Page 33 - MetalForming Magazine September 2022

Fabrication: Nesting Software
Arrows from left to right in this Standard Iron & Wire Works parts-list screen show nesting-software capabilities that have benefitted the manufacturer: Internal Tooling/Fixture Jobs—treated the same as customer work orders to ensure that the parts are get cut and moved through the shop; Due Date—filtering by due date allows the hottest jobs to be nested first; Material Quantity on Hand—allows programmers to know the number of sheets in stock, ensuring that they aren’t nesting for unstocked materials; Location—filtering by plant location allows easy viewing of job orders for that specific plant; Extra Parts Allowed—informs programmers of which jobs allow increases to a job order, providing improved material utilization while reducing the number of extra parts cut.
lization that we almost never want to use a smaller sheet,” Toop says. “Pro- Nest does such an excellent job with dynamic nesting that we try to use big- ger sheets, which cuts down on table changes. We’ve been eliminating small- er sheets where we can, except on our turret punch presses, which have small- er tables that require the smaller sheets.
“We’ve seen huge material savings since bringing in the new nesting soft- ware,” he continues. “It allows for tighter nesting due to the solid algo- rithms as well as features such as col- lision detection and avoidance, and common-line cutting. And, we're pumping out a lot more product now just because we we're saving on table changes. We're placing so many more parts on a sheet that even with our automation—cranes and automated stack loading—we're having to bring extra people to unload the sheets. We’re cutting so much more so quickly now.”
Customization Pays Dividends
Sheet-size consolidation is one of a few initiatives undertaken by the manufacturer resulting from the new nesting software.
For example, the ability to cus- tomize ProNest led to additional proj- ects courtesy of Standard Iron & Wire Works’ IT team, led by Dan Welter. This includes classification of parts to better
track what’s needed and when.
“Due to an uncontrolled process, we had been cutting more parts than needed, destined for press brakes,” Toop recalls. “We would add parts to a sheet because we had room on that sheet, and ended up throwing them away because we already had too many of those parts. Now, thanks to Dan’s work, we developed part classes based on their value and demand. We can check to see what parts are needed, and their value, and then determine if we want to cut more of those parts to fill a sheet. Now we only run extra parts as they’re needed, because we know what we have on hand. For example, if we know that a part is a service part, we only need 10 of those. No need to run extra because they have nowhere
to go.”
Other custom software additions
include the ability to filter for specific material at specific plant locations and filter for expected feed rates for jobs, as well as generate customized reports. And, ProNest allows the ability to better save jobs and reports, as the old soft- ware only saved to a set amount and after that would begin overwriting, according to Toop.
“ProNest really opened the door to some of our skeletons, or issues that we should address to save time and/or money, and increase productivity,”
Toop says. “We didn't realize that by purchasing new nesting software that we would open up so many doors, but we did.” MF
New Updates to Nesting Software
Hypertherm Associates Software Group recently released a major update to its ProNest 2023 software, including enhancements to its Production Manager, a web-based module that reportedly integrates seamlessly with Hypertherm’s Edge Connect CNC to automatically capture real-time machine data. Enhancements include the ability to edit production times for completed nests, set job status changes, and search for nests by customer. Another feature merges XPR setups. The soft- ware now automatically detects and merges changes made to the process parameters or bevel spreadsheets into a new setup during installation. Users can choose to use their existing customiza- tions or the latest factory cut charts.
User-interface upgrades include a new welcome screen and customizable ribbon. The welcome screen contains an informative dashboard that highlights training videos, application tips, and other valuable resources while the rib- bon allows users to add, remove and rearrange tabs. Users can save different ribbon configurations and switch between them as needed to best fit their workflow.
30 MetalForming/September 2022
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