• Advanced Manufacturing

SHEET HAPPENS VII: The art of taming stocks of sheet metal: Configuration and good practices

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Today we are looking at how to keep control of sheet metal stocks and remnants. Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed, trying to keep track of all the different sheet sizes and remnants you’ve been adding on the fly? Now, you keep getting a huge selection of sheet sizes options that appear every time you try to use “do all” in the automatic nesting and machining page.

Software for the coexistence of different sheet metal cutting machines at the same plant

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Typically, a second machine tool is added to plants in an attempt to increase production and/or diversify. However, we are also seeing it as a phenomenon aimed at resolving the issue with small series. This occurs when there’s a machine with a large automated production capacity which is expensive to interrupt in order to manufacture small series. To cover this gap and avoid interrupting serial production, many factories use an additional, cheaper machine, without automation but with greater availability.

Digital Twins, or when we used to refer to the first model as a prototype

  • Digital Transformation
The prototype’s days are numbered. Yes, I know, it’s a hackneyed phrase, but this is the reality facing us thanks to the new possibilities Industry 4.0 has on offer. Nowadays there are software solutions able to generate a virtual design of a product or process we wish to test, thereby reducing labor hours and investment substantially.