Planit Steps in to Create Manufacturing Excellence Trophies

Sheet metal CAD/CAM software, Radan, along with engineering production software Edgecam, played vital roles in creating 14 trophies for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Manfacturing Excellence (MX) awards. And two members of staff gave up their spare time to design and manufacture them.

Radan and Edgecam’s parent Group, Planit, were asked to step in through their close working relationship with Autodesk, one of the principal supporters of the awards, when the company originally doing the work had to pull out.

Edgecam engineer Bob Thorne designed the trophies using Autodesk. The tooling was provided by Sandvik, and Edgecam’s UK Technical Sales Manager Phil Gill worked with sheet metal customer Altex Engineering to laser-cut the sheet metal using Radan. Radbend was then used to fold the metal on their CNC press brake. The solid stainless steel billets were machined on a Mazak lathe at Edgecam customer Garner Engineering.

“The Institution of Mechanical Engineers wanted the trophies to fully demonstrate the quality of engineering,” says Phil Gill. “We incorporated something that looked engineered and was still prestigious.” The profile of the MX lettering was made from a solid ring of stainless steel. The IMechE logo and lettering on the stainless steel plate were carried out in Radan.

“We had 14 billets of material to produce 14 trophies, so there was no room for error. But with Radan’s powerful nesting feature which ensures full material utilisation to reduce waste – along with Radbend automatically determining the bending sequence, guaranteeing the part’s ‘bendability’ – and Edgecam’s full machining simulation and collision detection, we could be 100 per cent sure that the cutting toolpaths and bending were completely accurate before we started cutting metal.”

Manufacturing Excellence is one of the longest established manufacturing awards programmes in the UK, working with manufacturing businesses of all sizes, ages, sectors and areas of expertise, to improve processes and showcase their excellence. The trophies were presented at the Dorchester Hotel in London at a ceremony attended by Alistair Campbell and MPs Margaret Beckett and Mark Prisk.

Alphacam Used Extensively in Irish Education System

With both the Irish state training agency and colleges teaching learners about the Alphacam market-leading CNC software in the Republic of Ireland, young learners are more likely to be offered jobs, and mature learners who are reskilling also find it easier to get back into work.

As the Irish National Training and Employment Authority, FÁS anticipates the needs of, and responds to, a constantly changing labour market. Its training and employment programmes provide a recruitment service to jobseekers and employers, along with an advisory service for industry, while supporting community-based enterprises.

The FÁS centre at Raheen in Limerick specialises in CNC training, and programs its Bridgeport and Mori Seiki mills, and Emco lathes, with Alphacam. As well as year-long City and Guilds courses covering CAD, manual programming and CAM programming for mills and lathes, along with Computer Aided Competencies, The Computer Aided Engineering Department runs sponsored courses for industry, giving training in CNC set-ups and programming. There are also courses for the unemployed, providing them with new or additional skills to get back to work in the metal industry.

Instructor Gearoid Ryan says: “There are distinct differences between our courses and those offered by local colleges and universities. We provide very practical skills, concentrating on the machine side of things – just the relevant subject and the theory about it. It’s the practical, vocational aspects, geared towards getting the learners a job or improving their skills if they’re already working in the industry, instead of just giving them an academic qualification.”

With Alphacam’s renowned ease of use, learners are literally manufacturing parts from aluminium and steel within a week of starting their course. “First of all, they’re taught to use 2D, then solid modelling CAD systems, before moving on to manual part programming and machine set-ups.

Then we introduce CAM, and they learn about Alphacam for mills and Alphacam for lathes. We focus on milling first because there’s more for them to learn and do as there are more functions than for turning work.”

Alphacam-related tasks begin with learning to draw on it, using the powerful CAD module. “This is preparing them for when they find a mistake in a customer’s drawing. We give them the skills to change it in Alphacam. Then they learn to apply the toolpaths – we literally take it from a basic level through to an advanced level.” Learners program the lathes to produce a variety of intricate shapes, both internally and externally using inside and outside profile tools, roughing tools, U-drills and threading tools. On milling, they cover everything from pocket cycles to drilling and tapping, and to profiles – both inside and outside.

