CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/576646
CompositesWorld.com 79 NEWS N E W S N S N E W S E N W S W Integrated Optimization Software risk of errors. Tat, in turn, has generated cost savings in terms of improved quality control. Daily work plan in one click On any given day, IAI Aero Assemblies makes multiple parts. Its CNC cutting machines require dozens of nests to process a wide inventory of materials. "Mostly, we are cutting glass and carbon fber prepregs," says Hod, "but each part can use three or four diferent types." Like most other aerospace manufac- turers, IAI already had in place manufacturing resource planning (MRP) software and computer aided design (CAD)/engineering programs, such as CATIA (Dassault Systèmes, Velizy-Villacoublay, France). "But there was nothing that bridged the gap between these systems," says Plataine president Avner Ben-Bassat, noting for example, "MRP would output the production schedule and materials inventory for each day, but the production design — specifcally, what materials, shapes, tools, autoclaves and ovens were needed — was detailed in the engineering platform." Tere- fore, many manual operations were still required. "Production engineers would take the MRP printout and then go to the engi- neering ofce to pull each part's nest from a library," Hod recalls. Ben-Bassat describes this library as static vs. dynamic: "Tere is typically one nest per kit and one or more kits per aerostruc- ture." Tus, the production engineer would pull each of the nests Automated cut planning & inventory control Previously, IAI's production engineer would pull each of the nests required for the parts to be made that day and send those to the CNC-machining centers to be cut. Now, Total Production Optimization (TPO) software from Plataine Technologies (Waltham, MA, US and Tel Aviv, Israel) performs these functions, checking inventory for remnants and generating the daily production plan while reducing materials waste. Source | Plataine required for that day's parts and send them to the CNC machining centers to be cut. "So these operations were tied to inventory and production schedule, but they were not integrated or optimized." "What is good with TPO is that the daily work plan is now gener- ated from the MRP through TPO with one click," says Hod. TPO