CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
22 January 2009
Implementation Investments
TactonWorks Enables JMS to Shorten Turnaround Times with Design Automation
Tacton Systems announced that JMS Incorporated Environmental has integrated TactonWorks into its custom configured quotations and drawings for order processing. TactonWorks will enable JMS to shorten turnaround times, improve customer response, and maintain their high quality standards in a growing business.
Founded in 1994, JMS evolved from a small tool and die shop to an international manufacturer specializing in precision engineered metal components. Parts are made for a wide range of companies within the automotive, appliance and discrete part industries. In-house engineering and design capabilities and a state-of-the-art tool room with CNC equipment enable the company to develop and build its own close-tolerance, custom tooling for presses quickly and cost effectively. One of the company’s specialties is deep-draw stamping, which can produce more complex components to closer tolerances than other methods.
In the deep draw process, workpieces move from one station to another where intricate tools punch, bend, draw and otherwise form the metal into a finished part. The challenge is in establishing parameters for each stamping station including the depth of draw and amount of diameter reduction the workpiece undergoes. Based on these parameters, tooling is designed and drawings sent to the toolroom for fabrication. Manually computing press parameters and designing tooling is time-consuming and takes considerable experience, however, and errors missed in design reviews often do not surface until tooling is fabricated. The goal of JMS was to make the process more efficient and less error-prone, thus shortening the time to begin production stamping.
The solution for JMS was TactonWorks design automation software, which allows their engineers to embed design rules in the system using a graphical point-and-click manner with no need to type in long text commands or create complex programming codes. Press parameters are then automatically computed for each stamping station from key variables entered by JMS engineers. Because TactonWorks operates within the SolidWorks environment, CAD designs for tooling can be automatically generated for the toolroom to fabricate the stamping dies without engineers going back and forth between programs or opening and closing separate files. Engineers see tooling designs immediately as press parameters are entered, and the system automatically identifies errors and conflicts for engineers to correct on-the-spot before designs are sent to the toolroom.
“TactonWorks lets us work within SolidWorks to develop tooling designs in only two days instead of a week and a half required to do all this manually. Automation of these tasks also avoids costly mistakes and delays, allowing us to increase production throughput and reduce expense while maintaining the high quality of precision engineered metal components that customers around the world rely on from JMS,” says Jason Raak, Design Engineer, JMS Incorporated.”
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