Learners’ ages range from 16 to 65, some come with good computer skills, others may have never used a computer before. Some go to FÁS looking to upskill having worked in engineering previously, while others might not have even basic engineering knowledge. “But I’ve never had a learner from any age group or level of experience who’s struggled with Alphacam,” says Gearoid Ryan. “They all master it very quickly. And they quickly see the possibilities it offers them to fully utilise CNC machines: they love its power and the intricate shapes it lets them produce, which would be so difficult, if not impossible, to write a program manually for.”

The learners are guided at their own pace, depending on their experience, taking them all to the same point at the end, with the qualification.

FÁS also teach their learners G-Code so they can fully understand how a program is built up, meaning they have a greater appreciation of the underlying principles of CNC programming. “If the learner has good grasp of what goes into building a program, it helps them better understand why they’re doing something in Alphacam,” he says.

It is that same philosophy behind FÁS training in how to use Heidenhain and ISO. “Because post processors are outputted and sent to our Bridgeports in Heidenhain, and to the Fanuc controllers on our Mori Seiki and Emco in ISO, it helps learners to make changes such as adjusting a tolerance feature, or adding something at the end of a program – perhaps bringing the table forward for loading. If they’re versatile in those languages it saves them having to generate the program again from scratch.”

In addition, the course teaches learners how to use Alphacam for programming CNC woodworking routers. “It’s an overall package covering a lot of areas involved in both engineering metalwork and woodwork. If there’s a vacant job in one of those fields we’ll have trained someone to be able to fill that vacancy.”

Edgecam - More Machining in the Same Production Time

The recent evolution of the Edgecam CNC software means manufacturers can achieve more machining in the same production time.

Edgecam users from around the UK saw live machining demonstrations at Mazak’s European Technology Centre, showing how a revolutionary new Waveform Roughing Strategy in Edgecam 2012 R1 cuts cycle time from 63 minutes to just 18 minutes, and improves the metal removal rate from 30cm3 per minute to 135cm3 per minute.

The demonstrations were part of the “Innovation For Productivity” event, run in partnership between Mazak, Sandvik Coromant, CG Tech Vericut, 3Dconnexion and Edgecam.

Sandvik’s Paul Williams told the 75 delegates that Britain’s manufacturing sector is growing through its commitment to small batch runs of high added value products. “This needs highly sophisticated advanced machine tools, and because of the higher costs involved, manufacturers must increase productivity and throughput to achieve more machining in the same production time.”

He said that using machines with more tools, in conjunction with Edgecam, reduced cycle times and optimised metal removal rates.

Edgecam engineer Mike O’Neill said the Waveform Roughing Strategy was the software’s biggest innovation for several years and is now included in the standard license, giving better machining for all users. As well as the Waveform’s constant tool load path and smooth toolpath pattern improving the metal removal rate, it also gives greater stability, more precise machining and improved tool life. In addition, the improved surface finish potentially eliminates secondary cutting cycles.

He said Edgecam’s recent evolution has also led to multi-threading toolpaths and background processing, as well as the 5-axis cycle being upgraded to 64-bit. “It’s now like driving a car in 6th gear instead of 4th. In particular, background processing frees the operator to undertake other tasks and has dramatically reduced downtime.”

Rob Lightfoot, of CG Tech Vericut, which has a seamless interface with Edgecam to verify NC code before it is transferred to the machine, said the software ensured manufacturers got prototypes right first time every time, overcoming issues of proof parts costing too much in terms of setting up, scrap, broken cutters, wasted program time and machine downtime.

Edgecam’s UK Technical Sales Manager Phil Gill who organised the event, said it demonstrated the partnership between Mazak, Sandvik, Vericut, 3Dconnexion and Edgecam to make manufacturers more productive through the latest innovations in machines, machine tools and software.

Radan – the Cool Software for "Green" Fridges

One of the UK's leading fridge refurbishment companies uses the powerful Radan 3D CAD system for designing environmentally-friendly components which are instrumental in encouraging major superstores to think about the “green” aspects of their fridges.

Bond Retail Services has over 30 years experience of producing refurbished in-store display fridges for leading supermarket chains. Looking and performing like new fridges – and often lasting many years longer than modern cheap imports – Bond’s upgraded refrigerated cabinets offer savings of between 20 – 40% against new.

