CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
8 September 2004
Product News
UGS Expands Machining Capabilities with NXT 3 to Include Multi-Function Machine Support
UGS announced a complete software solution for programming multi-function machines, providing a much greater level of support for multiple manufacturing processes such as milling, drilling and turning on the same machine.
UGS made the announcement in conjunction with today's opening of the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. UGS plans to showcase its manufacturing solutions at the show which runs through September 15.
Available with the release of NXT 3 later this month, the enhanced capabilities in NX Machining offer solutions that support more than one function or multiples of a single function within the same machine tool. The use of multi-function machines eliminates various set-up times as well as the transit and wait time between separate machines. It can also significantly reduce the number of machines required-a significant saving for global manufacturers.
"Many manufacturing organizations are adopting multi-function machines as a means of reducing overall machining times and costs and supporting lean manufacturing," said Chuck Grindstaff, executive vice president, PLM Products, UGS. "The new capabilities in NX 3 allow companies to make use of these more efficient machining processes, eliminating the time otherwise used in multiple set-ups on separate, single-function machines. This speeds the product manufacturing process, reduces potential waste and leads to improved product quality due to the reduction of material handling and set-up errors."
NX 3 offers a complete range of machining capabilities to support the latest multi-function machines, typically requiring combinations of 2-5 axis milling, 4 axis turning and drilling on multiple turrets or milling heads.
Synchronization Manager to control multiple functions -NX provides a dynamic display of each machining function as a channel on a graphical display. Start and wait codes control the flow of each phase of the machining process. Full integration with NX's machine tool simulation software provides visual validation of the entire process.
Automation through process and set-up templates -In order to make the task easier for the programmer, the process based NX machining system allows pre-defined templates covering each of the machining methods typically used on a machine type and configuration. By selecting and applying the templates to each new job, many of the time consuming tasks are automatically applied and specific machine control parameters are pre-set, making the task faster, easier and repeatable.
Post Processing -Multi-function machining presents challenges for creating correct output files that support specific machine tools. If not addressed correctly, expensive new machines can easily be under- utilized, or in some cases, sit idle. NX has an embedded post- processing system that uniquely addresses complex multi-function machining sequences. Graphical simulation of the complete machining process is essential in efficiently validating complex programs. NX provides full 3D machine tool simulation tightly connected to its programming and post-processing functions-all within the same system. With all these components, NX provides a complete and effective solution for multi-function machine tool programming.
"I was very excited during a recent UGS presentation on the new and enhanced machining features coming in NX 3," said Scott Knutson, CNC/CAM manager, Acushnet Company. "NX 3 will bring a much higher level of manufacturing expertise to our product development process. We are really looking forward to getting our hands on these new capabilities."
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