TPT November 2018

I NDUS T RY

Roll-Kraft names director of operations ROLL-KRAFT has announced the promotion of Kevin Gehrisch to the position of director of operations at the company’s headquarters facility in Mentor, Ohio, USA. Mr Gehrisch’s new responsibilities include oversight of the Mentor plant with a focus on achieving the company’s goals of 100 per cent on- time delivery, and 100 per cent first-time performance of Roll-Kraft tooling. He will continue his current leadership in the area of sales and strategic planning. Mr Gehrisch is a 2012 graduate of Ohio University with a degree in finance. He has been with the company for eight years, and has previous experience in engineering. Roll-Kraft provides tooling to the tube and pipe and roll forming industry. In addition to its headquarters in Mentor, the company maintains facilities in Lombard, Illinois, USA (Chicago Roll Company); Houston, Texas, USA (Roll- Kraft Texas); and Ontario, Canada (Roll- Kraft Ltd). Roll-Kraft – USA Fax: +1 440 205 3110 Website: www.roll-kraft.com Software suite groups programming, simulating, managing and production control tools Kevin Gehrisch

be used on all tube and wire bending systems. The tube design is displayed in 3D mode as the operator enters the data of each bend with a simple and intuitive sequence of operations. At the end of the programming operation, a 3D graphic simulator shows the real processing of the part on the selected bending system and highlights any collisions that would make it impossible. ArtCut is the CAD/CAM software used to program the LT-Free five-axis laser cutting system. Equipped with a module for importing 3D models, such as bent tubes, hydro-formed or printed sheet, ArtCut can be used to design laser cutting processes to be performed on the model; check the result with a realistic 3D graphic simulation that checks for collisions; and calculate processing times and costs. Other elements of the system include PartViewer for simulating the Lasertube system part programs; Composer for managing part families with jobs in common to all parts that differ for relative dimensions and positions; and Protube for production management on BLM Group systems. Protube can interface with ERP systems to exchange data on the availability of material in stock during the work order preparation, or to receive and transmit information from and to the ERP system while monitoring the single machines and/or the job orders.

of recognising the various parts and jobs and manage them automatically. Grouping the programming, simulating and production control applications in the BLMelements suite has practical implications on system integration. Artube3 is a Lasertube CAD/CAM programming tool, with many add- on modules. The three-dimensional parametric CAD model exploits the potentials of advanced libraries, which include fitting and cut-bend options, to simplify operations. The assembler module allows the import of complex tubular structures and not just individual parts, to make managing them easy. Multi-technology models, including bent tubes, can also be imported. Bending operations are automatically recognised and managed by creating the part program to be sent to the bending system. VGP3D is a simple and versatile bending system for programming and managing, designed by BLM Group to

BLMelements by BLM Group is an integrated programming and management environment. The metal tube processing technology expert has exploited its experience to make a set of software applications that, by communicating with one another, can manage multiple-part/multiple- technology assemblies simply and effectively, from programming to production control. A distinctive strength of the applications is their integration, which simplifies the work of programmers. From simple components to multiple- part/multiple-technology assemblies, the objective is to see the end part as a whole, without needing to program each single job separately, regardless of its type – laser cutting, disc cutting, bending or end-forming. Starting from a three-dimensional model of an assembly, for example, the user may want to examine and analyse it with the help of software tools capable

BLM Group – Italy Website: www.blmgroup.com

VGP3D is a versatile bending system for programming and managing

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NOVEMBER 2018