“And encouraging retailers to refurbish their fridges instead of throwing them away is much better for the environment,” says Drawing Office Manager Phil Harding. The Bond refurb process can involve partial or complete rebuilding, including new efficient evaporator coils, energy saving fans, solenoid and expansion valves, energy-saving LED lighting, internal and external panels, and energy-saving ballasts.

The world’s most powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software, Radan, plays a key role in the production of almost all components. It creates the nests and toolpath CNC code for all parts that are cut on Bond’s two Nisshinbo punch presses, such as shelves, brackets and panels – including powder-coated colours in keeping with a store’s livery. It is also their CAD system for designing refrigeration components like coils and fans, which combine to keep the fridge operating at the required temperature.

“A key aspect is our ability to design, draw and manufacture any type of part for refrigerated display cabinets,” says Phil Harding. They have over 50,000 drawings spanning every make and model. “Producing what are often complicated assemblies would be impossible without Radan 3D’s sheet metal design and automatic unfolding. It just couldn’t be done from a 2D drawing, so Radan is an absolutely integral part of our design and manufacturing process.”

Based on the ACIS solid modelling kernel and employing modern parametric techniques, Radan 3D provides design flexibility and a unique 2D-to-3D method of creating 3D objects, along with automatic unfolding, automatic associative drawing elevations, and associative 2D dimensioning on drawing elevations and flat blanks.

“We use Radan 3D for drawing all the components; then we make anything in-house that can be punched in stainless steel and mild steel between 22 and 16 gauge. Components that need to be lasered, or manufactured in other ways such as the coils, are outsourced, but they’re all designed in Radan.”

He says customers are growing increasingly concerned with making their fridges more efficient, both from a cost-saving efficiency point of view, and wider environmental issues. “So we’re always looking to invent new products to increase efficiency, enabling us to show customers the ‘green’ aspects of refurbishing their old fridges.

“We draw the prototype of the environmentally-efficient parts in Radan and employ Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to demonstrate air flow, air spillage, and how much cold air is mixed with warm air in the aisles. Then we highlight the percentage savings that refurbishment can give them.”

When R & D secured the budget for CFD, a system requirement was Autodesk Inventor, which they also use for rendering. “Many customers nowadays like to see a proper detailed rendering, not only of how the fridge will look, but how it will look in situ as well.” Radan is fully certified for use with Inventor under the Autodesk Inventor Certified Applications Program. The Radan designs are exported into Inventor as SAT files and then rendered.

Bond have used Radan for around 14 years; 13 adorning the drawing office wall dates back to 1997 and is for Jon Longhurst, who is now Production Director. In those days the software drove an Amada Pulsar before Bond switched to the Nisshinbo CNC turret punches with auto indexing stations, controlled via DNC link direct to Radan. “Radan’s capability of being post processed to any brand of machine means that when the time comes to replace them we can opt for any machine we like, knowing it will drive them just as well as it drives the Nisshinbos,” says Phil Harding.

the oldest training certificate in a collection of Radan’s punch press capability maximises Bond’s material utilisation with single part layout and automatic nesting, while fully supporting all the Nisshinbos’ machining features. Combining sophisticated technology with ease-of-use, it brings maximum productivity to the machine tools.

With a total of five staff currently using Radan virtually full time, three of them concentrate on the flat development and tooling in the drawing office, with a programmer on the shop floor creating efficient nests and CNC code, and an R & D technician making the most of its extensive design capabilities. Programming only takes a matter of minutes, and Phil Harding says they leave it to the shop floor because they are fully aware of the work schedule.

As well as their nationwide refurbishment service, which can be carried out at their headquarters in Sheerness, Kent, or in their customers’ stores, Bond manufactures new fridges, and also has an extensive fleet of chiller amd freezer cabinets for short or long term hire.

The Bond Group is currently lobbying the Government on the environmental downside of supermarkets throwing their old display fridges away and buying cheap replacements that may not last longer than five years They claim refurbishment is the better “green” alternative, fitting energy-saving devices to older cabinets while reusing as many components as possible.

Enhancements for Machining Strategies in Alphacam 2012 R1

The latest release of Alphacam CNC software contains new and improved 3D Machining Strategies, which will give manufacturers a competitive edge by allowing them to maximise the potential of their cutting machines.

