CAMWorks enables C P Pistons to develop an Integrated Enterprise Solution

Case_Study

“CAMWorks was the only tool we found out there that could meet all our demands and their flexible approach on APIs really helped us move forward on this initiative to develop an Enterprise Business process that linked the order taking system with the design and manufacturing processes ”

- Karl Ramm,
Senior Technology Manager and Project Developer.

The Client

CP Pistons develops, produces, services and markets high performance forged pistons in the global niche markets of motor-racing, vintage cars, motorcycle, marine and aerospace industries. CP Pistons has recently acquired Carrillo Industries, a world leader in high performance connecting rods. Together, they supply high technology components to numerous racing circuits including: NASCAR, NHRA, American Le Mans, World Rally, Grand-Am, AMA SuperCross and FIM Speedway Grand Prix; they also have more than 500 choices of catalogue offerings on pistons/rods with customization options. CP Pistons uses SolidWorks for design and CAMWorks for manufacturing, maximizing in-house design and 5 axis machining capability. They focus on providing industry-leading products and performance while maintaining the highest level of customer service.

The Challenge

Three years ago CP Pistons was under a lot of pressure from its customers to supply complex parts with shorter lead times. Their order book was heavily back logged and customers were threatening to find a more flexible source. They took a critical look at their business processes and found that while their proprietary programming was capable of standard machining, the complexity of the market had advanced. This was forcing them to rely heavily on MasterCam to perform time consuming manual operations for custom features. Repeat orders with small changes were being completely reprogrammed in the old CAD/CAM system leading to possible misinterpretation while doubling the process time.

The Solution

Barry Calvert (CEO, CP Pistons and Carrillo Industries) and Karl Ramm (Senior Technology Manager, CP Pistons) wanted to develop an Enterprise Business process that linked the order taking system with the design and manufacturing processes. They wanted a system that would enable the sales staff to instruct the assembly line and machines on the assembly line to start the order. This would require CAM software integrated in their design software, with customization capabilities through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that could be linked to the ordering system.

CP Pistons chose CAMWorks from Geometric Technologies, Inc. with the following rationale:

CAMWorks could tightly integrate with the design process which used SolidWorks.
CAMWorks had an open API platform that also could be customized to work along with their order booking system
CAMWorks had feature recognition technology which would be able to suggest cutter paths based on different piston geometry.
Knowledge database (TechDB) a feature in CAMWorks could help the client to reuse the data.

Today, CP Pistons has a master model for designing and manufacturing pistons. They have template libraries and family tables for various types of pistons and have categorized them by manufacturing processes. When an order is entered into the Order Booking Software (essentially an Access database), the output from the ordering system goes to SolidWorks whereby the new piston CAD model is generated with the help of design tables and APIs. Then, CAMWorks gathers inputs from the order system and from SolidWorks and generates machine code which is ultimately sent directly to the CNC machines.

The Benefits

CP Pistons has now doubled the productivity while ensuring consistency with a small investment in CAM software. A repeat order, even after a few years, will be machined exactly the same way it was the first time the order was processed, using the new integrated system.

Now, the next leap is taking automation to a level where a sales team member can directly instruct a job to run on the machines using the order booking system, without any intervention from designers and programmers. Clients perceptive of Geometric’s capability in building custom software applications and integrating them with CAD and CAM software, entrust Geometric with their technology challenges.