Sparking Digital Transformation in the Metalworking Industry

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Global Metalworking Leader

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Overview

A global leader in tools for the metalworking industry wanted to make process planning more intelligent. Hearing about our automated process planning software, they reached out to begin collaboration on an end-to-end software solution that would address the unique needs of their customers.

Objective

Make process planning smarter
Process planning is a critical part of manufacturing. A process plan is a set of instructions that describes exactly how a part will be fabricated, including time and cost estimates. It’s the bridge between design and manufacturing. Remarkably, most process planning is done manually, requiring highly specific operator knowledge and taking anywhere from hours to weeks.

Why us?

An existing tool from years of intensive research
A global supplier of tools, solutions, and know-how for the metalworking industry learned about our software solution for automated process planning—the result of years of intensive research around building computational algorithms and geometric reasoning models. They partnered with us to further develop the software for its metalworking customers.

Solution

Software for automated process planning
Our scalable web-based software solution automatically generates process plans for metalworking. Given a computer-aided design (CAD) file, a catalog of tools and machines, and a set of machining parameters, a process plan can be realized—complete with time and cost estimates—in under a minute. How? The application uses a patented approach to geometric reasoning, determining possible ways of removing necessary material using 3-axis machining. It then intelligently searches through all possible plans to define the most cost-effective way to manufacture the part. This novel process planning software provides for machinists what GPS provides for drivers—automatic instructions on how to get from point A to point B, in this case, a block of metal to a fabricated part. It presents tremendous time- and cost-savings for machine shops.

Results

The first solution of its kind in metalworking
We provided its client with the first automated end-to-end process planning solution for metalworking on the market. The client acquired all intellectual property and technology related to our software and entered a strategic research agreement where we will continue to conduct research and development for them, enabling iterative improvements to the software and opening up further opportunities for digital design and manufacturing innovation.