Archives for January 2009

We have now had the equipment up and running since July of 2007. The machine is working excellent with minimal issues. We typically run 2 to 3 shifts on the machine with about 1 hour of maintenance per day. We are on track with our ROI calculations and this purchase was definitely a success. Some of our lessons learned:It will take much longer than you think to get the machine up and running the way you want. I would allow 6 months for you to be able to run continuously with few problems. You will have to train people, they will make mistakes and they will cause issues that will require service. You will need to train service people and they will take a while to figure out how to keep the machine running or to debug issues. The machine itself takes a while to work out the kinks. Don’t figure on less. I have a few friends at other companies and for a 5 axis machine like this, they all agree.Software will be an issue. The CAM Plus software from Emmegi is excellent. We have found very few issues with this software. It can do almost anything you want and very minimal time for setup. Your parts libraries need to be in DXF files and saved in metric units. You can just write a script for this in Autocad and create a library on the fly. That being said, there is a learning curve in the office for people to understand what they can and can’t do with the machine. They will need to learn three pieces of software: CAM Plus, Job and Drill. They will need to understand the limits of the tools in the tool changers. They will need to learn which way to cut the metal with the flying blade. All of this takes time and people will make mistakes. We tried setting up the clamp options in the office but it was actually easier in the shop. Most things work with the default clamp locations but it is hard for the office to know when the clamps need to be closer to the machining. In the shop, you can hear it.

The Emmegi training wasn’t much help here. The people from Italy were able to get us up and running, but because of the language differences, it was mostly trial and error on our part.

You will also need other software besides the Emmegi stuff mentioned above. You will want to be able to import information into job and not have to enter it manually. We have created our own software to do our takeoffs and fabrication tickets. We then modified the program to be able to output the “unified standard format” files to the job software. This saves a ton of time and makes it possible to program as needed and not just high quantity repetitive parts. If you are purchasing a machine, make sure you get multiple copies of the software and the USB Key that enables the file imports. You will need one of these keys for every machine that needs to import files.

We have been reviewing the software from SoftTech and Orgadata. These are programs that allow you to create elevations inside the program and get BOM data and fabrication information. I’ll talk more about this in a future blog.

Service is another key aspect. We had many issues when we first started using the machine. Emmegi was very responsive. They flew people out from Italy and we got through all of our issues. I think that Elumatic has a pretty good service crew in The States, but I’m not sure about Tekna, Fom or Mubea. This is a critical component of the decision. I guess the best way to tell is to talk to other people who have the machines. I usually try to find people that have the machines to see what their experience has been. You can usually talk to the machine sales people to find out who their customers are, but you want to talk to the competing company to see who might be having trouble with a competitor’s machine. For instance, we were seriously considering a machine from Mubea, but I had heard from the Emmegi sales rep. that U.S. Aluminum was having issues with the machine. I contacted him and got some great feedback on the Mubea machine. He wasn’t as happy as Mubea made it sound, but he also wasn’t as unhappy as Emmegi made it sound. Most people I’ve talked to seem happy to help.