Alphacam 2012 R1 is the latest release in the market-leading CNC software’s ongoing program of development and enhancement, ensuring it not only keeps pace with the changing needs of manufacturers throughout the world, but also delivers maximum return on investment.

The following are just some of the many functionality improvements in Alphacam 2012 R1:

New and Improved 3D Machining Strategies:

• The new Constant Cusp strategy gives a more consistent surface finish over the entire part
• A 4-axis Cylindrical Profiling strategy is introduced
• The improved Horizontal Z Contour machining with Rest Machining support comes with more control options, increasing reliability
• New Tool Axis Conversion methods for 4- and 5-axis normal to surfaces or solids are introduced.

Continued Improvements to Toolpath Associativity and Operation Editing/Updating:

• All machining operation types are now fully editable
• New commands provide the ability to regain any lost associativity
• Tool Axis Conversion settings are now stored with the operation, and automatically updated as needed
• New API components provide the ability for operations generated by user add-ins (e.g. VBA macros), to support associativity, editing and updating. It includes Machining Styles, adding geometry, and copying operations or boundaries.

Solid Viewing Support for all Modules/Levels:
• Solid bodies contained within Alphacam drawings are now visible and maintained in all Alphacam product levels, including Alphacam and the new Alphacam Shop Floor Editor, which was formerly known as Alphaview+.

Updated and Improved Vertical Application Add-ins:

• The Alphacam APM User Interface has been completely refreshed
• All machining add-ins now support operation editing functions.

Alphacam is renowned as being one of the most responsive CAM systems on the market, providing full machining capabilities to manufacture anything from simple 2-Axis parts through to complex 5-Axis components. Its extensive range of features help manufacturers adapt to changing business requirements, by being able to quickly modify tool paths.

In highly competitive markets, automation is the key to reducing programming time and maximising efficiency. Extensive research and development ensures Alphacam’s twice-yearly releases allow users to gain the absolute maximum performance from their CNC machines and the CAM process, maintaining a competitive edge.

Added Bonus for Planit at Advanced Engineering Exhibition

There were added bonuses for two of the four Planit software brands being demonstrated at the Advanced Engineering Exhibition.

Bonus number one: Alphacam, Edgecam, Javelin and Radan were exhibiting in the Aero Engineering section, but a number of visitors to the Composites Engineering section came to the stand for demonstrations of how Alphacam can improve the performance of machines manufacturing parts from composite materials.

Bonus number two: The latest releases of all four brands were on show, and the Javelin production planning and control system secured a number of upgrades to the new version.

Amongst the numerous aspects of new functionality in Javelin 2012 R1:

• Data capture jobs within real time can be suspended but automatically restarted allowing users to be diverted from tasks but resume later with minimum interfacing time

• Greater control over Consignment Stores, allowing them to be consigned to a customer and affording similar stock control facilities to normal stores

• Parts can be marked ‘obsolete,’ excluding them from most lists, processes and enquiries.

Visitors to the stand saw demonstrations of Radan’s enhanced tagging and additional nesting for common cutting functionality, along with Alphacam’s new and improved 3D machining strategies, further enhancements to its toolpath associativity, and solid viewing support for all modules. In addition, Edgecam demonstrated how its new Flow Surface cycle improves machining of fillets and 3D surfaces, and how its new Waveform Roughing Strategy gives greater stability, more precise machining and faster metal removal.

Vero Software & Planit Holdings merge

Vero Software, a leading provider of CAD/CAM/CAE solutions for the tooling industry, has announced the merger of Vero Software and Planit Holdings, a leading developer of CAD/CAM software for the production engineering, sheet metal, metal fabrication and woodworking sector.

The Planit Group offers its software products globally under the Edgecam, Alphacam, Cabinet Vision, CabnetWare, Javelin and Radan brands.

The combination of Vero and Planit creates the world’s leading CAM specialist, and third largest CADCAM vendor - only behind Dassault Systèmes and Siemens PLM *. The merger of the two organisations will provide the platform to build even stronger products through significantly enhanced development capabilities and further extend a growing influence on the global market.

Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Smith, CEO of Vero Software says, "Across the enlarged Group, the complementary products address the worldwide need for CAD/CAM/CAE technology in a large variety of focussed manufacturing processes enabling us to accelerate our growth. With greater critical mass we will be able to continue to provide excellent service and support to both existing and new customers. We fully recognise the importance of product branding and customer loyalty, and therefore, it is important to emphasise that we will continue to invest in all of the products. We will move forward together with the expertise, knowledge and resources necessary to deliver even higher levels of productivity to our customers."

The merger has been funded by Battery Ventures (Boston, USA) who have been investing for more than 25 years in technology-driven companies and work hard with management to build their presence into global market leaders.

Dave Tabors, General Partner at Battery Ventures comments, "We are pleased to enter into this transaction with Planit, and are excited about the prospects ahead for the combined group. We believe that both Vero and Planit have been following a very smart strategy in a highly fragmented market. With strong products, a high quality management team, and the respect of its customer base worldwide, the company is well positioned for future growth - both organically and through acquisition."

* Source : CIMData

New White Paper on Offline Press Brake Programming

An authoritative new White Paper on improving performance through offline press brake programming has been published by Planit, the company that developed sheet metal CAD/CAM software, Radan.

Manufacturers who have already made the switch from online to offline press brake programming say the rewards are improved efficiency and increased profits.

The White Paper ‘Avoid the Manufacturing Bottleneck – Improving Performance Using Offline Press Brake Programming’ is available to download for free from Radan’s website: http://www.radan.com/bendingwhitepaper

Planit’s Chief Technology Officer Russell Franks says the sheet metal industry is now at a point where offline press brake programming software can improve the performance of any company using press brakes.

“Traditionally, programming would be done at the machine, online, by an experienced engineer who manually adjusts the flat pattern, figures the bend sequence, selects the right tooling, and then begins the process of trial and error.

“As nesting and CAM systems continue to advance, the manufacturing process has speeded up considerably, and there is growing pressure to increase throughput on the factory floor. However, many companies find online press brake programming is causing quite a bottleneck.”

The White Paper shows how that can be avoided. Topics covered include:
• Why press brakes have traditionally been programmed online
• The benefits of offline programming
• What to look for in an offline programming system.

‘Avoid the Manufacturing Bottleneck – Improving Performance Using Offline Press Brake Programming’ looks at how the 21st Century features of offline programming systems increase speed of production and reduce machine downtime; improve quality and reduce costly manufacturing errors; and ensure maximum utilisation of all press brake machines while reducing bottlenecks.

Planit has become the exclusive distribution channel for Tractivity software for the U.S. woodworking market

Planit has become the exclusive distribution channel for Tractivity software for the U.S. woodworking market. This alliance between the two leading software providers in their respective areas of expertise means woodworking companies now have one source for design, rendering, manufacturing, and production planning and control software.

From entry-level design for manufacturing packages to a number of complete Screen-To-Machine™ options, Cabinet Vision or Cabnetware is often described by companies as the “mainstay” of their operation. Both products integrate room and cabinet design capabilities with manufacturing tools, enabling residential and commercial casework manufacturers to generate detailed drawings for use with building contractors and architects.

Tractivity software helps organizations streamline their operations and reduce costs while providing essential management tools to support critical decision-making. Bringing automation to the office environment, it enables staff to accurately track and report job costs while bidding and estimating with confidence thanks to its database of actual and historic job costs. It also centralizes information for improved communications, automates time and payroll policies enabling staff to spend less time performing routine office activities.

Planit Sales and Services Director Richard Chappell says it is becoming increasingly important for cabinet and casegood manufacturers to manage the operational side of their business. “We are excited about our new agreement with Tractivity which is in line with Planit’s strategic objectives to deliver first class software solutions to our woodworking markets. Now more than ever, it is critical for our industry to track and measure profitability within their business and Tractivity is a proven product to fill that need.”

Chris Madore, Tractivity President, adds: “Planit’s knowledge and experience enables Tractivity to help more woodworking businesses to streamline their day to day business processes, bridge islands of information, and to make better decisions based on actual time and cost measurements, leading to increased profits.”

