CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

23 June 2008

Implementation Investments

Edgecam Software Brings Greater Efficiencies to Injection Mold Manufacture

Kavia Molded Products has been able to successfully beat off competition from China since installing Edgecam’s CAM system for NC part programming around four years ago. The Todmorden, Lancashire based company which specialises in injection mold manufacture for customers in a wide range of industry sectors including textiles, wire goods and electrical had been using Autodesk Inventor 3D design software for some time before taking the decision to invest in the latest CAM technology.

Kavia selected Edgecam because of the significant efficiencies it offered along with integration with Inventor. As Autodesk’s preferred CAM system, full associativity between the two ensures that when any modifications are made, the Edgecam NC programme automatically generates new code. With true data integrity assured, loss of data or downtime is prevented, proving a tremendous time-saving for Kavia in project managing plastic components from concept through production to delivery.

We considered other packages but Edgecam is clearly superior, reducing downtime by 30-50%. Additional benefits include the data translation functionality which eliminates potential issues with third party CAD data, explains managing director Chris Cole. The facility to simulate everything allows us to automate much more of the process, providing the opportunity to run lights out confident that the programme will run smoothly.

Jobs can be planned to run overnight with all the necessary tooling set-up in advance it’s just a matter of pressing a button before leaving the factory at the end of the shift.

A lot of our manufacturing processes involve quite complex shapes, but Edgecam simplifies and streamlines our production operations, says Cole. In the past it would take us an hour or more to set up a machine this is now achieved in around three minutes.

Kavia specialises in the design and manufacture of both simple and complex precision injection mold tools and plastic components (nylon, polycarbonate, ABS, polypropylene and acetyl). Providing high quality low cost tools, the company’s continued investment in new machines ensures efficient production overall and that components are produced to the required tolerance levels.

In combining our design and toolmaking knowledge with state of the art CAD/CAM technologies, we are able to offer the optimum 3D and 2D solution in terms of component tool design and performance, says Cole. Tooling can be tailored to suit customer requirements including single to multi-impression, hot runner, auto unscrewing, moving core (hydraulic and mechanical), split cavity, 3D cavity and sprung core. Associated mold tool mechanisms and maintenance support our total service provision from component to mold tool design through to manufacture and final product sampling.

The enormous flexibility and efficiencies that can be achieved using Edgecam have definitely given us a significant advantage over competition from the Far East when it comes to quoting customers for mold tools.

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