The Walker Magnetics Group has been able to get more from existing machine tools, and increase productivity from employees with the help of Mastercam. Walker Magnetics Group (WMG) is a global company that began in 1896 when Oakley S. Walker invented the electromagnetic chuck and founded the O.S. Walker Company in Worcester, MA. Over the next century, Walker Magnetics Group became the largest company in the world providing custom design and manufacturing of a wide range of permanent, electromagnetic, and electro-permanent magnet products and systems for industrial applications.
Headquartered in Worcester, MA, WMG’s reach is now international and growing, with manufacturing, research, and development capabilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company delivers its diverse product line to over 190 countries world wide.
Oakley S. Walker served the early metal fabrication and manufacturing pioneers by helping them to successfully hold ferrous materials magnetically for a quick setup on lathes and machine tools. Walker developed a magnetic chuck 110 ten years ago, and the Engelsted family carries on this manufacturing today. Today, the company has three primary product families: magnetic workholding, magnetic work lifting, and magnetic separation, which separates ferrous from non-ferrous materials for the recycling industry.
Size wise, WMG produces a very large range of products. WMG products range in size from a magnetic driver for a lathe that’s a mere three inches in diameter, all the way up to a 100-inch diameter magnet used in scrap yards. They also make a magnetic holding system designed to be attached to a beam, and some of these beams can be 50 feet long and pick up 40 tons of steel. The company builds just about anything that would fit its equipment.
Manufacturing Engineer Rich Laprade says, “With the global competitive pressure that we're all feeling, we’ve come up with a strategy to look forward and tap technology to help us stay competitive or gain a competitive advantage. Part of this involves the purchase of new equipment, such as a vertical machining center and turning centers. At the same time, we wanted to ensure that the CAM package was also the latest technology, rather than trying to apply old CAM packages to newer machines. So we started looking for an integrated solution to some of the manufacturing problems we were experiencing on the machining end of our business.”
“Services Four Automation was very willing to work with us and sort of tailor the installation to our needs. They made sure that we weren't getting more than we needed, and also that we weren't going to be deficient in the package that we received. They also talked with us about the operational and engineering end of the business to ensure a smooth transition and integration with our engineering CAD package. The remarkable thing we found is that, even with our 25-year-old CNC equipment, Mastercam has allowed us to breathe some new life into it.” WMG’s older equipment experienced greater productivity because Mastercam generated tolpaths were more efficient than the ones produced by the company’s older software.
A wealth of experience is behind Mastercam. Continuous software updating through new releases has allowed WMG “to take advantage of the efficiency improvements that keep coming out with each release,” notes Laprade. He adds, “We were very amazed and very pleased to take some of our older equipment and get greater production out of it as if it were a new piece of equipment.”
WMG uses Mastercam for milling and turning. What Laprade really likes about it is that operators who had not programmed in the past were able to become productive problem solvers with very minimal training. They became assets in spreading the software knowledge over a wider employee base very quickly.
Laprade adds, “This is because of the inherent user-friendliness of Mastercam. I can't do a relative comparison because all we know is what we have. All I can do is compare it to a software package that we formerly had, and as far as I'm concerned, Mastercam runs rings around it. It's inherently more user-friendly.”
Asked about a specific job where the Mastercam software has really helped the company, Laprade said that they do a lot of deep pocket holes where magnets are placed.
Laprade mentions, “We're doing what I would consider basic programming. We're primarily a three-dimensional machining shop. We're not doing multiaxis work. Where I found that Mastercam has been very helpful is in deep pocketing for turning or milling. The types of work we do require cavities for insertion of electromagnetic or energizing coils. One of the things that we've been pleasantly surprised about is how Mastercam can handle that kind of deep pocketing routine, whether it's in a turning situation or in a vertical milling situation.”
In another application, operators have done turning where Mastercam has enabled them to minimize the number of tools necessary to produce the final product. They’ve been able to use one tool to perform multiple functions, which they weren’t able to do before. In the past, a necking operation would have required a tool change. Now they can use a single tool because some of the toolpaths that Mastercam uses for the operation seamlesslyintegrate right into their program.
Because the company often produces prototype or one-off products, getting an accurate cost quote is important. Here, Mastercam also helps by allowing them to get a fairly accurate time for machining productions using the Verify feature.
Mastercam has also enabled the company to take advantage of more current tooling technology. Laprade says, “We love the fact that there are full tool libraries available. We can pick a vendor such as Sandvik as our solution provider because we've worked very closely with their local representatives. It's great to be able to pick the tool and insert right out of Mastercam’s tool library. We know what that tool is going to do in a toolpath on a product and can project the production time. If we can narrow our tool selection to a good, reliable family of tools, as opposed to having many different tools from many different vendors, we’re much better off because now we know the capability of the tooling and can spread that capability across a wider spectrum of machines.”
WMG’s engineering department concentrates exclusively on design work. The company uses AutoCAD and Inventor for design, both of which Laprade has found integrate with Mastercam easily. All the CAM work is done on the production floor. WMG has four programmer/operators. They have two operators whose proficiency is primarily in milling, and two operators for turning, although they have been cross-trained.
Laprade says, “You have to realize that's another benefit of Mastercam. After installing it in November 2006, this company had only a single person doing all of the programming. It was one of those situations where, if he was gone, what would we do? Now we have four people currently capable of programming in Mastercam. That would have been considered an unbelievable goal to achieve.” |