Software investment proves to be a wise decision

Investing in WorkNC and WorkPlan has been a wise decision for CAD-CAM Projects, helping the company to meet demanding quality and delivery targets on budget.

The expansion of Warwick based CAD-CAM Projects, established in 2000 has been meteoric.

Its specialisation is in the manufacture of styling and engineering models, environmental bucks and gauging for the automotive and aerospace industry.

Models assembled in its environmentally controlled studios range from individual cubing models to complete vehicle size model stacks for packaging, styling approval and engineering approval.

It also builds e-cubes, machined from solid aluminium, which are used by the vehicle manufacturer as a lifetime checking fixture for interior and exterior body panels and trim.

CAD-CAM Projects counts the main vehicle OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers among its customers.

By collaborating with neighbouring Contechs HW, which offers A class surface design and finite element analysis, cost savings are produced by simplifying project management and closing the loop for the customer.

WorkNC has been used by CAD-CAM Projects right from the beginning, and has become an indispensable tool for programming its six CNC machine tools, which each operate in excess of 80 hours every week.

WorkNC and WorkNC-CAD are both used on the shop floor, which enables the company's CAD department to concentrate on designing the product in its finished state.

Adam Roby, Finance Director for CAD-CAM Projects said: "Additions, such as run off surfaces necessary for manufacture are all completed on the shop floor in WorkNC-CAD, which is very beneficial for the company".

WorkNC meets the exceptionally high quality demanded by customers.

No imperfections are allowed nor any hand finishing, so that the machined surface is a true representation of the CAD model supplied by the customer.

Roby explained: " We have to be precise about where we break toolpaths".

"Models are primed straight off the machine tool - our customers want to see the machining marks".

"In thousands of hours of machining WorkNC has proved to be exceptionally reliable, which is of paramount importance to us".

Paul Handley, Manufacturing Director, uses the three WorkNC seats on the shop floor with his team of CAM engineers.

"It is the easiest system I have ever used".

"Getting to a toolpath is so quick that we are able to soak up delays in other areas of the production process".

Ease of use also impacts on the flexibility and efficiency of the workforce, as the CNC operators can interrogate and make modifications on WorkNC themselves, minimising downtime and obtaining clarification where necessary.

Handley's view of WorkNC is a list of superlatives: "Toolpath editing is superb, the new graphics and documentation is excellent and the ability to group surfaces and machine them with different stock allowances is very useful, while setting a fine tolerance makes the tool stick to the surface and makes the machine run extremely smoothly".

As the company grew, its own database system for controlling costs and time spent on each job was becoming error prone and labour intensive, encouraging it to look at Sescoi's WorkPlan manufacturing management software.

From the demonstration Adam Roby realised that the system had the capacity to be customised to suit their business requirements exactly.

"By working closely with Sescoi engineers during the implementation phase we got the perfect system", he said.

Using four touch screens time entry was the first task to be implemented, eliminating the administration involved in the previous paper based system.

After the commissioning phase and the transfer of legacy data, CAD-CAM Projects ran the old system and WorkPlan concurrently for one week before switching entirely to WorkPlan.

"There were so few problems because of the training and commissioning effort supplied by Sescoi, that the switch was entirely painless", said Roby.

Purchasing, time and documentation including quality and procedural documentation can all be allocated to each job.

The format of documents has remained unchanged, so that from the users point of view the switchover has been seamless.

With 10 WorkPlan licences it is possible for managers to drill down into the information to find the exact status of each job as well as an overview of production performance against budget.

Roby added: "The ability to analyse performance with WorkPlan as jobs are progressing through the factory is the biggest single step forward".

Investing in WorkNC and WorkPlan has been a wise decision for CAD-CAM Projects, helping the company to meet demanding quality and delivery targets on budget.

Adam Roby concluded: "WorkNC and WorkPlan are mission critical to us".

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