Page 31 - MetalForming Magazine September 2022

FABRICATION
Nesting Software
SAVING BIG on Programming Time, Material
This Minnesota-based high-volume fabricator found these advantages in laser cutting operations and more, including customized filtering and reporting, to name just a few.
In 1930, three sons of a newspaper ing. Add to all of that a staff of design, Iron & Wire Works manufacturing engi-
editor decided that publishing was-
n’t for them. Instead, the Demeules brothers founded Standard Iron in a former Minneapolis, MN, saloon, fab- ricating products for the building-con- struction industry. A fourth brother later joined the team, which, after World War II expanded into supplying farm-implement manufacturers. The 1960s saw the addition of a contract manufacturing division and more expansion followed. Today, Standard Iron & Wire Works, Inc., on its third generation of Demeules family lead- ership and with 500 employees, is headquartered in Monticello, MN, and boasts two other Minnesota locations, Sauk Centre and Alexandria, as well as facilities in Grand Island, NE, Thomson, GA, and Monterrey, Mexico.
Capabilities across company loca- tions include stamping, fabricating— laser cutting, CNC punching, press brake forming, tube bending and weld- ing—machining, assembly and finish-
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applications and tooling engineers. Ten Amada laser cutting machines populate Standard Iron & Wire Works facilities, including three at Sauk Centre, five at Grand Island, one in Thomson and one in Monterrey, with a Messer plasma cutting machine in Alexandria. Material sent for cutting runs the gamut, includ- ing mild and stainless steels as well as aluminum in a variety of thicknesses.
Ensuring run time and material uti- lization on these multiple-locale machines demands efficient nesting, For that, in early 2021, the company opted for ProNest CAD/CAM part-nest- ing software from the Hypertherm Associates Software Group to replace previous software that management and programmers found lacking. The manufacturer currently employs the nesting software on its stable of laser cutting machines as well as the plasma unit.
Among the long list of ProNest pos- itives identified by Andy Toop, Standard
neer: a simplified learning curve along with ease of programming and opera- tion; integration of the software with the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for work-order scheduling and plate inventory; increasing material utilization via auto- mated nesting; and the ability to run ProNest across all brands of machines—a huge flexibility advan- tage, according to Toop.
“It’s ease of use really stands out,” Toop says, recalling his prior work experience working with ProNest that led to its pre-purchase trial at Standard Iron & Wire Works. “Fabricators always are trying to minimize programming time, and with just a little knowledge of how laser cutting works, they can program nesting.”
Simplified Sell to Management
Standard Iron & Wire Works, described by Jason Michalski, sales manager for Hypertherm Associates,
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR