Intelligent CNC Manufacturing at a Location with strong Horsepower

NCSIMUL User Meeting at MOTORWOLD in Böblingen to become the Platform for Sharing Experiences

With high speed to the CNC manufacturing of the future: For the third time, SPRING Technologies, leading software provider to boost efficiency of CNC machines, invited customers from the German-speaking region to a user meeting at the MOTORWORLD Böblingen. In addition to live demonstrations and a preview of upcoming features, the focus was predominantly on sharing experiences: Learning from each other.

The invitation to join the NCSIMUL user meeting was met with overwhelming interest: About 60 participants joined the event at the MOTORWORLD in Böblingen on 19 April 2018.  In-depth live demonstrations throughout the agenda underlined the practice-oriented approach. "These regular user meetings are a valuable opportunity for us as a provider to speak directly with the customer, and to receive feedback and ideas for our further work. Respectively, our customers appreciate the opportunity to share experiences during the breaks. We therefore plan in sufficient time for open discussions and workshops," explains Herbert Schönle, General Manager DACH SPRING Technologies.

NCSIMUL software for intelligent CNC machiningg, which has received a number of industry awards, has been continually extended and enhanced with new features and modules. A key factor for SPRING Technologies is to permanently improve the user friendliness and efficiency of its solution. Live demonstrations show how this works in practice.

Mike Weißenborn, Senior Consultant DACH at SPRING Technologies, demonstrated in his presentation how end-to-end and bi-directional data processes are implemented: Technology data transfer to machines and machining operations, simulation and optimization of NC code, as well as access to machine tool data are carried out on one platform. With NCSIMUL Machine, individual operations can be selected, processed and simulated without the need for the user to repeat the entire process. Using NCSIMUL 4CAM, NC programs can easily be transferred to other machines and adjusted with a few clicks; it is also possible to split the program to run on several machines. As a result, re-programming and machine set-up times can be reduced. Concrete, practical examples that were presented in one of the following sessions confirm a time reduction of 65-75 percent compared to the original set-up time, and the re-programming of a program can be brought down from several days to a few hours.  Even machine tools can be quickly selected, added or replaced, as well as automatically updated by choosing criteria and class lists of characteristics.

How to use 3D data to easily import machine tools with NCSIMUL TOOL was presented in detail by Michael Hüttl. In particular, the integrated mass import feature has been designed to facilitate the work of NCSIMUL users. Via the tool data platform ToolsUnited, users can obtain direct access to the manufacturing data. A standardized description and references from the tool manufacturer regarding assembly and positioning are essential prerequisites. Suitable tools, including 3D images, STEP files and photos can be imported. This requires careful consideration, says Hüttl: "As many details as necessary, although with the lowest data volume possible so as to avoid lengthy loading times."

With NCSIMUL OPTITOOL manufacturing processes can be further enhanced, air cuts eliminated and the feed movements adjusted. In one particular case, the processing time was reduced by one third.

For monitoring and real-time performance measuring of all machine activities, NCSIMUL MONITOR was presented. Activity reports provide an overview of the performance indicators per machine and time span. Machine downtimes can be analysed and reduced, and via an overview, the overall capacity of the machine park can be planned more efficiently.

After these deep dive sessions which focused on the individual modules, the participants were invited to an excellent lunch on the galleries of Genussakademie Targa Florio, offering a view into the workshop hall.

In the afternoon, an overview was given regarding upcoming releases. This was followed by a tips & tricks session, a workshop on machine integration, and concluded with an interactive round table "Intelligent Processes in CNC Manufacturing" and the sharing of experiences.

The event finished with a drawing. The lucky winners were invited to take a ride in the historic Porsche Turbo, once driven by the racing car driver Paul Pietzsch and made possible by the collection-car GmbH.

 According to the participants, it was a very successful event.