MACFAB optimises its lean manufacturing with Lantek

Source：Lantek Release Date：2012-07-18 461

MetalworkingSemiconductor/Electronic ChipSemiconductor / Electronic Chip

Lantek Expert CADCAM software has helped MACFAB to work towards the lean manufacture of its sheet metal parts and to increase its material utilization.

Based in Carrickmacross, Ireland, MACFAB designs and manufactures cost effective waste baling equipment which is used by blue chip organisations, such as Marks & Spencer, Kingspan and the NHS, and distributed, through an international dealer network, in markets as diverse as Japan, France and Chile.

Dane McMahon, Production Manager of MACFAB says, “Lantek Expert was recommended to us by our machine supplier, Kerf Developments, and we use it on both our laser and plasma cutters. The technology of the software and the machine are well attuned, giving us a good clean edge which has made a significant difference to us, as it eliminates a subsequent descaling operation.”

MACFAB designs its products in Autodesk Inventor. Each baler assembly can consist of hundreds of parts and these are dragged and dropped in their unfolded state into Lantek Expert where the machine operator can check quantities and dynamically nest parts according to customer requirements. Dane McMahon says, “Batch sizes are small as we only make six or seven of each machine model at any one time, each of which is made up of a large number of individual sheet metal components. Typical overall order levels may be for 450 machines and these are sorted according to their delivery priority. By opting for the dynamic nesting in Lantek Expert we can put the shop loading in and produce a series of nests which are tailored to the exact requirements of our customers for that day.” The software sorts the requirements according to sheet thickness and priority and automatically produces the most efficient nest ready for manufacture. Parts are large and rectangular in shape, so few useable offcuts are produced, making the optimization of the dynamic nesting process highly important for maximum material utilisation.

The company works on Toyota lean manufacturing principles to reduce waste in material, processing and stock, and is continually striving to improve efficiency, so using both Lantek Expert and Lantek Manager fits well with these principles. Lantek Manager holds the bills of materials lists of MACFAB’s products and helps it to gain a better understanding of the cost of its balers. Dane McMahon says, “We use mostly 4m x 2m sheet and, when new material arrives, it is adAir Foamposite Pro