OMAX sees 3 month ROI using JETCAM to manufacture their machines

October 30, 2009 - OMAX Corporation, based in Kent, Washington manufactures high end waterjet machines under both OMAX® and Maxiem^TM brands. Many of the machines’ components are manufactured using waterjet technology, and while the company’s own CAM software provided a workable solution OMAX were looking for ways to reduce programming and machine setup time while also reducing material waste.

Jeff Watkins, Machine Shop Supervisor, said; “As we were cutting more and more complex nests we needed to use a nesting product that could quickly generate a highly optimized nest. Although our original software was fine for single component sheets or simple nests it could be time consuming to create complex or larger nests.”

As the company has already enjoyed a successful partnership with JETCAM and US distributor NestOne Solutions for two years, and many of their customers with high end requirements already using the software, they decided to implement it themselves in-house. A single license of JETCAM Expert with High Performance Nesting was installed and configured to drive two OMAX 2652 waterjets, along with JETCAM Orders Controller (JOC) on the shopfloor.

Immediately a number of benefits were realized. Programming time was reduced by 25%, as once the original part is designed and cutting information stored, it is immediately available for nesting on either machine. Any changes made to a part are automatically reflected in any relevant nests. Order information for parts or assemblies is placed into JOC, allowing job queues to be remotely constructed and then passed to JETCAM for automatic nesting. Jeff cites that this has created a change in the way they work; “It’s given us the ability to take the day’s orders and nest multiple parts into one sheet in a very short amount of time, which is often so short that we feel we can create dynamic nests anytime they are needed and save money and material.”

Nesting efficiency also provided immediate savings, with nests often yielding a 25% saving over previous manually created nests. Furthermore, a knock on effect was that machine setup time was reduced by a quarter and less sheets needed to be handled throughout the day.

For runs requiring a single component nest OMAX use JETCAM’s Single Component Automatic Processing (SCAP). This allows the user to simply specify the number of parts required, with JETCAM immediately creating nests. Additional features such as common line cutting can be applied automatically, and NC code can be generated in seconds.

OMAX required very little training during installation and have needed virtually no assistance since. Jeff noted; “During training all of our questions were answered quickly and we were able to use the software straight away. Since going live it’s been ‘so far, so good.’ ”

With plans to double manufacturing capacity, OMAX will continue to benefit from the savings that JETCAM delivers. Jeff finalized; “We find JETCAM very easy and powerful to use. As we expand we will train more people to use the system. With the savings we made in both time and material the system paid for itself within three months. It saves us time, and time is money.”

Benefits achieved:

OEM that is both using JETCAM and recommending it for use with its machine tools
Up to 25% material saving on previously created manual nests
Reduced time spent setting up machine by a quarter due to more complex nests requiring fewer sheets
Saving 25% on programming time
Ability to queue up list of parts to nest remotely on the shopfloor for automatic nesting
SCAP allows for a nest of parts to be made in seconds
System paid for itself in three months
Minimal support requirement

Machines in use: