For all your nesting needs

“I'd been waiting for technology like this for years,” says Andrew Hemings, managing director of Suffolk-based Hemings Engineering, who started using the project nester as soon as it was released. “It's extremely fast and efficient – I can nest three days' work for the laser in an hour.”

It also means the company no longer has to run existing nests on its LVD punch press. Previously, the press ran saved nests purely for speed, even if they were not particularly efficient for a specific job and every part had to be logged manually when creating new nests which was excessively time consuming. “Project nesting means we're not producing extra parts that aren't needed,” Mr Hemings explains. “It's more efficient and cost-effective to create new nests every time now rather than use old ones.

“Project nesting has many advantages. I simply pick a part, nest it and fill the sheet, and if I've got parts left over I put them in another nest and fill the rest of the sheet with different parts.” It also works in reverse – Mr Hemings cites an example of the ongoing production of 6mm steel brackets for a medical contract. “We can often slip a number of those onto other nests so it's helping us become more efficient and increase profits.

“Previously we used to nest just one product or one kit of parts on a sheet – and all for the same customer. We hardly used to mix and match at all. Now we might have five sheets comprising different nests of different parts for different customers. That in itself is a huge benefit as we can manufacture parts for customers across a range of industrial sectors at any one time, including medical, commercial vehicles, leisure, electronics and agricultural.”

Medical contracts include frameworks for adjustable treatment couches, cabinets and bins, along with parts for MRI scanners produced on the company's Amada Alpha laser. Components for commercial vehicles range from a single angle bracket to a complete set of brackets and framework for bolting adjustable aerodynamic mouldings to lorry cabs.

“We undertake a lot of development work for vehicle aerodynamics,” Mr Hemings adds. “A customer brings us a truck and the aerodynamic moulding and we develop the brackets and fitments for attaching it. We have also created a punched non-slip platform for lorries.”

Mr Hemings says while mixing components for multiple sectors on a single nest is simple with Radan's Radnest which drives both the laser and punch, its laser cutter is actually holding the software back. “The laser was second hand when we acquired it two years ago and it's running near to capacity now. We might run 25 different parts on a nest at the moment, but if we try to do any more the Amada can't accept the size of the program. I'm intending to replace it with a more modern one soon that's able to keep up with Radan's potential. It'll be nice to utilise that extra automation that we know Radan's capable of.”
He continues: “We're getting a lot more work now and Radan helps us manage it effectively. The business couldn't operate without it. We simply couldn't program online at the machines for the sort of components we make – and because we're a small company I'm often on the shopfloor, so if I had to be in the office nesting, I'd have to employ a full time designer/draughtsman/nester.”

He says project nesting puts him totally in control over every aspect of the operation. “Everything is done automatically. If it says we've cut 50 parts then we've definitely cut 50 parts and we can easily switch between the punch and laser.” With most jobs needing to be turned around in three days, Mr Hemings takes customers' orders once or twice a week and puts them into a project. Small batches are cut on the laser and generally only higher volumes and aluminium components are punched.

Occasionally Mr Hemings will develop a component at a particular customer's premises and nest it there. The client will shortly be upgrading his DNC system enabling the emailing of the nest to the cloud so it can be run while he is still offsite.

What would he say to manufacturers that don't use project nesting? “I'd honestly say they're missing a trick,” he declares. “Maybe if they're manufacturing the same part day in, day out, they don't necessarily need it, but when you're doing something different every day it really enhances efficiency, improves material utilisation, and, at the end of the day, increases profits.”

Radan
www.radan.com

Hemings Engineering
www.hemingsengineeringltd.co.uk