A Thousand Years of CAM Experience as Planit Resellers Gather in Atlanta

Welcoming over 100 Reseller representatives from more than 30 countries, Planit CEO Bryan Pryce, opened the company’s annual Global Reseller Conference by reaffirming the mission of becoming the world’s number one specialist provider of CAM software.

He went on to say how Planit products were “mission critical” for customers serving the production machining, sheet metal fabrication, woodworking and stone industries.

During 2010, Planit’s global reseller network enjoyed an average 25% growth in sales, aided by a range of software that provided them and their customers, a distinct competitive advantage.


Adding more detail to the successes of 2010, Americas Regional Director Steve Sivitter and EMEA/AP Regional Director Simon Lee, spoke of specific sales increases in countries such as Brasil, Germany and France. Each country enjoyed double-digit sales growth while securing many new customers.

As in previous years, a highlight of the event was the Awards evening, when Planit recognise the achievement of our Resellers. Recipients included Solspec Australia (pictured right), Planit Canada and Camtech GmbH, who were Global, Americas and European Resellers of the year respectively.

In closing the event, Planit’s Chief Technology Officer Russell Franks told resellers: “Thanks to the Planit software and services you provide throughout your home countries, your customers are more productive and more competitive”.

Planit appoints Ambo Technologies as new Radan Reseller

Planit have extended their relationship with Toronto-based Ambo Technologies to include Radan, the market leading software for sheet metal fabrication.

Ambo have been an Edgecam Reseller for more than 13 years and made the decision to switch to Radan from their current sheet metal application after careful technical and commercial consideration.

Radan provides solutions for design (2D & 3D), manufacturing (punching, profiling, nesting and bending) and production control (cost estimation, process management).

“By offering both Edgecam and Radan, we are able to better serve the Canadian market and our existing customers by providing solutions for nearly every sector of metals manufacturing. We have already seen a number of existing customers of our previous sheet metal solution switch to Radan with great success.” said Bogdan Steiu, owner of Ambo Technologies.

“Ambo Technologies have been an important partner for many years and this new agreement further cements our relationship. Bogdan Steiu and his team continue to provide great products and services to their customers, helping them remain competitive in this challenging economic climate” commented Steve Sivitter, Planit’s Regional Director for the Americas.

MACH 2010 Show, A Success for Radan

MACH 2010 proved to be a great success for the world’s most powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software, Radan.

Radan featured alongside Planit Software’s other market-leading software brands on a 140-square-metre stand in the CAD/CAM zone...and after watching a demonstration, a visitor to the stand agreed to purchase Radan 3D and Radraft.

“This is a completely new customer for us,” said Planit’s Regional Director Simon Lee. “We had demonstrated Radan to them 18 months ago, but they put their purchase plans on hold because of the recession. We invited them to our stand, and were delighted when they made specific plans to visit us. And even more delighted when they agreed to take Radan to convert their customers’ designs.”

And Simon Lee believes that having such a large, impressive stand which showed the three Planit brands of Radan, Alphacam and Edgecam together, highlighted Planit’s position as a global supplier whose solutions are best-in-class within their respective markets, and are integral to the success of thousands of companies of all sizes around the world.

Each of Planit’s brands has two new releases each year, and the show was used to launch numerous enhancements to the new updates, including:

* The latest release of Radan 2010 R2 features a new nest core and advanced multi sheet nester which delivers significant cost savings through maximised material utilisation
* The wealth of Alphacam’s new features includes intelligent Multiple Pocketing and Rough/Finish commands which deliver reduced cycle times. Process times for solids are also reduced with improved solid feature finding and routines for advanced 3D toolpath generation
* Edgecam’s new background processing functionality enables users to take full advantage of their multi core hardware, delivering superior efficiency and reduced time to create the tool path.

All the latest releases have been developed with the end-user’s requirements in mind, specifically to reduce lead times and increase productivity, efficiency and profitability.

ADVANCED

The subcontract company which agreed to purchase Radraft and Radan 3D will use the advanced technology to solve its job preparation and production issues, including folding and unfolding 2D and 3D designs, which previously had to be carried out manually prior to manufacture on their Bystronic machine.

Radan 3D is a high performance and versatile 3D modelling package designed to simplify sheet metal design and engineering assembly modelling. Based on the ACIS solid modelling kernel and employing modern parametric techniques, it provides design flexibility, and a unique 2D-to-3D method of creating 3D objects.

