19
cutting. This is vital to the brothers’ philosophy
of keeping 5-axis machining limited to two
operations wherever possible.
“We hold the part on one face to work on
all the others. Then a second operation
machines the nal face. We restrict as many
parts as we can to just two set-ups.
Components are becoming more complicated
nowadays as designers try to limit the weight
of everything that goes on the aircraft. But
Alphacam Advanced Mill’s 5-axis capability
means we’re not only able to produce them,
but we can keep cycle times and costs down,
too.” He works from imported STEP les,
without having to create a model inside
Alphacam, simply programming on workplanes,
selecting a face and plane, and then
machining from it.
American rm Systima
Technologies Inc, based in
Kirkland, Washington, USA,
manufactures components for
the defence, space and
commercial markets. Founded
in 2008, the company has
quadrupled in size in the four
years since 2015. Better
material management was put
under the spotlight by
materials and process
engineer Marc Staiger, who early
on saw that the forecast growth would require
it. “At that time, we had around 20 rolls of
composite material on-site, which we were
managing ‘out-time’ with Excel spreadsheets,
but information was not up-to-date and was
scattered across PCs across the network.
Also, counting out-time involved a lot of manual
work.”
CrossTrack MTL
is used by Systima
Technologies
Systima had recently purchased Jetcam’s
Expert nesting software to drive its GFM knife
cutter and Omax waterjet and was made aware
that Jetcam (https://is.gd/ohiwun) also had a
product that could replace its spreadsheets –
CrossTrack MTL. Says Staiger: “The company
was already happy with the JETCAM nesting
product and its support, so it made sense to
look at their material tracking solution.”
After an online demo, the decision was
made to select CrossTrack MTL and a date
was scheduled for remote installation and
training. Installation and training were
performed in just a couple of hours.
At the time of installation, Systima had four
freezers but a fth was to be installed. Staiger
noted that CrossTrack MTL’s exible location
creation has allowed the company a deep level
of granularity for locating material: “We’ve now
got stock logged down to shelf location. So,
www.machinery.co.uk February 2020
The Hawk 8000 hook cover component
staff can go directly to a shelf and only have to
look at four- ve rolls on the shelf to nd the
right one. This is a considerable time-saver.
Previously, we were easily spending one-two
hours a day looking for rolls across the
different locations.”
The ability to sort stock by expiry and
location proved immediately bene cial, with
Staiger citing that the savings in this area
alone being huge: “Before,
there was easily at least one
roll or even a batch per month
that could be at risk of being
expired. This meant either
scrapping a roll worth $5,000
or going through the expense
and tying up the resources of
having it recerti ed. With
CrossTrack MTL, we can
organise by expiry and operate
on a First In, First Out (FIFO)
basis. The software will have
paid for itself within a couple of
months in material savings alone.”
He adds that he appreciates the visual
elements within the tabular data that
CrossTrack provides: “I really like the
percentage status bars that are shown within
the grids that display information, such as roll
length or out-time. These visuals really help
you to digest the information easier.”
Another useful feature cited has been
document linking, where documents can be
linked to a given material roll, batch, assembly
or kit. “This has been useful in keeping all of
the receiving information tied to material lots,
and has been helpful with interfacing with
quality control, pulling up Certi cate of
Conformity information on the shop oor, etc.”
Systima regularly uses CrossTrack MTL’s
built-in reports engine, which allows users to
create complex queries against the database
and export the results. Staiger again: “This
has been really useful, as we can easily export
it to Excel. It’s helped us with working out
volumes, projected usage, etc.” A traceability
report for a single roll or kit can also be
generated within a couple of mouse-clicks.
Currently used independently, CrossTrack
MTL could be integrated with Jetcam’s nesting
solution in the future.
FIT
V E R S AT I LIT Y
+ LO N G E V IT Y
+ I N T E G RIT Y
= P R O D U C T I V IT Y
the RIGHT MACHINE
for the RIGHT JOB
Wherever you and your parts fit, you can count
on Mitsui Seiki to provide you with just what
you need. We’re not for everyone, but we are for
those who understand that reliable precision
with responsive support is the most sensible,
economical decision you can make when
choosing a machine tool technology partner.
Kyal Machine Tools Limited | The Settling Rooms | Springfield Street
MARKET HARBOROUGH | Leicestershire | LE16 8BD
Tel No. 01858 467182 | simon@kyalmachinetools.co.uk
MITSUI SEIKI
563 Commerce Street | Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
Tel: (201) 337-1300 |Fax: (201) 337-3680 | www. mitsuiseiki.com
/ohiwun)
/www.machinery.co.uk
/mitsuiseiki.com
link