“Roughly a quarter of the nation’s 637,000 aerospace workers could be eligible for retirement this year, raising fears that America may be facing a serious skills shortage in the factories that churn out commercial and military aircraft.” –Marion Blakely, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.
Finding skilled labor remains one of the top issues facing manufacturing today. We have all heard people say that there are no careers in manufacturing anymore, and we have seen the reports in the mass media about the doom and gloom of employment in manufacturing. But in reality we currently have a skilled labor crisis, and it’s projected to get even worse. We all must get involved in doing something about it now.
Just recently Manufacturing Engineering magazine reported that there is a serious lack of skilled machinists and technicians as baby boomers leave the workforce. As much as 50% of our current manufacturing workforce will retire in the next decade, and few training and skill-development programs are in place to compensate for this loss. Jim Ellison of Ellison Technology was quoted in the article: “Some work is going overseas simply because we have no capacity to man the machines to produce what is required.”
CGTech is dedicated to our educational partners. Following are just a few of the benefits you and your students will enjoy by including VERICUT in your curriculum.
Benefits:
Utilize VERICUT’s extensive library of machines & controls
Help students learn complex machining concepts, including 5-axis and mill/turn multitasking machines
Seamlessly integrate VERICUT with your CAM system(s) using a VERICUT interface
See how G-codes affect the machine with VERICUT’s built-in MDI
Teach programming courses using machines that you don’t actually have in the shop
VERICUT is the world’s leading CNC simulation software – used in all industries with all CAD/CAM/PLM systems to simulate NC code, whether programmed manually or post-processed from a CAM system. By being trained with VERICUT, your students will have a competitive edge upon entering the job market.
The GGTech Educational Program includes all the modules and licenses that your school needs for one annual fee. The program also includes training provided at CGTech facilities (space permitting). To learn more about CGTech’s Educational Program, please call (949) 753-1050 x206 or e-mail info@cgtech.com
Airbus is selling so well that the demand to increase build rate has never been higher. BAE Systems (Filton, UK) needed a simple way to improve throughput - it found the answer in VERICUT.
With VERICUT, engineers at Stellex Monitor modeled the Sidewinder and Spar Mill machines.
Tell Tool of Westfield, Mass., has integrated VERICUT CNC simulation software into its numerical control program prove-out process.
VERICUT enabled us to start ordinary production after a minimum of time. Since this product is new for Volvo Aero Norge and our company had never before had parts with similar machining complexity, it is difficult to estimate the amount of cost saving.
Before implementing VERICUT, the company experienced the usual time-consuming and expensive manufacturing problems related to NC program prove-outs such as scrap loss, broken tooling, and a danger of occasional machine crash.
Over the last two years, GE Aviation (formerly Aerostructures Hamble) has used Machine Simulation to speed the implementation of several new 5-axis machine tools.
VERICUT showed the NC programmers leftover or heavy stock." And the software detected a couple of places where the depth of cut was too large and tools were shanking out," said Collings. They then went back and corrected the errors in the tool path before
Dassault, Seclin initially purchased VERICUT in order to reduce the number of manual prove-outs using polystyrene material, which represented a significant expense in terms of time and money.
VERICUT enabled the designers and programmers see exactly what they were building as and in-process model in different stages of the machining cycle.
We utilized VERICUT to verify the CNC programs for cutting the tooling before they were sent to the machine control,
To protect their investment, they have been using VERICUT since 1996. They have two people to verify the accuracy of their G-code files.
"When we first started using OptiPath we concentrated on the feed rate option; now we use the constant chip thickness capability. With jobs up to 200 hours long, 50% saving is significant like having another machine tool."
The entire process took less than two hours and no manpower was required, whereas, creating the same pattern manually (the old way), would have taken one of our designers several days.
The verification process stays ahead of the actual machine position in the NC code being verified. Opera-tors can see errors before they occur.
The bottom line? Using VERICUT has made Supreme's existing machine tools more productive. Enthusiasm is up, delivery times have been reduced, and pricing is more competitive.delivery times have been reduced, and pricing is more competitive.
Using VERICUT to compare the electrode burn with the mold cavity ensures that we have all the correct clearances in the electrodes and that we have 100% clean-up." says Allen.
If I was using VERICUT at the time I would've caught the problem, and had a chance to fix it before it damaged the part.
Now I rarely see the potential crashes because the students find and correct them before I review the work. Catching those costly problems is a non-event now!
VERICUT can change speeds and feeds according to cutting conditions including difference in material and tooling. It is done automatically; the programmer does not have to make even one manual insert into the code."
Flying shrapnel from shattered cutting tools and components is avoided by using VERICUT to test student programs before they are run on NC machines.
The NC programmers at Ingersoll also rely on the simulation software to prevent mistakes when programming complex, five-axis parts.
After creating the NC programs in Mastercam, they began simulating the machining process in VERICUT by simulating the G-code data. There often can be a difference between the motion as programmed and the code after it's run through the post processor
After selecting VERICUT for third-party verification, each NC programmer attended two days of basic training where they experienced first-hand the type of results they could expect to achieve.
The program simulates milling, drilling, turning, wire EDM, and mill/turn machining operations using both G-codes and CAM output.
VERICUT provides simulation capabilities for the all the 3-5 axis and wire EDM parts, with focused control over the orientation of our 5-axis machine tool including the cutters used on that machine.
The inspection probe is created as a tool in VERICUT so the complete in- cycle gauging sequence is checked for collisions.
The bottom was machined first. This effort took about 24 hours from start to finish. By using VERICUT software from CGTech, Elliot was able to test the NC program for any problems before it was ever cut on the machine.
Cosworth Racing Integrates Walter TDM Tool Management into Manufacturing Systems
With data exported from NX, Vericut simulates the cutting process on the shop floor utilizing the machine G-code to detect any issues prior to NC Program release.
VERICUT software removes this potentially hazardous stage by allowing ReedHycalog to do all of their prove-outs on a computer.
VERICUT verification detects errors such as: inaccurate programming, incorrect tool path motions, rapid motion contact, collisions with fixtures and clamps, tool shank and holder collisions, & CAD/CAM and post processor bugs.
VERICUT Machine Simulation supports G-codes and Multi-axis (5-axis or more) support for milling, drilling, turning, grinding & EDM machines
Finding skilled labor remains one of the top issues facing manufacturing today. We have all heard people say that there are no careers in manufacturing anymore, and we have seen the reports in the mass media about the doom and gloom of employment in manufacturing. But in reality we currently have a skilled labor crisis, and it’s projected to get even worse. We all must get involved in doing something about it now.