In 2008, the company relied heavily on its CNC programmers to develop numerous computer aided manufacturing programs for cutting parts for prototype workstations and kiosks using the company's three CNC routers. Building these designs well and expeditiously is the key to acquiring significant national rollout contracts.
The CNC programs are written with Mastercam X3 Router CAM software, which has post processers that allow it to generate cutting instructions for IDX Seattle's 4-axis Morbidellli, 5-axis CMS, and 3-axis KOMO routers. The software was chosen because of its versatility, precision, ease of use and ready adaptability to any router.
The pace for CNC Programmer Terry Gabrio is hectic. The shop has two shifts and outsources excess work to trusted suppliers nearby. To feed the continually churning routers, IDX Seattle has three seats of Mastercam X3 and three programmers. Because of its impact on manpower and equipment these Mastercam programming activities are a focal point for savings, not only by increasing CNC manufacturing productivity but also by reducing costs and man-hours at many points downstream in the manufacturing process.
There are numerous features of Mastercam that Terry uses to improve productivity and reduce costs. Here are a few of his favorites:
- Customizable Graphic User Interface: allows Terry to put functions he uses most frequently at his fingertips.
- True Shape Nesting: dramatically reduces material costs.
- Full-featured Engraving: Makes it possible to create stunning 3-D engravings from imported photos or drawings.
- Pasting of Operations: Operations for parts with similar geometries can be pasted from a previously written program into another, sometimes reducing hours of programming to minutes.
- C-Hook Technology: Allows Terry to enhance the functionality of Mastercam by incorporating specialized routines that he writes himself in the C# programming language.
IDX Seattle is now working with a sister IDX company in Louisville to transfer its CAM capabilities. The Louisville plant has installed Mastercam on its three routers. In the future Gabrio believes that the two companies will be able to share libraries of programs, toolpaths, operations, and even C-Hooks over a wide area network. Management has also given Gabrio and his peers a homework assignment—quantify the cost savings that have accrued from Mastercam and other programming innovations at IDX Seattle. These are difficult calculations but the company wants a realistic approximation of how theoretical savings provided by advanced CAM capabilities actually translate into money you can take to the bank. "They are very serious about this," Gabrio said. They must like what they see because IDX Seattle continues to invest in technology. |