Tooling Systems goes from 10 to 60 steels per week with WorkNC

The Tooling Systems Group comprises six companies. Five of them - Advanced Tooling Systems, Controlled Tooling Systems, Engineered Tooling Systems, Mold Tooling Systems, and Specialty Tooling Systems are situated in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA, while Dienamic Tooling Systems is located in Oak Ridge Tennessee. Formed in 1982 by Drew Boersma and Kurt Van Vels, the group has grown rapidly, and includes first tier automotive companies such as Toyota, Ford, GM and BMW amongst its customers. Across the group the company has the ability to provide a full tooling service – large stamping dies; progressive dies; plastic injection molds; and die casting tooling, complemented by in house tool design and troubleshooting.

<< With WorkNC-CAD and WorkNC Feature Recognition we have increased the productivity from 10 to 60 steels per operator per week. >>
Jon Armstrong, Programmer, Advanced Tooling Systems

Both Advanced Tooling Systems and Engineered Tooling Systems specialize in stampings. It is not uncommon for them to build 10 station progression dies which produce parts from strip up to 12ft long, line dies which can consist of eight separate tools to make one part, and transfer tools for the largest panels, including provision of the robotic arm to move the part between stations. The group has been using WorkNC since 1995, but moving the software onto the shop floor and the introduction of WorkNC-CAD and WorkNC’s Feature Recognition module has provided considerable benefits for the company. Jon Armstrong, Programmer at Advanced Tooling Systems elaborated, “The previous CAM system, which we used on the shop floor, limited us to ten steel inserts per operator per week, due to the excessive programming time. Now we use a fixture system where we can load ten steels at once. Along with WorkNC-CAD and feature recognition we have increased the productivity to 60 seels per operator per week.”

Jon Armstrong continued, “Not only does feature recognition automate the programming and eliminate human error, but having WorkNCCAD reduces delays as we can complete the design for production ourselves rather than waiting for our design department to fit it into their busy schedule. Previously, the hole machining of each workzone took 1.5 hours, with WorkNC’s feature recognition software it now takes five minutes.”

Tooling Systems work in partnership with Sescoi on the development and implementation of feature recognition. Shawn Schwartz, Programmer at Engineered Tooling Systems, commented, “We have a very close relationship with Sescoi support engineers, who are constantly working with us to maximize the benefits we get from feature recognition. In addition, we also help Sescoi by testing beta versions of new releases of WorkNC.”

High torque roughing Both Advanced Tooling Systems and Engineered Tooling Systems use the WorkNC high torque reroughing routine extensively. Thecycle enables all the parts located on the fixture to be roughed as one program, while the reliability of the toolpaths has enabled some high metal removal rates. Shawn Schwartz said, “We use a 52mm button cutter with high torque reroughing and we can operate at feedrates of 600 inches per minute with a 0.04 inch step down. We are very impressed by the speeds we can achieve, which are due to the high level of tool engagement and the way in which the number of lifts has been minimized in the latest version of WorkNC.”

Shawn Schwartz and Jon Armstrong have taken full advantage of the training offered by Sescoi. Shawn Schwartz said, “We have found the update classes, the WorkNC-CAD classes and the technical sessions to be very valuable. The Sescoi engineers are particularly knowledgeable.” Jon Armstrong concluded, “In the last six months we have built over forty tools from start to finish at our plant. 50% of the tools were progressive dies, which can contain 600 details each. Without WorkNC this would be a very difficult task indeed. WorkNC is extremely important to the way in which we machine at Tooling Systems.”