In addition, Radan 3D allows the import of a range of file formats, including Inventor, Solidworks, Catia V4 & V5, SAT, IGES, STEP and Parasolid, as well as the creation of assemblies in the 3D environment. Parts can be unfolded directly into the sheet metal part editor, ready for onward processing. This enables a smooth and efficient workflow from design to manufacture. Advanced features in 3D’s unfolder include the ability to completely eliminate corner relief, or to replace corner relief generated from the model with a standard-sized corner relief hole.

Radraft provides a comprehensive drafting solution for drawing preparation and all 2D geometry manipulation. With many advanced features and an easy-to-use graphical interface, Radraft is a highly productive tool designed to meet engineering drawing needs. The standard toolset made available in Radraft, reduces training requirements, eases deployment and delivers higher productivity.
EDGECAM

As well as the Radan sale, Planit Software had another sales success at MACH. A deal was closed on the latest issue of Edgecam, following a demonstration to the Managing Director of a component manufacturer.

PRE-QUALIFIED

Simon Lee says: “We found we were being pre-qualified with people getting information about our products, services, company history and our position of strength in the market, from the internet. It meant that when they came on to our stand they already knew that using our software can improve the productivity of their machine tools, shorten design and manufacturing time, optimise material usage and deliver high quality goods and services to their customers. It demonstrates that companies are increasingly carrying out research typically online, to find out what best suits their needs before coming to shows like MACH, so they can go straight to see a demonstration of the product they’re interested in.”

Planit releases Jobshop 2009 R3

Planit’s latest release of Jobshop, 2009 R3, adds a number of new features in addition to further developing existing functionality and improving usability throughout the system. Data analysis and reporting is one of the primary objectives of a manufacturing software solution. Jobshop provides an extensive suite of standard reports, which can be extended and enhanced with the use of Crystal Reports. In this latest version powerful document customisation allows key system documents to be defined for printing, emailing or PDF creation, either via the standard internal print format or a fully customisable document based on a Crystal Report template.

Planit’s Jobshop is a flexible, scalable and intelligent production planning and control system offering advanced functionality in the key areas of manufacturing and assembly. The software allows businesses to successfully compete in demanding market conditions, through direct productivity improvements and lower IT infrastructure costs.

The Crystal option adds exciting possibilities to the external documents feature, allowing users to define the Jobshop data they require on the form and format the document layout in any style. By judicious application of user definable or analysis fields within the Jobshop database it is even possible to customise documents to vary for different customers, suppliers or even applications.

Shop documents and GRN(goods received notes)/stock labels can also be produced and customised using the same procedures. Example layouts of documents are included with the software for users to expand and develop and novice Crystal users can work with their consultant to create the ideal document set.

Jobshop’s powerful costing functionality provides users with a wide variety of options based on standard, current or actual costs. All purchasing, manufacturing and associated costs are determined within a single database engine; ensuring reports are based on consistent and accurate data. Another new development in Jobshop 2009 R3 is aimed at helping estimators assess process times more efficiently and with greater consistency and accuracy, by building the planned labour times from a toolkit of synthetics.

Standard processes can be defined as a series of formula based steps using a new graphical formula builder. Constants and variables can be incorporated and linked to specific materials and work centres. When applied to an estimate the user is prompted to enter the pertinent data as required by the formula and the resultant operation time is calculated.

Jobshop incorporates complete ‘cradle to grave’ parts issue control. For sites using the existing sized stock part functionality in Jobshop, new length or area based materials can now be defined directly within the estimate just like any other material. If the job is won then Sales Confirmation will allow creation of these parts as standard. Sized stock has been further extended to cover coil material. New conversion factors allow purchasing in sensible units and off-cut returns are calculated automatically.

Of key interest to aerospace and motorsport companies producing carbon fibre composite parts, the shelf life functionality in this latest release has been extended to recognise temperature sensitive parts. The shelf life of such components or materials automatically reduces in line with their exposure to ambient temperature. The exact degree of degradation can be specified as a factor against each part.

