Success Story
Platinum Autodesk Partner Cadline had previously typically engaged with the design and engineering functions at Edwards rather than the shop floor. This was now starting to change. In the early days of this new engagement, Cadline worked closely with Autodesk to understand Edwards’ specific requirements. This process includes a full review of their computer numerical control (CNC) production facilities to establish what machining was being utilised and the manual tasks that were being performed. This included gaining a detailed understanding of their existing software being used at the time, their production set-up, and machining workflows.
Within the computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) side of the business, Edwards had been looking for a way to meet project deadlines more consistently and deliver projects more efficiently. So, the company started to look for a solution and began working with Cadline to fully understand the challenges it was experiencing in its production facilities.
Working in partnership with Autodesk, Cadline’s Advanced Manufacturing team began the process of helping Edwards automate the programming of its turning and 5-Axis CNC machines. For the turning work, Cadline supplied Edwards with the cloud-based 3D modeling tool, Autodesk Fusion 360, a solution capable of automating CNC machine programming, and providing the flexibility for Edwards to work with automated tools and still input legacy data based on its own CNC code, which has been perfected over the years. For 5-Axis work, Cadline provided Edwards with the 3D CAM solution, Autodesk PowerMill®, which can automate both CNC machine programming and tool path templates. To help ensure Edwards optimised its use of these two solutions, Cadline provided user training to ensure the successful adoption of the new technology and workflows.
Scott Woolven, Cadline stated: “One of the big areas of benefit we identified was that Edwards was spending a lot of time taking parts and manually programming them into machines. This involved extracting the part information directly from a CAD file and generating the NC code on the machine tool controller which is now provided automatically as part of that workflow. This has significantly shortened the process for Edwards, saving the company many person-hours in the process.” Autodesk software streamlines the tool pathing and templates process enabling Edwards to prove designs out and prove how its machines are going to operate in a simulation before committing to production and consuming materials. Using the Autodesk software also helps Edwards ensure there are no clashes with the tool heads and moving parts of a CNC machine.
Key members of the Edwards team can now program a simple part and the team believes that the intuitive nature of the software has made it faster at executing CAM work and is helping to deliver completed projects to its customers on time. They recognised there was a risk it would not be able to continue over the long term with other software it was using. Cadline’s Woolven sees huge benefits in the two software solutions working in tandem. “Over time, Fusion 360 will be the technology platform that most people operating in this space will go to first, as it does the basics so well, but there is also a place for these higher end PowerMill solutions because of the nature of what they deliver and the complex surfacing finishing capabilities. These two technologies can live in parallel." "Businesses need to buy the right technology to do the right job: Fusion 360 to do the turning jobs and other routine CAM tasks, and PowerMill to help achieve success in complex five-axis machining.”
Project summary
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