March 2011 eNews
Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM® software for programming CNC machine tools and a Cimatron company, has announced its participation at the Manufacturing for Growth (MFG) Meeting, the first national, interactive forum jointly organized and produced by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA), the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA) and the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA). To create this event, and provide a forum for business owners and executives to discuss and share ideas for building sustainable economic growth in the U.S., the four associations combined their annual meetings.
Gibbs and Associates, a supporting member of AMT, AMTDA and NTMA, will be presenting general information about GibbsCAM, its CNC programming software, and demonstrating key software features through pre-selected parts. An informal atmosphere will provide attendees convenient access to GibbsCAM and other exhibitors throughout the four days of the Manufacturing for Growth meeting, which will be held in Chandler, Arizona, from March 3-6, 2011.
Event organizers expect hundreds of association member and non-member business managers and executives from companies of all sizes, working in industries as diverse as aerospace, construction, energy, automotive and medical. The expected attendance is a cross-sectional representation of industries served by GibbsCAM, which is used in production machining across the manufacturing sector to generate, verify, simulate and post process NC programs for milling, turning and multi-task machining (MTM) CNCs of all configurations and complexity.
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Manufacturing for Growth Meeting
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, announced that the number of active end-user seats of software based on its Parasolid® software has surpassed 3.5 million. As the world’s most widely used 3D geometric modeling component, Parasolid provides solid modeling functionality and interoperability to over 150 independent software vendors (ISVs) and over 350 of the industry’s most popular software applications across a broad cross section of disciplines including computer-aided design (CAD), engineering analysis (CAE), manufacturing (CAM) and architectural engineering and construction (AEC).
“The unique functionality and unsurpassed quality of Parasolid, along with its universal appeal to innovative software developers of all sizes and across multiple disciplines, has helped us achieve this impressive milestone,” said Joan Hirsch, vice president of Product Design Solutions, Siemens PLM Software. “Our long-term relationships with Parasolid licensees have promoted mutual growth and success over many years, and our dedication to open technology and an open business model helps these ISVs foster innovation and collaboration. These qualities, combined with the resulting growth and stability of Parasolid, provide our customers with a unique competitive advantage.”
Through the combination of its technology, quality and open business model, Parasolid has demonstrated a high degree of business value to independent software vendors in four principal sectors:
- CAD – Parasolid is the most widely used 3D geometric modeling component in this highly demanding market where the ability to efficiently update the digital model supersedes all other requirements. Product designers rely upon Parasolid to create a wide variety of highly accurate and detailed 3D models, from aircraft engines to mobile phones to construction equipment, using software applications from ISVs such as Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp, Delcam plc, IronCAD LLC, Missler Software, Top Systems Ltd and Vero Software Ltd, as well as Siemens PLM Software’s own Solid Edge® software and NX™ software.
- CAE and CAM – As the component software used to create over 40 percent of the world’s 3D digital models, Parasolid has become the logical choice for vendors of CAE and CAM software needing to import data created in the wide variety of CAD applications based on Parasolid. Many of these companies now also use Parasolid functionality to simplify designs for analysis, create derivative designs such as molds and tooling, and provide design creation capabilities. These CAE and CAM ISVs include ANSYS Inc., CD-Adapco, Planit Software, Mentor Graphics, DP Technology Corp, Gibbs and Associates, and MSC.Software Inc. In addition Parasolid is used by CNC Software, Inc. in its Mastercam® software and by Autodesk Inc. in its Moldflow® software. Parasolid is also the geometric component modeler used as the foundation for the CAE and CAM modules of Siemens PLM Software’s NX solution.
- AEC – An increasing number of mainstream buildings and iconic architectural structures are designed and detailed using AEC applications based on Parasolid. These applications are developed by major AEC software vendors such as Bentley Inc. and Nemetschek Vectorworks Inc.
- Interoperability – Siemens PLM Software’s commitment to open solutions and an open business model has made Parasolid a popular format for seamlessly sharing data between a wide variety of applications. In addition to enabling easy geometry sharing among all Parasolid-based systems, Parasolid XT data is also included in the software development toolkit that supports Siemens PLM Software’s JT Open Program, an influential community of users, software vendors, and interested parties spanning the PLM value chain who influence and promote the development and expanded use of the JT™ data format as a global standard for visualization, collaboration and data sharing.
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Siemens
Travis Pattern & Foundry Inc., a major producer of aluminum castings for the irrigation, power transmission substation, and general-purpose fittings markets, as well as the originators of Li’l Mac sinker molds for the fishing industry, announces its purchase of a fourth Hunter matchplate molding system, the XL2024. According to Gene Johnson, project manager at Travis, “This new line will expand our already substantial casting capabilities for aluminum, as well as brass and cast iron work. We’re seeing an upturn in our business and purchased the machine in anticipation of increasing demand.” The machine is scheduled to be operational by the end of March, 2011.
The XL2024 is a fully automated matchplate molding system, using gravity-fill technology pioneered by Hunter. It produces sand molds up to 20” x 24” with shallow 6-1/2” cope and 5-1/2” drag (165mm/140mm) at 180 cycles per hour, using 400 lbs. (181kg) of sand. Variable squeeze surface pressure to 142 psi (10kg/cm2) can be achieved in production.
Gene Johnson further described his company’s use of their Hunter molding systems. “We typically run jobs in the hundreds up to 1000 pieces. The fast pattern changeover and the flexibility of the Hunter system really speeds our production.” He estimated approximately 90% of the jobs run on the new Hunter machine will be aluminum, with the balance being brass.
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Hunter
Magna Electro Castings Limited (Tamilnadu, India), a major producer of small to medium ductile and gray iron castings, has announced its purchase of a new grinding/fettling center from Maus SpA (Padua, Italy), according to company sources. The machine is a Maus SAM 600G, a compact yet powerful automatic grinding center, with four-tool capacity and product load/unload time less than four seconds.
Mr. N. Krishna Samaraj, managing director for Magna, stated it was the company’s expectation that this machining system, scheduled for start-up after July, 2011, will result in significant improvements in the surface quality and production rates at the company. Magna is a vertically integrated foundry, as it performs various machining, surface treatment and heat treating operations, in addition to its full foundry capabilities for various products sold to the valve, refrigeration, rail, hydraulics, automotive, wind turbine and other industries worldwide.
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Maus
Industrial Magnetics, Inc. and Gorbel® have teamed up to provide an ergonomic lifting solution for one of their customers that increased safety and manufacturing productivity by 150%.
A components supplier of commercial lawn mowing equipment was having difficulty manually lifting and maneuvering heavy, pre-cut sheet metal into their press brake. Two operators were required to lift, rotate and reposition the sheet several times for the 3 bends that were required on each piece. Not only was the operation cumbersome and time consuming, but also placed a significant physical drain on the workers which increased the potential for back and hand injuries.
A custom lifting solution was designed utilizing IMI's cylinder actuated, rare earth magnetic tooling in conjunction with a Gorbel® Easy Arm™ that allows just one worker to magnetically pick up and hold the sheet metal while easily positioning it into the press brake. The strength of the magnet combined with the G360™ collector on the handle even allows the operator to spin and position the sheet metal so that all three bends can be completed without setting the load down.
With the new magnetic lifting solution, the customer was able to realize a 150% gain in output, use 50% fewer human resources in producing the part, and provide a safer and more ergonomic work environment for the operator.
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IMI
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