Complex Programming Drives Machining Automation

The biggest challenge our customers face is the limited availability of qualified personnel to fill engineering and shop-floor positions. Lack of qualified personnel has led to a demand for innovations in CAM that drive knowledge capture in programming, the simplification of machine setups and the automation of shop floor operations. We see an accelerating trend of shops using more complex CNC machines, particularly those that offer higher levels of automation. We see leading shops employing more horizontal machining centers with multi-part workholding, mill-turn machines with multiple spindles and turrets, and Swiss-style CNC machines. These trends place greater demands on CAM programmers who, in turn, ask more from their CAM suppliers. We are addressing these challenges through our ongoing collaboration with machine-tool manufacturers. In cooperation with these OEMs, we build Digital Machine Packages that provide postprocessors with digital twins tuned to drive the advanced features of these CNC machines, assuring that our customers obtain the high-quality, edit-free G-code programs needed to take full advantage of their machine’s capability.