PEP Nesting Shop Floor Lasers

F reightliner Trucks, an American truck manufacturer under the Daimler Group umbrella of companies, produces heavy- duty semis – the type of long-haul carriers that ship goods from one side of the country to the other. To produce those trucks, the company employs a fleet of laser cutters. In the first year after upgrading the company’s CAM software, Daimler/Freightliner saved more than $1 million. Similarly, Hi-Tec Profiles, a steel fabricator in Western Canada, also saved more than $1 million after upgrading the CAM software it uses in conjunction with its multiple laser cutters. For both manufacturers, the unprecedented savings were the direct result of switching to PEP Technology software. Daimler/Freightliner and Hi-Tec Profiles saved more than $1 million in the first year after switching to PEP Technology software. To get the story behind the profits these and other companies are making by upgrading their CAM software, Bob Jencks, president of Measurement Masters Inc., the developer of the PEP Technology software, explains the power of new CAD/CAM systems as well as the value of upgrading. SFL: Howdid PEP Technology software save Daimler/Freightliner and Hi-Tec Profilesmore than $1million annually? Jencks: The short answer is time and technology. The longer answer requires a look at how the company creates its cutting nests. Because most nests look the same, it makes sense to first discuss how a PEP nest is created compared to the traditional method. Most programmers can only spend, on average, up to 20 min. setting up each nested sheet, making it nearly impossible to complete the dozen-plus critical programming tasks required to produce a nest that can maximize material and cut fast. Not having the time to include them in a nest results in a less-than-ideal situation. PEP software, on the other hand, handles all of those critical programming tasks automatically and can execute the entire nest within a minute. These PEP nests not only save programmers time by producing nests 10 to 40 percent faster, they also save on material – up to 20 percent in sheet savings can be realized based on the fact that all critical programming tasks are included every time. For Freightliner, material and time savings represented 93 percent of the $1.5 million the company saved in year one, as seen in Figure 1. 38 January/February 2018