NPL Technologies finds WorkNC’s ease of use and speed to be second to none

Nuneaton based NPL Technologies has been using WorkNC for six years. The company has a second site in Mexico, NPL-Ditemsa, and obtained global coverage when in 2004 it became part of the ARRK Corporation, the world's largest toolmaker and already a dedicated WorkNC customer. NPL has a highly diverse business; automotive foundry tooling; vehicle body tooling which includes styling models, engineering models, cubing and fixturing; as well as aerospace tooling such as rubber press tools and composite tools. Additionally, the company has developed its business with dedicated prototype and low volume manufacture of cast parts, a strong Formula 1 motorsport clientele producing patterns and tools for carbon fibre components, and by expansion into custom blow mouldings for a wide range of consumer applications.

<< For a rush job, we can have the part on the mill in a matter of minutes. With WorkNC it is easy to evaluate the part and get the cutting strategies loaded ready for machining, utilising the stored standard toolpaths. >>
Glenn Bates, Production Engineering Department Leader, NPL Technologies

Starting with one licence of WorkNC, the company now has six - five in the office and one on the shop floor. Glenn Bates, NPL’s Production Engineering Department Leader said, “WorkNC was originally chosen for its ease of use and its ability to cut parts without compromising on the methods we wanted to use. We have evaluated other systems over the years but always come back to WorkNC because it is so easy to use.” Steve Snodin, Operations Director added, “The versatility of WorkNC is particularly good for the wide range of applications we machine.” The company operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, making simple operation important for successful working outside normal office hours. Currently, there are 16 people trained to use the system.

CATIA V5 is the primary CAD system in use at NPL, but the introduction of WorkNC-CAD has brought some useful benefits to production, with ten people undergoing training over a 12 month period. Steve Snodin commented, “IGES files from CATIA go straight into WorkNC-CAD. We can then make modifications to the design specifically for manufacturing away from the design office. For example, we can extend surfaces, cut the model to fit on a machine, or add lugs to hold the part during machining.” Autonomy in the CAM department reduces the time taken to prepare parts for production and releases the design department to concentrate on its core role.

The speed of WorkNC has proved to be a big plus for the company. Glenn Bates said, “For a rush job, we can have the part on the mill in a matter of minutes. With WorkNC it is easy to evaluate the part and get the cutting strategies loaded ready for machining, utilising the stored standard toolpaths.” NPL also has absolute confidence in the cutterpaths. He continued, “Reliability is very good especially the tool collision checking - WorkNC has had it from day one.”

NPL has received several releases of WorkNC, providing an unbroken chain of continuous improvement and keeping it ahead with the latest technology. Glenn Bates said, “The roughing has improved greatly over the last three years, whilst picking out with WorkNC Contour Remachining is excellent and the toolpath editing is fantastic.” The company’s requirements have also developed over the years, initially with a move to high speed machining. Steve Snodin said, “The flexibility of the cutter paths enabled us to embrace the new technology, and has also supported our move to the next level with our investment in two 5-axis machines a DMU 100T and a DMU 125P both capable of 18,000 rpm and 12m/min.”

Around 1,200 individual toolpaths are created on WorkNC every week. Quality and surface finish are crucial, with no hand finishing allowed on many automotive forms. “WorkNC is more than capable of coping with that finish,” said Steve Snodin. NPL has gained further productivity improvements from the hole recognition in WorkNC. Glenn Bates explained, “Previously we machined holes and pockets using MDI techniques. Now we machine them with WorkNC straight from the CAD data.”

WorkNC has proved to be very important to NPL, which is particularly impressed by its ease of use and speed. Steve Snodin concluded, “The software has made it possible for us to respond to the demands of our customers for rapid delivery, especially in the motorsport sector. Its versatility is well suited to our wide product range.”