CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

7 August 2007

Implementation Investments

Delcam's PartMaker Gives High Precision at High Speed

Changing to Delcam's PartMaker CAM system in 2006 has enabled HMP Industries, a generations-old machine shop in Ansonia, in Southern Connecticut, to be able to quote, program and set up parts much faster. HMP is upgrading its massive bank of more than 100 conventional machines to state-of-the-art CNC equipment, including a variety of multi-axis Swiss-type lathes, to focus on high-precision manufacturing of medical devices.

"Using PartMaker has definitely opened opportunities to us in our medical device business because the software allows us to quote and program faster," commented HMP President Steve Whitman. "This means we can deliver faster and meet the short lead times dictated by our medical customers."

Prior to implementing PartMaker, HMP's technical staff had been programming the CNC machines through a combination of manual programming techniques and other, less-sophisticated CAM systems. PartMaker has improved productivity by speeding programming times, reducing machine set-up times and reducing scrap.

Gary Svenson, the chief CNC programmer at HMP, estimates that using PartMaker has reduced the amount of time it takes him to program a part by about 70%. Additionally, because PartMaker allows him to visually prove out a part on screen with its array of process verification tools, he has also been able to reduce the amount of time it takes to set up new jobs by about one third.

"When you are programming by hand, you have to spend a lot of time dry-running a part on the machine during set-up. With PartMaker, this time is greatly reduced. You know what to expect because you see the part being simulated on screen," said Mr. Svenson. Additionally, HMP is now producing much less scrap because they need to cut fewer parts before going into final production. Scrap is no small issue when making medical parts due to the high cost of the materials used.

PartMaker has also allowed HMP to better utilise both the advanced capabilities of their CNC Swiss machines and make better use of their Swiss capacity. "PartMaker helps use all the features of the machine, which is especially important on our higher-end Swiss machines. When you are programming manually, you don't always use the machine optimally," according to Damian Zyjeski, Engineering Manager at HMP.

Additionally, the accuracy of PartMaker's post-processors gives HMP the flexibility to quickly swap a part from one machine tool to another by just post-processing the program for the other machine. Having the flexibility to quickly swap parts from one machine tool to another allows HMP to make better use of its machine capacity and so meet the short lead times demanded by its medical business.

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