Page 18 - MetalForming January 2011

Software for Manufacturing
Feature-Driven Process-Content Die-Planning and Costing System
Forming Technologies Inc. (FTI), Burlington, Ontario, Canada, has introduced its FormingSuite Process Planner, a product-geometry feature-based and process-con- tent-driven system to determine process layout and die cost. Process Planner helps users create a process flow, predict the number of operations, and calculate die load, press size, tonnage and energy, as well as the cost of the die. Unlike traditional bill- of-material or historical-based products, the feature-based recognition system, say company offi-
cials, will auto-
matically identi-
fy the product’s
stamping fea-
tures and the
severity index to
reflect the com-
plexity of the
operations, and
schedule or lay
out the opera-
tions for the user.
Because the sys-
tem is associative and regenerative, the end user can quickly determine the cost of the product with the appropriate number of operations so that they can compare pro- gressive and transfer dies based on efficiency.
Formingsuite’s Process Planner includes a customized spreadsheet that allows the user to establish the material cost, die cost, number of operations and the process cost early in the design/planning process. Process Planner also can be used in batch scenarios and is incorporated in the Automatic Costing System (ACS) for whole car or whole car program analysis.
Forming Technologies Inc.: 905/340-3370; www.forming.com
Jagemann Stamping Completes Plex Online Implementation
Implementation of Plex Online manufacturing ERP software at Jagemann Stamp- ing Co., Manitowoc, WI, took just six months and caused not a single missed ship- ment, reports Jagemann IT manager Patti Nowak.
A software-as-a-service ERP solution, Plex Online reportedly can be deployed in less than half the time of typical ERP system installations. Learn more and down- load a white paper, titled Just in Time Training, at www.erp.plex.com/forms/ jitimpleentation-0210.
Plex Systems: 888/454-7539; www.plex.com
Low-Cost ERP System
Encompasses Toolroom Management
Dynamic Systems, Inc., Redmond, WA, has introduced its low-cost CheckMate soft- ware suite for small to midsized metalformers. Included modules address job cost- ing, inventory and toolroom tracking. Use the software to track raw material and fin- ished goods using barcode technology. Create sales orders and automatically
convert them to manufacturing orders, including a full build of materials—inven- tory items, tasks and any special tools and dies required to complete the job, as well as an estimated time to complete the job. Upon task completion, CheckMate calculates the cost of the job and back- flushes the raw-materials inventory. Final- ly, the toolroom tracking module tracks the history and condition of dies and tool- ing, and records and schedules required maintenance activities.
Dynamic Systems, Inc.: 425/861-3976;
www.abarcode.com
Conveyor-System Builder Implements Syspro ERP Software
Pride Conveyance Systems (PCS), Hollister, CA, a manufacturer of custom container-handling systems for the can- manufacturing industry, has implemented new ERP software from Syspro, Costa Mesa, CA. Of PCS’s 75 employees work- ing out of its 40,000-sq.-ft. plant, 15
make full-time use of the new ERP soft- ware, running on Windows 2000.
Management credits the software with helping to grow profits. Says oper- ations manager Al Orosco: “Profitability is based on timely knowledge...The pro- gram’s inventory and work in progress modules, in particular, give us up-to- date information on sales, labor and materials on a job-by-job basis so we can recognize our strengths and weakness- es in a timely manner.”
The Syspro Purchase Order Process- ing module “helped us to raise our order process efficiency and reduce the num- ber of hands required to run the system,” Orosco adds.
Syspro: 714/437-1000; www.syspro.com
16 MetalForming/January 2011
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