Nesting software drives all laser and waterjet technologies

Balingen, Germany - The 100-year-old Walter Götz GmbH, with more than 100 employees, provides subcontract services producing semi, fully finished metal products for prototypes and small/medium sized production runs. To do this, the company has continually purchased and upgraded a wide range of CNC cutting machines, employing a mix of laser, waterjet, punching and combination punch/laser technologies spanning several manufacturer brands.

In the mid 1990s,Stefan Burghard, managing director, discovered that programming the machines was becoming a bottleneck within the business, with three different CAD/CAM systems in use programming the machines. This was a problem when, for example, a new job had to be re-programmed for another machine if a machine was unavailable due to workload or maintenance. In addition, it took a long time for the staff to learn to use all three systems. If a programmer was away some production areas would stagnate because other programmers would, again, need training time on the respective software.

In the attempt to commit to a single CAD/CAM system it quickly became clear that it was simply not possible to use the software supplied with each machine brand to program other machines from different manufacturers, so the company researched the market for software that could drive a wider range of brands and technologies.

Burghard came across JETCAM from the dealer, Blechwelt, that offered a system that was simply and logically built so that new co-workers understand the system easily in a short period of time. The company could buy any brand of machine without having to worry about the programming process. It could just simply order a new post processor, and nests could be running on a Trumpf Laser and on a waterjet with a mouse click.

As newly purchased machines became more complex, the software was adapted to take advantage of the new features. A fully automated Trumpf Trumatic 6000L with SheetMaster could be controlled with the same precision and ease as the previously manually loaded TC500.

A problem with the Bystronic Bystar, with its proprietary software, was solved by purchasing a postprocessor from Blechwelt so that all of the company’s machines could be programmed by each of the two programmers. Götz keeps their systems up-to-date through purchased updates, and any programmer can control all the machines with the same quality. New people to CAD/CAM programming can be trained in-house and be up to speed in an extremely short time.

Burghard says when the company needed assistance, it was readily available. For new machines, they simply purchase a new postprocessor and have staff trained on how to program for any new features. The interfaces to 3D CAD system are kept up-to-date through regular updates and technical questions and problems are resolved quickly between the programmers with Blechwelt’s technical support.

Goetz runs JETCAM Expert Premium on three Trumpf lasers, a Bystronic laser and a Foracon waterjet. The key benefits of the JETCAM are: replacement of three CAM systems with one easier interface, the staff can program all machines, new machines can be programmed just by adding a new postprocessor, all existing geometry and nest files can be immediately programmed with new postprocessors, and fast technical support for any issue.

JETCAM International s.a.r.l. has been developing and distributing its JETCAM Expert range of CADCAM in over 80 countries worldwide where it supports virtually every CNC punching, laser, plasma, routing, waterjet and flatbed cutting machine available today, allowing users to program any combination of CNC machines with a single CAM system.