Automated programming for complex dies and fixtures

Good personnel are also hard to find in Tyrol. With 50 employees, the company therefore relies on a high degree of automation. And this isn’t just for the machines in machining. "We’ve positioned ourselves to produce unique individual parts as intelligently, as quickly and as efficiently as possible," affirms Christijan Narat, COO at Alpex. "This is a true challenge, considering our wide range of parts. Because automation goes beyond the actual machines and also includes creating the programs."

The NCSets, also known as NC templates, enable automated programming of recurring features and procedures. "The designer can prepare each workpiece with data in the CAD system," Narat explains. "Parametric design starts in CAD. The employee has to position holes for clamping systems and define the relevant clamping points, fill surfaces, configure blanks, position clamping devices and much more. The generation of raw data can be controlled very well with parameters."

This was unpopular and routine work that also traditionally required a lot of manual programming. "What's really great: Tebis can program these many individual steps automatically with the NCSets,” the plant manager adds. "The programmer is less stressed, and the nerve-racking work of manually preparing individual features is almost completely eliminated. This frees up creative minds for more important work."

Narat finds that parametric design has again improved significantly in the new Version 4.1. "In a current order for 30 dies that are all different, for example, the clamping situation for the workpieces is still very similar," the production expert explains. "Thanks to our detailed NC libraries that we prepared with the Tebis specialists, the programmer essentially only has to 'marry' the parameters from the database with the geometries. These functions, save us roughly 20 minutes of programming time in preparing a die half."

With roughly 400 die halves to be programmed in a year, this savings alone adds up to more than 130 work-hours. "This is time that we can put to good use elsewhere," Narat emphasizes. "We’re making very extensive use of the optimization and automation options in the new Tebis 4.1. Our programming capacity now enables us to optimally utilize our machines in two shifts with operators and unattended at night and on weekends.”

Where a lot of "manual labor" was previously required to get a program onto the machine on-site, this has also undergone a fundamental change. When the programs come out of CAM programming, they’re high-quality and are ready, refined and directly executable on the respective machining center. There’s no longer a need for adjustments on the machine by the employee on-site.

The other features of Tebis 4.1 also enable streamlined, efficient manufacturing. For example, the new version includes highly efficient cycles for barrel cutters. The Alpex machinists first used this for a large rush order. "The structures in this job were up to 5 m long," Narat says. "This entails a lot of milling work. In order to quickly achieve this goal, we first took an entire week – though it might sound paradoxical – to research and evaluate the optimal milling strategy for our FPT machine."

The cycles for deep hole drilling also proved to be a great advantage in processing the large order. "We've already been using those since Version 4.0, but they've been improved even more," explains Narat. "We had to drill a large number of holes with a diameter of 20 mm to a depth of up to 1,300 mm on our FPT machine in seven large dies with mold plates of up to 3.5 x 3 m. The sophisticated deep drilling cycles allowed us to process the pilot drilling and drilling to a depth of up to 1,000 mm completely unattended. This saved us two work-shifts per die. And we were able to transfer a lot of the work over to unattended nights and weekends.”

Considering the large workpieces and the often expensive blanks, it’s all the more important that the machinists be able to rely 100 percent on smooth, safe and stable processing by the programs, even during unattended operation. "That’s why we consistently use the highly extensive simulation options in Tebis 4.1," Narat affirms. "No program goes to the machine without first being simulated."

In addition to its sophisticated programs, Tebis also provides expert consulting and excellent service. The machinists make regular use of this option. "When we call the hotline, we immediately have experts on the line who understand and consider our concerns and work with us to develop viable solutions for the challenges we face in our everyday work," says Narat. "We’re certainly not the largest Tebis user. But we have a good feeling that Tebis takes us seriously. The experts there are ambitious about creating solutions that are optimal for us."

The Tyroleans also appreciate the experience, knowledge and expertise of the software provider. "We treat ourselves to trainings at Tebis from time to time," Narat says. "We receive training at our site that’s customized for our specific needs. We submit our requests in advance, and the Tebis experts prepare the topics and come to us. We can therefore be sure that we receive training and quality consulting that are optimally suited to our needs, which are often very special due to our part spectrum. More than anything else, it's this outstanding collaboration that makes the relationship with Tebis a real and highly effective partnership on an equal footing.” Richard Pergler