WorkNC eliminates 5-axis unrecoverable costs at DMS Plastics

Over the last 20 years Ludlow, UK based DMS Plastics has built a reputation for quality thermoformed products. Working extensively with imported CAD data from its customers, DMS provides a hand holding service which takes the customer’s design from concept to reality. The natural variability of the process caused by the material properties, the tendency for wall thickness to differ across the part, and the high quality demanded by customers all call for the special skills offered by DMS. Its product range includes an enormous cross section of different parts, ranging from vending machine enclosures, body armour for the Police and Prison Service, to signage for leading automotive manufacturers including Vauxhall, Honda, and Audi, who use the signs throughout their respective dealer networks. The company forms the products from different grades of ABS and high impact polystyrene and offers a range of finishes, including chrome plating, to suit customer’s requirements. In addition, it machines its own prototype tooling from model board prior to making production tooling in aluminium or epoxy resin.

<< 5-axis trimming of the customer’s name and logo would have taken 20 hours manually - it only took 30 minutes with WorkNC. >>
Jeremy Ellis, Technical Sales Manager, DMS Plastics

The increase in CAD models supplied by customers, and the need to programme its 5-axis Geiss routers more efficiently, drove DMS to look for a solution. Sescoi worked very closely with the company over several months to prove that WorkNC could produce programmes to cut tooling and create 5-axis trimming toolpaths with the minimum of effort. Jeremy Ellis, Technical Sales Manager for DMS Plastics, explained, “Before we installed WorkNC we could spend a week programming a part in 5-axis with a combination of coordinates and teaching methods. Half our production time could be tied up with programming. We produce one or two new tools each month, making the non-productive time unacceptable.” He continued, “For a food dispenser panel, programming the 5-axis trimming of the customer’s name and logo would have taken 20 hours manually - it only took 30 minutes with WorkNC.”

The benefits of off-line programming with WorkNC go deep at DMS Plastics. Previously, it was virtually impossible to fully recover the costs associated with the long programming times they were experiencing without being uncompetitive. Not only has the software reduced these times but, because it carries out full collision checking with the machine tool geometry, the 5-axis toolpaths are right first time. Jeremy Ellis continued, “Down time on the machines has been dramatically reduced and the increased efficiency will delay the need to invest in further machine tools.”

For trimming operations, WorkNC generates continuous 5-axis cutter paths, machining with the side of the tool directly from the CAD geometry. For the large thermoforming tools manufactured at DMS, WorkNC has a new module, WorkNC Auto 5, which will automatically orientate the machine head to enable shorter and more rigid tools to be used, greatly simplifying the programming and producing very high quality surface finishes. In both cases, WorkNC considers the limits of the machine tool, flipping the machine head where necessary to keep within those limits and avoiding collisions with the part being machined, the tool, tool holder and the machine tool itself. “We had been searching for some suitable software for about eight years. The knowledgeable assistance we had and continue to get from Sescoi was a key factor in our decision making – WorkNC ticked all the boxes and was the simplest to use of all the packages we looked at,” said Jeremy Ellis.

The increasing complexity of designs and the proliferation of IGES files has further increased the need for WorkNC. Jeremy Ellis elaborated, “One of our customers insisted that we use his CAD data to generate the trimming paths for his bar dispense product. Many new designs incorporate complex spline shapes which are extremely difficult to programme manually, while for a fridge side panel with a short lead time, we would have been unable to meet the customer’s deadline without WorkNC.” He was unequivocal, “The service has been excellent.”

Installing WorkNC has proved to be fully justified for DMS Plastics, quickly producing a very worthwhile payback and enabling it to respond to its customer’s demands as well as keeping it ahead of its competitors.