 to 25 mm across a range
of steels, stainless steel and aluminium,
AFDL has also developed its activities in
bending and welding, producing stainless
steel tables for the furniture industry and
working for pharmacies and the public
sector.
The company has grown recently, and
now produces up to 50 orders a day,
comprising individual unit parts through to
large series. Prior to installing Workplan,
Noailly managed everything from order entry
to manufacturing, but since the installation
and deployment of Workplan he has been
able to free up time to develop the
company’s activity.
Combining the Workplan and Radquote
interface with the automated system for
time analysis, production cost estimation
and quotation generation for sheet metal
parts and assemblies means AFDL has
become more responsive, accurate and fair,
in terms of price, compared to its
competitors, he says, which has allowed the
company to successfully manage an
increase in demand. The company was
created at the end of 2013 with DECOFOR
being its only customer – today half its
customers are external.
“I use Workplan to generate precise
quotations in connection with Radquote and
either duplicate or modify them for similar
new orders; quickly transform them into
orders; view all orders at any time; and give
autonomy to the workshop to generate
delivery notes by simply entering the order
number in Workplan, which also avoids
having missing invoices.
“Recurring orders from DECOFOR are now
managed with just a few clicks. The le is
sent in .CSV format and Workplan
transforms it into a command. No more reentries
or errors. It’s a real time-saver, as
production starts immediately.”
Production is now carried out 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, with Radan
currently powering two Trumatic Laser
3050s and an Amada HFT press brake.
Radan makes production process as simple
and ef cient as possible, the company
reports. Says Noailly. “Customers provide us
with les in a variety of formats, including a
DXF 2D plan, which we can use immediately;
a 3D STEP le, which we open in Radan 3D
to unfold before working on it in 2D; PDF
les which we have to completely redesign;
or directly with parts to reproduce them
identically. As soon as the le is validated,
it’s imported into Radan 2D or 3D to be
nested and put into production.
“The drawing features built into our
Radan 2D module means we can ef ciently
design a 2D part. The software also gives us
a quick and simple method to repair or
simplify geometries from other systems.”
With around 20 regular products to redesign,
or les to use, production is divided 50/50
– rstly, a series of parts, comprising more
than 50 pieces; and secondly, individual
units. “Thanks to Radan, we can produce up
to 30 pieces on the same day that the order
is placed, which means we can readily adapt
to our customers’ urgent demands when
they require something immediately.
“We’re only a small company, but the
integrated solution of Workplan and Radan
has brought our factory in line with the
Industry 4.0 philosophy of Smart production
adopted by companies many times our
size.”
CADCAM/production IT industry & product news in brief
A two-year, Innovate UK-backed project will see metalcutting
subcontractor CloudNC’s disruptive automated CAM programming
software developed further, supported by members of the High
Value Manufacturing Catapult and two global engineering rms.
https://is.gd/evocoq
The CAM interface from TDM to
Siemens NX is now able to provide
automated access to tool assembly
data and 3D models, thereby
making a major contribution to
automation in NC programming.
https://is.gd/ubajum
InssTek Inc has integrated the
ModuleWorks additive manufacturing calculation core into its DMT
(Direct Metal Tooling) technology. ModuleWorks software enables
InssTek to use the multi-axis traversing capabilities of its DMT
machines to provide a fully automated, cost-effective solution for
the simultaneous 5-axis additive manufacturing and repair of
complex parts. https://is.gd/zujaxe
Hypertherm has introduced subscription pricing for its
Design2Fab CADCAM sheet-metal layout software for use with
manual and automated cutting applications. Rather than purchasing
the software outright, as is typically required, companies and
individuals seeking the ability to create complex custom tting
layouts in minutes, rather than hours, can now subscribe to
Design2Fab on a monthly, annual or three-year basis.
https://is.gd/osoden
ModuleWorks has released its 2019.12 CADCAM software. The
2019.12 version is the third major
release of 2019 and is available for
download from the company’s website.
Version 2019.12 contains newly
developed, performance-optimising
cycles for 5-axis and 3-axis machining,
as well as enhanced visual accuracy
and sharper imaging for the cutting and
adding material simulator.
https://is.gd/jaliwu
CADCAM and MES specialist Tebis has released Tebis Version
4.0. The latest release offers many newly developed and enhanced
functions, including indexed collision avoidance, an extended
aggregate library, a simpli ed feature scanner, advanced 5-axis
simultaneous milling, more convenient machine simulation and
more. https://is.gd/ijigig
As part of Hexagon’s philosophy of supporting data-driven smart
factories, the latest release of Alphacam CADCAM software
accelerates the management of jobs that require several
processes. https://is.gd/imexoh
44 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets March 2020
/evocoq
/ubajum
/zujaxe
/osoden
/jaliwu
/ijigig
/imexoh
/www.machinery.co.uk