Product category:
CAM, CNC and production management software
News Release from: Jetcam International | Subject: Jetcam Expert
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 02 October 2006
CAM is quick to adopt on legacy CAD
CAM system at Bombardier in Montreal, Canada, pays for itself in 2 months in material savings alone.
Bombardier Aerospace, based in Montreal, Canada is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative aviation products and services for the regional, business and amphibious aircraft markets In 2004 it began a project to replace its existing Unix-based CAM/nesting system, which had not improved in nesting efficiency for some time
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 3 Sep 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
New user interface for CADCAM software
Jetcam International has released version 14 of its two flagship products - Jetcam Expert and Jetcam Laser Expert CADCAM software for punching and profiling machines.
AutoCAD compatibility is key to CAM choice
Constructiebedrijf W ten Ham decided to research the market for a CAM system to compliment its existing AutoCAD installation.
Bombardier Aerospace embarked on benchmarking several systems.
Said Phil Bagshaw, Senior Application Specialist: "We were looking for a company that was very progressive in terms of development, which Jetcam appeared to be".
"Also, their nests were approximately 5-7% better than the closest competitor".
"As nest efficiency was one of the main reasons for the project we chose Jetcam".
In 2005 five licences of Expert Premium were installed, along with Jetcam's high performance nesting module to drive the AGFM composite cutter.
Further reading
Up-to-date software provides big savings
Cimbria Manufacturing had relied on a US-based CAM system to program its existing Trumpf punch, punch/laser combination and Messer Griesheim machines, until it switched to Jetcam.
Software squeezes more out of existing tools
BC Barton provides solutions for the design and manufacture of hot and cold presswork, along with welded fabrication products, and was an early adopter of Jetcam Expert.
Speed of learning is key to software adoption
When programming by hand became a time-consuming and error-prone task, Rosengrens Europe purchased Jetcam Expert.
Remote Control Processing was used to automate the nesting process.
Jetcam Expert was installed on a Citrix server platform to allow users to run on client systems throughout the organisation worldwide.
Jetcam Orders Controller (JOC) was also installed on the server being accessed by method engineers (programmers), logistics staff and production staff.
Further licences were added in 2006 to drive the Multicam router, with licences for the Shoda being installed at the end of 2006.
"After the installation of Jetcam for the composite cutter some of the licences were not put to full use, due to the high level of automation that RCP and JOC provided, so Jetcam swapped these for routing licences".
"We never initially considered using Jetcam Expert for the Multicam router, as this machine is used for prototyping and spares, however the success of the composite project demonstrated that it was worthwhile".
Bombardier had 8000 legacy CAD files, of which almost all had geometry problems.
Jetcam software was able to "heal" most of these automatically in about 3 hours, with the remainder being quickly fixed manually over a couple of days.
Bagshaw added: "We had anticipated this would take upwards of a month".
The initial benchmarks gave Bombardier an indication of the material savings they could expect and in practice this alone quickly paid for the project.
Bagshaw added: "We saw on average an approximate 15-20% saving which meant that the software paid for itself in around two months due to composite material savings alone".
The automation now in place is such that once a component has been designed and its outline geometry is available no other process has to take place manually within the CAM system.
Staff simply order parts from JOC, and CNC programs arrive in the appropriate network location a few minutes later.
Further savings were noted on the shop floor, with machine cycle time seeing a 5% improvement (saving around 120 hours on the machine per year) as the software did not force the cutter head to keep rising after each cut, which the previous system did.
Programming time was drastically reduced due to the fact that component "tooling" is now virtually instantaneous.
Previously, if an error was noticed on a component, it would have to be repaired in the CAD system and go back through the CAM process again.
Now operators can perform modifications within Jetcam.
"On average 10-15% of plies need adjusting; couple this with the overall speed and ease of use, and this means we saw a 500% improvement in our composite programming".
Aircraft components are often symmetrical resulting in only a left-hand design.
Bagshaw continued: "We start by programming the left-hand part".
"We had developed an in-house routine, which automatically mirrored and programmed components".
"The down side was in house support and maintenance".
"At our request Jetcam developed a new function within JOC that automatically created mirror components, tooling and naming them to our naming convention".
"The components were immediately ready for nesting which reduced our manufacturing cycle time, tool proves and first article inspection".
Training was performed onsite for eight staff.
Bagshaw noted that staff became proficient extremely quickly, citing: "Most users were well on their way with just two hours of training".
With any software purchase the ongoing cost of maintenance is also something to consider.
Bombardier realised a further saving of 5% against the maintenance of the previous system, with Bombardier's internal support staff estimating that users required only a fraction of assistance on Jetcam Expert compared with the previous situation.
In addition to the quantifiable benefits there were also a number of other features that saved more time and reduced the possibility for error, such as the automatic printing of part/ply information.
"Prior to Jetcam Expert parts were misidentified up to 30% of the time, causing delays ".
Bombardier is already on its third installation of Jetcam Expert in its Saint Laurent facility, with its Belfast facility also now a long-time user of the system.
Further installation projects are also under review.
Bagshaw concluded: "The whole project was delivered to our specification".
"The dedication and commitment from Jetcam to have people on-site and developing with us exceeded anything we had expected and helped to complete the installation, with the first project completed to schedule in only a couple of months".
"The composite project was based primarily on waste reduction, however there have been many other benefits which have continued to provide considerable additional savings".
• Jetcam International: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
