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SolidCAM: Meets the Need for Automation

SolidCAM: Meets the Need for Automation

Customer Name: Airlock India Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore

SolidCAM Modules Used: 2.5D Mill, HSS, 4x Indexial & 4x Simultaneous, 5x Indexial, Turning 2x

Airlock India Pvt Ltd, based in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu, India), is a manufacturer of a complete range of pneumatic conveying components. Established in 2009, their products include rotary valves, diverter valves, relief valves, bin dischargers and pneumatic impactors. Their primary users include the food and beverage industry, the dairy sector, the chemical and petrochemical industry and the pharmaceutical industry.

Airlock India has a large manufacturing facility with a multitude of machines – 5 HMCs, 1 VMC and 3 Turning centers. For many years they have been relying on manual programming for the production of their parts. While manual programming can be sufficient for simple parts, most industries value minutes. It is necessary to check the viability of a manual program with a dry run. This undoubtedly increases the time consumed. Moreover, it is highly dependent on the skill of the programmer. Airlock India would even outsource the programming of certain complicated parts.

Following all of this, Airlock India decided to automate their programming. Initially, a number of cycle time estimations were sent to them, and after a demonstration from the SolidCAM team, they decided to purchase a SolidCAM license in November 2021.

The obvious challenge that can be expected in this shift from manual to CAM is the learning of the software. But with SolidCAM’s excellent customer support it is made easy. Additionally, the main CAD software the customer uses is SOLIDWORKS, thus making SolidCAM very easy to learn. SolidCAM’s user interface is made for the CAD tool it is used in, which makes it easy to grasp and use.

Furthermore, after verification via machine simulation in SolidCAM, the need for a dry run is eliminated. This has saved a significant amount of time and increased production. Another advantage is that with simulation it is easy to identify the idle time in machining, and the program can be changed to eliminate that. Moreover, with the ease of this new method, all the parts can be programmed in-house, even the more complicated ones.

On the whole, Airlock India is satisfied with this shift and more importantly, it has been a smooth transition for them; which is what we promise at SolidCAM.

 

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