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Pictures: Gary Carter, CNC programmer at Quantum Components, said that diversifying the company's practices by incorporating ESPRIT CAM has helped the business stay afloat in a tough economic climate.
Example of a part produced by Quantum Components using DP Technology's ESPRIT CAM software. This part, a component of a cryogenic pump, is called a Top Cap and is made out of 6061 aluminum.
With Quantum's grand total of 28 CNC machine tools to consider, Carter did the legwork to find software that would maximize the variety of muscle at the company's disposal.
Among its lineup of lathes, mills and mill-turn machines are 13 Citizen machine tools, including 10 Swiss-type and three CinCom FL32 multitasking machines; seven Mazak machines, including two multitasking tools -- a QTN 200MS and a QTN 250MS; and eight Brother mills.
"The CAM system that we chose fit every machine that we have, and that is ESPRIT®," Carter says.
With the software chosen, it was time to introduce the new addition to the people who would be using it.
"It was an adventure because the people here were apprehensive," Carter softly says in a melodic tone that must come in handy when teaching his kids how to drive. "They were wary of change and of this new guy coming in and introducing this new technology."
Two months later, Quantum's 17-member staff was over the "initial shock" and able to embrace the new process. Yes, there was training involved, as each team member brought different talents and skill levels to the table. However, once the team understood that ESPRIT was making their jobs easier -- and ensuring that new jobs were coming in -- the apprehension subsided and positive change continued to flow even as the workload drastically shifted.
While Quantum previously had two major customers and made five simple "mainstay" parts, its customers were forced to make cutbacks and, as a result, Quantum lost its major sources of revenue. "We've had to go out and get new customers," Carter says, "and that's where ESPRIT came in."
Since early 2009, Quantum has attracted 14 new customers with a wide range of needs. It is now making, among other parts, oil-field components for the energy industry and bone screws for the medical industry, and just secured a new customer in the business of armament. "Business is really a lot more diverse than it was," Carter says.
And it's had to be.
Quantum was previously manufacturing lots of 10,000. It is now machining lots of 15-200, which equates to more customers with more diverse needs and more complex demands. "I think the biggest reason the company is still in business is because of the new people we are able to do business with, and I don't think this company would survive without a CAM system," Carter says. "The companies that are still alive can adapt and change and give the customers what they need."
More than ever, what customers require are complex parts.
One of the complicated jobs that Quantum has taken on requires a serial number and company logo engraved on every single part, and the art on the logo, Carter adds, is "elaborate."
Another part, the aforementioned bone screw, made on a Citizen L-20 Swiss-type lathe, is threaded on one end and has a square-hole feature on the other. The tolerances for this delicate piece are .0002. The screw is a part that Carter says he cannot machine without a CAM system -- namely, ESPRIT.
"The toolpath generated in ESPRIT allows you to take smaller cuts in particular areas and we were not able to previously calculate the toolpath to that extent of detail," Carter says. "The ESPRIT dialogue box will ask how much you want to leave for a finished cut in a particular area and provides the toolpath automatically. There is more control of where your tool is going and what it's doing."
Though having the control guaranteed by CAM software was not a must-have in the past, it's become a necessity for those who must evolve to remain competitive. Just as the machinist changes, so does the machine and the software that drives it -- with the ultimate goal of better, faster, more efficient production.
Carter began working with metal when, as a 13-year-old junior-high-school student, he chose metal shop as an elective. He was the odd one out, as his father and brother -- and pretty much every other male family member -- were mechanics.
"I remember seeing them come home with sore backs and knuckles and I thought, 'I'm not going to do that,'" he says. "'I'm going to be a machinist.' "
Over the years, the now-41-year-old Carter, who considers himself a "hands-on" type, has watched the machining world change and has adapted in kind to meet emerging needs.
"With the advent of solid modelers, I have seen a trend of more complicated parts," he says. "Without the concept of manufacturing in mind, people are giving these parts to job shops and wanting us to make them."
Typically, Quantum takes solid models from its customers and imports them into ESPRIT, after which all of the part features are created and a simulation is run. "To see an actual part on the screen and be confident that, when it goes out on the shop floor that the operator won't have a problem with it -- that's the most important thing to me. It's confidence in programming."
With ESPRIT, Quantum is now able to confidently maximize its Swiss-type lathes by broadening operations where it was previously performing only straight-type turning.
"The Swiss-type machines are like octopi," Carter says. "They have so many areas and spindles and they're doing different jobs simultaneously."
By using ESPRIT's powerful mill-turn and simulation capabilities, Quantum is now confidently performing operations that formerly required two machine tools on just one machine, which makes for dramatically decreased production times.
And though the proof is in the production, success doesn't always boil down to just dollars and cents.
"The most significant thing I like about ESPRIT is the support I get," says Carter, who said that invaluable aid from DP arrived in the form of one ESPRIT application engineer's ability to streamline the postprocessor for the company's two FL32s.
As only a handful of FL32s are currently in use throughout the United States, it's a machine with which most U.S.-based application engineers are unfamiliar. Quantum purchased ESPRIT in part because of its ability to program the complex machine, but needed support to create a reliable postprocessor.
"It's such a unique machine and no one else I talked to was able to guarantee a postprocessor for that type of machine," Carter says. "DP Technology was able to do it in a couple of hours. They're my hero."
Quantum also received support from Danny Greer and Gary Thompson of Texas-based Machine Tool Technology & Sales, an ESPRIT reseller that helped staff learn how to program the other machines, primarily the Mazaks, with ESPRIT.
"They had never programmed those machines with an offline system and didn't even know what the code was supposed to look like," Greer said. "They were making a huge transition from no CAM software to software that would handle the complex machine tools they had purchased."
Reflecting on the changes that Quantum saw in 2009, as well as those that Carter saw on a personal level, he can now say that the risks and rewards inherent to change were worth every growing pain and moment of uncertainty.
"It was really frightening for me," he says. "I was more or less the responsible party for bringing this new technology in. Everyone was looking to me and that's intimidating, especially when you're the new guy. There was a big learning curve in a lot of areas, but being able to look back at it now is really rewarding. Seeing those parts coming off the machine is really rewarding."
For further information, contact DP Technology Corp., e-mail: esprit@dptechnology.com or view website: www.dptechnology.com Refer to page 370
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