Investing in Surfcam, from Vero Software, has improved a Turkish manufacturer’s cycle times by around 10 per cent, without changing any cutting conditions.
Ahmet Atalay, Production Engineer with Totomak, on Turkey’s Aegean coast, says before installing Surfcam in early 2016 they didn’t have specialist CAM software, but used the proprietary system provided with their CNC machines.
Currently Surfcam programs around 20 per cent of their 148 machine tools, and that looks set to rise over the coming 12 months. The software was provided by Surfcam’s Turkish reseller, Erdal Firat Engineering. Ahmet Atalay says: “We looked at several CAM packages and saw a number of them in action. But Erdal Firat’s demonstration of Surfcam astonished us, by how much time it saved us, with addressing the issue of air-cutting, which we couldn’t resolve with the proprietary system.”
He says they now simply select the designed fixture and raw material, along with the roughing and finishing cycles, and let Surfcam do the rest.
Totomak is a global supplier of a broad portfolio of automotive clutch, axle, brake and suspension system components, along with scroll compressor components, air compressor components, and hydraulic remote control system parts for OEMs in the transportation and industrial sectors.
The company also met rigorous standards set down by the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, enabling them to set up a specialist Research and Development Centre. “R and D activities play an important role in increasing our scientific and technological knowledge.”
He says it helps increase their competitiveness and means they can undertake joint projects with universities, research centres and institutes. “And now, with Surfcam’s optimised programs minimising the non-cutting rapid moves, the resulting reduced cycle times provide considerable benefits for us.
“By using optimised programs, the initial trials were performed at the machines by our Improvement Team, and consequently cycle times improved by around 10 per cent. As soon as we installed Surfcam we started to reprogram our existing products with it, and as a result, tool paths are set at minimum safe levels between operations. Our aim is to use Surfcam to reduce cycle times even further.
As well as turning and milling on a range of Mazak machine tools, their manufacturing processes also involve grinding (between tailstocks and centreless), gun drilling, broaching-through hole, honing and polishing.
He says Surfcam will play an important role in the development of their R and D Centre as they seek to reduce production costs and increase productivity. “Reducing costs by innovations in our production process, improving product quality, raising standards, and increasing profitability means we can consistently compete at an international level.”
Totomak’s Izmir site comprises a total of 27,500 square metres, which includes the 800 square metre R and D Centre where 42 staff are currently working on two Government-supported projects, as well as a number of projects for the automotive, rail, and packaging sectors.