Wilhelm Bott GmbH & Co. KG (Gaildorf, Germany), a manufacturer of factory and service car racking systems, has used computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines for its production since the mid 1990s. Bott modernized its production lines with the purchase of a Trumpf 6000L punch/laser combination in 2002 and a 5000R punch in 2006. Both machines are linked to Bott’s material handling system.

Franz Maltan, production manager, says, “We had a situation in the 1990s where we had two CAM systems driving several different machines. When we found out that development on one system had stopped for some time we decided to standardize the other, which was a Jetcam system.”

After the decision was made in 2006 to purchase the new Trumpf punch and add SheetMaster support to the 6000L, Bott decided to focus on streamlining its production processes. Material was provided to the two SheetMasters by way of a 50-meter Stopa stock system, with scrap skeletons removed on both machines by the TrumaGrip, and then destroyed by the scrap shear. For smaller, urgent jobs the standalone Finn-Power punch press completed the production line.

“When looking for programming solutions we looked at alternative products but we found nothing that was even near to the user-friendliness of Jetcam,” says Maltan. “At the beginning of the evaluation process we had concerns that the software would not be able to drive all of the advanced features of the Trumpf machines, but Jetcam has always generated 100% reliable code.”

After the purchase of the 5000R punch machine Bott realized that more than 20,000 parts may have to run on it. Because all cutting technologies are stored on a single geometry file within Jetcam International’s (Fontvielle, Monaco) Jetcam Expert Premium, all parts could be automatically retooled within seconds for the new machine. In many cases, jobs that were nested for the previous punching machines or for punch-only jobs programmed for the combination machine were immediately available for reuse without renesting. Revision control ensured that changes on components were automatically applied to all relevant nests for all machines.

Bott had a further requirement after components were unloaded by the SheetMasters; information needed to be passed to the bending center. The postprocessed NC code generated by Jetcam was modified to provide part positions. This was passed from the punch or laser to the stock management system, which in turn instructed the bending cell of the parts location.

Programmer Eduard Reisenbüechler adds, “Over the years we have programmed our machine tools very successfully with Jetcam, but the control of the new machines’ functions along with regular update of software has been a huge step forward for us. Full training and modifications to the new post processors to match our requirements were made in only two days. Since that day our entire facility has run with zero interruptions.”

Reisenbüechler concludes, “With updates that we have seen under maintenance to both the core software and the postprocessors, the control of many features has been enhanced. Additional functions such as SheetMaster and Grip work very well and are easy to adopt and apply to existing nests. We have an extended number of options for programming the unloading chutes. With special tools such as wheels, multitool and multishear, we only have to enter the relevant parameters once-the rest is done by the software.”

Jetcam International
+44 (0) 870 760 6469
www.jetcam.com
Reply 11

Benefits

Jetcam Expert Premium runs all functions of the Trumpf punch and punch/laser machines, along with the Finn-Power machine.

The Jetcam solution provides accurate NC code output, which was customized to allow complete flexible manufacturing system (FMS) integration.

More than 20,000 parts were immediately available on a new machine due to tooling being stored in a geometry file.