Saving Time Through Optimization Software

CGTech’s Force optimization software reduces cycle time on every job it undertakes in a Minnesota-based aerospace and medical job shop, the Ultra Machining Company

- Kruti Bharadva

Don Lahr and Mike Tri-plett, programmers at the Ultra Machining Company, use VERICUT’s OptiPath knowledge-based machining module and have recently installed a software update, one that included a customization they’d asked VERICUT developer CGTech to make on their behalf

The enhancement request, specifically, VERICUT SCR #16986: Add ability to output optimized feed rates with multiplier variable—made feed rate changes easier through operator-accessible macro variables. This modification serves to streamline setups and eliminate the need for the programming office’s involvement on what could now be done with a simple variable adjustment.

FORCE ADOPTION

The discussion to incorporate CGTech’s newly-released Force module, a physics-based tool path optimization tool said to reduce cycle times by 25 per cent or more, had only been at the ‘maybe’ stage three years ago, with implementation still in the distant future.

But in February of 2020, UMC undertook its first Force test run on what Lahr describes as a fairly long-running job. The results were impressive enough that upper management agreed to invest in the software. “We cut around ten per cent off the cycle time on that one part number, which ended up saving the company almost $13,000,” Lahr said. “It’s not as large a savings as those that we’ve since achieved with Force, but it definitely opened some eyes to the value in moving forward.”