CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
30 November 2005
Implementation Investments
alphacam Supports Precision Manufacturing at Thomas Hatchard & Sons
A 60 year track record of success in the world of precision engineering does not come about by accident. For Brighton-based Thomas Hatchard & Sons Ltd (THS), it's been based on fast, accurate and cost-effective production of often high value, low volume components in a variety of raw materials. Continuous re-investment in increasingly capable production equipment and facilities has also been at the heart of the company's success-along with its reliance on alphacam programming software to meet its growing manufacturing capabilities and changing requirements.
Established in 1945 as a privately-owned company, THS is today a leading supplier of precision parts; in particular low volume, high value components geared to the needs of the semi-conductor, medical equipment, marine, defense, vacuum and power generation markets. The company has more than 50 employees and utilizes a comprehensive range of 20 CNC machining centers, with a maximum capacity of 2.5 meters.
"We can handle parts weighing up to 2½ tons, although ½ ton is more typical of the size of components we normally get asked to produce," says THS's Operations Manager, Jason Pither. "Similarly, we are just as happy working in aluminum as we are in stainless steel or other more exotic materials."
According to Pither, the company originally invested in CAM technology in the early 1990s, with a 2D based system. "At the time, we didn't need a 3D capability. But as the complexity of our work grew, the limitations of the original installation became more apparent," he says.
"By the end of the nineties, we were also receiving a high proportion of product information in electronic format. We needed a system that would seamlessly import design data, as well as generate fully defined NC programs quickly and effectively for our machine tools."
Following a thorough evaluation of the market, including everything up to complex multi-axis systems suitable for mouldmaking, THS selected alphacam as its programming application of choice.
"We were immediately impressed by its ease of use, as well as its ability to be tailored precisely to meet our own operating methods," says Pither. "What's more, alphacam's ongoing development and upgrading has ensured that it has consistently kept pace with our changing requirements."
Today, alphacam-generated programs are transferred directly to THS's 20 CNC machines by DNC link.
"Speed and accuracy are the keys to our company's success," notes Pither. "We employ very aggressive machining strategies, which are easily assigned as 'machining styles' within alphacam. These enable a series of machining routines to be defined and instantly reapplied to new jobs with the minimum of operator input. It not only speeds up the programming of families of similar products, but also enables us to standardize on methods and tooling."
Another feature of alphacam that helps to underpin Hatchard's responsiveness is the availability of a comprehensive range of post-processors. The company operates Heller, Zayer, You-Ji, AWEA, Chevalier, Quaser, Bridgeport and Cincinnati machines and can effectively re-allocate a job to a different machine in around 30 seconds using its alphacam system.
A further facet of the company's drive for continuous improvement includes updating and re-engineering of repeat jobs. "It not only helps to ensure we maintain our price and leadtime competitiveness-in order to secure the repeat business-but also streamlines our own internal operations," Pither continues.
"The machine setters are effectively the programming office's customers, so we need a powerful tool to ensure that they are provided with the most logical and effective manufacturing methods."
In operation, new jobs are released as 'unproven' and are only added to the company's NC library once feedback has been received from the shopfloor and the work has been signed off as correct.
To date, THS has produced around 21,000 programs using its alphacam system, along with corresponding set-up sheets and route cards. Each can be accessed, modified as required, and re-issued in a matter of moments for repeat orders or the production of related new products.
Pither believes that his company's investment in training has been an important factor in maximizing the return on its CAD/CAM installation.
"Alphacam is a very powerful tool," he adds. "And because it is a very intuitive system, operators will normally be able to find a way of doing whatever they need to do. However, it's only by taking full advantage of training courses that you will consistently find the quickest and most effective methods-and therefore realize the system's full capabilities."
Today, the alphacam system is central to THS's operations, whether it is manufacturing simple components to extremely close tolerances in difficult-to-work materials, or complex parts weighing several tons. It's also playing an important role in the company's recently-introduced value-engineering service, which is proving increasingly popular with customers.
"Today, alphacam is at the heart of our operations. When we originally installed the system, it may have been regarded as something of a luxury. But now, its capabilities are nothing short of a necessity for us," Pither concludes.
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