Lim Technics Ltd. - 3D simulation and delivery from one hand accelerate by 4 months the launch of a new factory

The first months are critical for any new production

Project assignment

• Equipment from one hand to new production capacity
• Implementation of CAD / CAM system for NC-production of injection molds

Solution

• Completing GARANT metal cutting machines based on "best practices"
• Selection and delivery of manual and measuring GARANT tools and devices
• Delivery of GARANT cutting tools with possibility for multiple resharpening cycles
• 3D simulation of the building and the interior decoration options, choice of the optimal option
• Supply and installation of cabinets, work tables and warehouse equipment GARANT
• Implementation of individually configured CAD / CAM system Siemens NX, programming of postprocessors and virtual machines for the technological park
• Training of the design team for work with virtual machines

Results:

• Reducing the launch time for new production by 4 months
• Optimization of the spatial distribution of machines and equipment
• Complete load of the machine park from the first day of the factory

Risk is part of the business, but the more predictability - the better

Lim Technics Ltd. is a Swiss green investment in the development and production of plastic, silicone and multi-component products, and realized on the territory of Bojurishte Industrial Zone near Sofia. The equipment of the factory begins in May 2017 and is completed in 5 months. In the core of the machine park are the 3- and 5-axis milling cutters, and the volume erosion machines, with which the injection molds for details are made. The management team has a lot of experience in applying modern technologies - a tradition that it wants to extend in its Bulgarian business. For the equipment of the workshops and the assembly of the machines, the investor settles on the Hoffmann Group's catalog, and for the CAD / CAM system - on Siemens NX, both represented in Bulgaria by Soltec.

For Soltec team, as a supplier for a large number of instrumental manufacturing companies, the first step of the consulting team is to get acquainted with the specifics of the work, the models of the metal cutting machines and the plans of the building. This information is completely sufficient to select the appropriate configurations:

- for the metal-cutting machines: holder tools, fixing appliances, cutting tools, consumables GARANT

- for workstations: cabinets, work-benches, stillages and hand tools GARANT

- for the measuring room: GARANT metrological equipment

- for the warehouse: GARANT Tool24 smart cabinets with controlled access and traceability of the quantities

In addition:

- for the CAD-design department: a specialized CAD module for design of NX Mold Design and NX Electrode Design, as well as

- for the CAM-design department: NX - 2.5 to 5-core milling modules, NC-simulation with real G-codes and FBM

Every new production goes through one critical stage when the entire investment is put in, but the launch and the test phases do not allow to reach the project capacity for weeks and months. The omissions in the architectural distribution (unsuitable gauges of the objects, places of the lighting fixtures and electrical contacts, compressed air connectors) come to light. The incomplete inventory leads to urgent orders in the last moment, whose performance does not happen immediately and makes the work rhythm difficult. Particularly high risks are encountered in the implementation of the software configuration, the installation of which starts only after the installation of the hardware part.

In order to shorten to maximum the launch phase, Soltec makes a 3D model of the building and implements the virtual models of the machines and the furnishings. The process is facilitated by the fact that most metal cutting machine suppliers provide their virtual models, as is the case with the Hoffmann Group with its GARANT furniture. So machines, work benches and chairs, cabinets and stillages, electric forklifts and pallet trucks come to life in the three-dimensional space. Deadlocks, narrowed areas and non-ergonomic working places are identified. Once the Soltec and Lim Technics teams have reached the optimum version, positions of the entire inventory are scaled to within a centimeter. The machines arrive at the same time as the assembly of GARANT, as well as the equipment of the workplaces, thanks to which the employees can start working immediately.

As long as the construction begins, the first CAD / CAM constructors of Lim Technics are trained for the NX program on Soltec-programmed virtual 3D models of metal cutting machines which lie ahead to get installed. When the physical machines arrive, the main work is already done and only the tests of the cutting consumables, also made by the brand GARANT, are forthcoming.

According to the company's owners, the balance of the joint work is to reach 100% of the factory's capacity 4 months earlier than the original schedule.

Future projects

 Soltecs' engineers are working on integrating the smart closet GARANT Tool24 with the Hoffmann Group's system for electronic orders eShop which will eliminate the risk of cutting consumables exhaustion and will simplify the accounting.