Edgecam 2009 R1 - Combining unrivalled ease-of-use and sophisticated toolpath generation

From Planit comes the latest release of its market leading Edgecam computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software, 2009 R1. With unrivaled ease-of-use and sophisticated toolpath generation, Edgecam is capable of programming milling, turning and mill-turn machines. This latest release contains improvements specifically designed to increase the productivity of manufacturing companies.

Many of the improvements in 2009 R1 directly address requests from existing Edgecam users; including the new Associative Machining Technology. This automatically calculates the correct cutting feeds and speeds for a program based on the tooling, part material and the machine tool specification. Feeds and speeds are automatically updated if any of the parameters are changed.

Furthering Edgecam's support for 5-axis machining, 2009 R1 introduces a nutated head/rotary table configuration.

With increasing demand for rapid manufacturing, the capabilities of Edgecam Strategy Manager have been further extended to improve support for twin-turret turning, with a command available in the Mill-Turn environment to reduce the number of tool changes required.

Further enhancements have been made to the new Rough Turn Cycle, including 'Stock Runout', a function which automatically decides the amount of overrun required when machining, and improved control over cut direction.

Another popular enhancement developed to save machining time is the introduction of in-process stock. Stock is updated as toolpaths are applied, and utilised by subsequent operations, thereby reducing programming time.

The new Rest Finishing cycle supports all milling tool types, with toolpath generation time up to 30 times faster than its predecessor.

In 2009 R1, Edgecam's ToolStore has undergone a major overhaul, with an improved user interface, better tool selection and significant performance improvements.

In addition to further improvements to feature recognition, Edgecam Solid Machinist now offers feature ordering based on logical machining rules, resulting in cycle time savings. Feature browser improvements allow Solid Machinist to identify which features cannot be manufactured due to the limitations of the selected machine tool.

Finally, a number of smaller improvements include better handling of part files containing multiple toolpaths and improved navigation through the online help files.

Edgecam 2009 R1 - Combining unrivalled ease-of-use and sophisticated toolpath generation

From Planit comes the latest release of its market leading Edgecam computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software, 2009 R1. With unrivaled ease-of-use and sophisticated toolpath generation, Edgecam is capable of programming milling, turning and mill-turn machines. This latest release contains improvements specifically designed to increase the productivity of manufacturing companies.

Many of the improvements in 2009 R1 directly address requests from existing Edgecam users; including the new Associative Machining Technology. This automatically calculates the correct cutting feeds and speeds for a program based on the tooling, part material and the machine tool specification. Feeds and speeds are automatically updated if any of the parameters are changed.

Furthering Edgecam’s support for 5-axis machining, 2009 R1 introduces a nutated head/rotary table configuration.

With increasing demand for rapid manufacturing, the capabilities of Edgecam Strategy Manager have been further extended to improve support for twin-turret turning, with a command available in the Mill-Turn environment to reduce the number of tool changes required.
Edgecam 2009 R1

Further enhancements have been made to the new Rough Turn Cycle, including ‘Stock Runout’, a function which automatically decides the amount of overrun required when machining, and improved control over cut direction.

Another popular enhancement developed to save machining time is the introduction of in-process stock. Stock is updated as toolpaths are applied, and utilized by subsequent operations, thus reducing programming time.

The new Rest Finishing cycle supports all milling tool types, with toolpath generation time up to 30 times faster than its predecessor.


Edgecam 2009 R1

In 2009 R1, Edgecam’s ToolStore has undergone a major overhaul, with an improved user interface, better tool selection and significant performance improvements.

In addition to further improvements to feature recognition, Edgecam Solid Machinist now offers feature ordering based on logical machining rules, resulting in cycle time savings. Feature browser improvements allow Solid Machinist to identify which features cannot be manufactured due to the limitations of the selected machine tool.

PLANIT Supports Manufacturing Conference

Planit-Edgecam is supporting a one-day conference titled "Manufacturing Optimization: The Next Generation" to promote adoption of technology in manufacturing, and collaboration to improve productivity and profitability.

The conference will be held at the University of Toronto on November 4, 2008 and the keynote speaker, is Hon. Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Government of Ontario.

Steve Sivitter, Planit’s Director of Worldwide Sales will be presenting, along with several speakers from Industry and Academia.

You can find out more about the conference and the network by visiting www.manutechnet.com