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Bringing Machining In-house: How Cadline Helped Husqvarna Take Control

Bringing Machining In-house: How Cadline Helped Husqvarna Take Control

Customer challenge

Husqvarna chose to work with Autodesk Platinum Partner, Cadline, to support it in optimizing use of Autodesk CAM and Advanced Materials Analysis software and to provide training on the software. The challenge for Husqvarna was that historically it outsourced much of its tooling work to third parties, but it was running into delays with timelines not being met and the cost of outsourcing electrodes, including associated transport charges. All this meant Husqvarna was incurring significant expenses on an ongoing basis and the approach was also causing issues with project timelines. To address these concerns, it decided to invest in a Hurco VMX Series- 3 Axis Performance CNC Machine and to bring its tooling capabilities in-house.

Project goals

Justin Barnes, Head of Digital Advanced Manufacturing at Cadline, said: “These machines cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and Husqvarna has made a sizeable upfront investment, but it knew the benefits of bringing the work in house, eliminating the costs of outsourcing and having enhanced control would more than counteract this. It now has design and programming software on-site to create the tooling paths to cut these electrodes on its new machine, but it was lacking a post-processor.” “But these post-processors are complex and you have to write code for them,” added Barnes. “So you have to get the details of the machine, including what kind of controller is on the machine, whether it's a three-axis, three-plus two-axis or five-axis machine. You have to find out the limits of the machine and then you take all those variables and start creating a post-processor from scratch for the machine. That’s the process we went through at Cadline to deliver this capability.”

Solution

Cadline visited Husqvarna’s Newton Aycliffe factory, trained users on Autodesk PowerMill then tested and implemented the post-processor on the new Husqvarna CNC machine and physically cut a component on it to prove it out and ensure there were no collisions or anomalies to worry about. Cadline also physically machined an electrode for Husqvarna and the whole process worked successfully. Husqvarna now wants to start designing these electrodes in-house with its new machine and will utilise PowerShape for this process.

Business outcome

Autodesk PowerMill itself brings a range of benefits to Husqvarna. The surface finish controls on the software are superb. Also, macros can be written and then batch processed for the components and the different variants of component, and then automated. But beyond this, what are the benefits of Husqvarna doing a lot of the CNC work itself? According to Blenkinsopp, it comes down to time and cost. “We are limited in size in terms of what we can put on our machine,” he said. “Previously, if we had to send items out to the Midlands or to Yorkshire, for example, to be worked on, there would be a transport cost involved with it and sometimes a delay in getting the transport. This new approach, however, gives us the flexibility to pick and choose what we want to do.” “We can have total control in-house of that workflow from inquiry right through to production. If there is a more complex, longer-term project, we can still subcontract it but that frees up our machine to do other work.”

Conclusion

Looking ahead, Husqvarna is using Autodesk PowerMill extensively to machine components. It now wants to add to its capability by physically designing electrodes in-house. Today, Husqvarna has invested in the skills of its team through training and is committed to an ongoing programme of skill improvements to help them get the best from their Autodesk software. To further support the development of the team, Husqvarna can draw on the Advanced Manufacturing expertise and support at Cadline to help maximise the return on investment made in new machine tools and so make sure the future continues to look bright.

Project summary

    Duration & delivery

  • 6
  • 2021-08-02

    Autodesk solutions

  • Fusion 360
  • Moldflow Insight
  • PowerShape
  • PowerMill
  • Moldflow Adviser
  • Moldflow Communicator

    Services provided

  • Product Training
  • Technical Support
  • Post Processor Development
  • Business Transformation Consulting
  • Business Transformation Services
  • System Implementation
  • Configuration & Deployment
  • Product Activation & Onboarding

    Customer industry

  • Subtractive Manufacturing
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