RADAN Success Opens Door For EDGECAM and Hexagon Measuring Arm

A closed digital loop involving RADAN and EDGECAM, from Vero Software, ensures that special solution machines for the automotive and textile industries meet ISO 9001 certification.

Based at Mengen in Germany, mts Maschinenbau GmbH specialises in products and services in the fields of container and automation technology, textile machines, plant engineering, design and measurement.

"Now we’re using both RADAN and EDGECAM we’d never want to run our production department without it."

Gustav Strobel, Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer Gustav Strobel says they rely on RADAN for the sheet metal parts of the machines, and EDGECAM for the milled and turned components. In addition, they have recently invested in the Hexagon Romer Absolute Arm 7540.

“Because our products all bear the ‘Made In Germany’ mark we have to deliver high accuracy, extremely quickly, and now we’re using both RADAN and EDGECAM we’d never want to run our production department without it.”

RADAN was introduced into their fold when they purchased their first laser CNC machine tool – a Nukon. “Nukon mentioned RADAN, so we searched for the local reseller and came across 3D Concepts.  Immediately we saw the benefits, and RADAN has driven the laser right from the start.”

At that time, the milled components were programmed for their Mazak machine tool by hand at the control. Thomas Menholz, from 3D Concepts, says at an early stage of their relationship with mts he showed Gustav Strobel the “bigger picture” with EDGECAM and Hexagon.

“A year later he rang me and said he’d been on the verge of investing in another CAM system, but remembered my ‘bigger picture’ presentation, and asked about EDGECAM. We made two more presentations, and EDGECAM was installed shortly afterwards."

One of their regular products is a storage system for the automotive industry. Some of its parts have up to 120 tapped holes…which had to be inputted manually at the control before the EDGECAM investment. “Now EDGECAM ensures the holes are always in the right place, and programmed very quickly. Overall, the cycle for the milled parts used to take around 45 minutes. EDGECAM has reduced that to no more than five minutes.

“And with RADAN, we can now utilise the full range of our Nukon laser’s capabilities to get the best accuracy and speed. The unfolds to create a flatblank are processed directly from CATIA to RADAN…and RADAN also means we get the best sheet utilisation, keeping waste to an absolute minimum.”  

Concluding, Gustav Strobel says: “RADAN showed us how powerful Vero Software’s CAD/CAM solutions were, so it was only a matter of time before we looked at an offline CAM programming system for the Mazak machining centre. We now use RADAN and EDGECAM on a daily basis. They form what we call a closed digital loop, from design right through to manufacturing.”