• Advanced Manufacturing

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SHEET HAPPENS III: How to use nesting explorer

  • Advanced Manufacturing
When tackling a CNC job at Lantek, the first thing I am asked to do is create the complete job, which includes programming all the parts in sub-jobs on the different machines in the workshop together with the qualities, thicknesses, and sheet metal formats of the material.

The imperative IT/OT convergence in the industrial sector to make progress with digitization

  • Internet of Things (IoT)
There’s still quite a way to go in the industrial sector’s journey towards digitization. Many companies, especially the smallest ones, don’t have segregated IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) networks, instead, all of the equipment is connected to one single network which leads directly to the Internet. In others, generally the largest ones, the workshop’s network is separated from the office’s network by means of a firewall, making it possible to control communication between the two worlds in a very granular manner.

Which cutting technology is the most suited to your plant?

  • Nesting
Thirty years ago, the global distribution of sheet metal cutting machine-tools was dominated by the oxycut variety (large thicknesses) and, to a lesser extent, the plasma variety (small thicknesses). There was a niche for punching machines along with water jet and laser machines. The latter were aimed at thicknesses less than 5mm and were expensive. Since then, the trend has shifted, shrugging oxycut in favor of other technologies according to thicknesses.