“Let technology overtake manual process” Mike Lauer, General Manager- Asia Pacific, ESPRIT CAD/CAM Software
My take on “Let technology overtake manual process”
It’s an idea that is also the current need of Indian manufacturing industry. Recently, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also stressed upon the idea to improve the manufacturing status of India on the world map. This is the most important step that has to be taken to improve the manufacturing standards of the Indian companies. This is an era in the manufacturing history where the production team believes in automating each and every process – from tightening a screw to programming a part on the machine.
India & technology adoption
India is riding the growth curve as we are taking a big leap from basic manual manufacturing methods to better technology which not only saves time and money but also helps to maintain the global standards. We can see small companies coming up with excellent manufacturing ideas and investing in high-end machines, improvised and customised tools and moving into CAD/CAM/CAE software’s for executing their projects in an efficient manner. Having said this, there are certain areas where we are still behind, like technology adoption & understanding, R&D and confidence to look beyond old and conventional methods.
Challenges faced & how to overcome it
The biggest challenge for the India manufacturing industry in India is the transition and change of the thought process. Indian companies have to understand the need of automation before looking for the immediate & short time solutions. Companies will have to adopt latest technologies, move out manual programming and see that the employees are well trained. Adopting softwares like Esprit will not only provide them programming solution but will also help them grow in terms of productivity and profitability.
Training & technology
The technology that we are talking about is not that complicated to understand. But yes, understanding and implementing is completely different. According to our experience an engineer working in a manufacturing company on Esprit CAM software must have some basic knowledge of CAD features and CNC machines. An engineer with such knowledge will generally take a month to be fully equipped with the product after having undergone a training of 10 days. In a span of 3 months, the engineers will be able to program almost all the parts that comes to them if the practice and implementation is done regularly. The training should be provided by experienced people who have indepth knowledge of the product, so that they can also share their practical experience which is highly recommended.
Automated activity
DP Technology’s product- Esprit CAM software is a fully automated product that helps users to move out of the traditional form of manual programming of NC codes on the CNC machines. Esprit is an high-end automated manufacturing solution having full spectrum solution for 2 to 22 axis turning, 2-5 axis Milling, TURN MILLS, Swiss Style machining and Wire EDM etc. Esprit CAM software has its own simulation engine by which the operators and engineers can see their parts being cut on the CNC machine in their computer, this is what we call Virtual Machining.
We have patented technology called Profit Milling, an high-end machining solution where the cycle time of the part gets reduced by almost 50% and customer is also able to save 75% of their tool life.
Showcasing….
We will be showcasing our Esprit CAM software, one of the high-end automated product in the market. Our focus is to provide customers a complete digitalised manufacturing solution, to understand the market requirement and then work to provide a complete packaged solution. We will also showcase our patented technology – Profit Milling, which is not only applicable in 3 axis milling but can also be used efficiently in 4 and 5 axis milling. It will help the customer reduce 50% of cycle time and also save 75% of tool life. This is a mind blowing feature of the software, which will combine with one of our other feature where we will show automatic tool selection and automatic feed & Speed data selection, depth of cut detection through our knowledge base technology. We will be providing a complete demonstration of the full spectrum of our manufacturing solution that we can provide through our software in all spheres like turning (2-22 axis), milling (2-5axis), turn mills, swiss style machining, wire EDM etc.
Message for Indian machine tool professionals
Focus and understand the requirements and then work accordingly. Change is always good, thus, it is profitable to learn about new technologies and applying it practically and then see where they currently stand in terms of the amount of improvement needed in their manufacturing process.
Companies should be ready to adopt new features and technologies and not lag behind. According to us, India is growing market in terms of manufacturing needs, and if a product has some good packaged solution for the companies, people adopt it. Lastly, we are very hopeful to see India being one of the most important players in the global manufacturing industry.
