Reliability and flexibility

Employees were initially programming the workpieces directly on the machine, because teach-in was performed there. The disadvantage was that programming depended heavily on machine control. Styl’Monde therefore decided at that time to use only a single NC control (NUM). However, with this method, the machine could not be used for production during teach-in. In addition, a workpiece had to be drawn first. This meant: Waiting until a workpiece was deep drawn before hand-drawing the contour to be implemented and then programming the workpiece.

Later, Styl'Monde began offline programming with a measuring arm (2.80-meter measuring range) using PowerArm software and NC-controlled OSAI machines. Although this freed up the machine during teach-in, there were still precision problems compared to theoretical CAD. Integration into the production process still took a long time: To prevent collisions, programming, which was done by teach-in with the measuring arm, had to be adjusted to the actual machine angle and the space requirement for the machine head. Also, the workpiece still had to be drawn and cut out in advance. The positioning fixtures required at that time had to be cast repeatedly, which could result in defects. The company later made the transition to milled fixtures. These give the workpiece a more exact frame of reference, greater repeatability, and higher precision. But employees still could not avoid having to regularly adjust machines in order to achieve the precision required by customers. An RTCP check (pivot range control) also had to be performed.