A one-stop shop for FASter workflows Modern sheet metal processing places extremely high demands on software. ReSAX LASer GmbH from SwitzeRLANd has already been working with BystroNIC s BySoft 7 software for one and a half years. Production Manager Reto ReuSSer says: ThIS soft WARe makes our system complete. Text: Matthias Abplanalp, Photos: Michael Meier It is terrible, Rolf Uebersax says. The deadlines given by customers for their parts to be cut and bent are becoming ever shorter. Resax Laser GmbH is based in Thun, in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, and Rolf Uebersax is one of the company s two Managing Directors. The competition that Resax faces, he says, is extreme: Here there are so many laser cutters located in a small area I doubt that there are many comparable regions in the whole of Switzerland, he says, adding that anyone who wants to stay in business here has to be good. And fast. We are extremely fast, says Reto Reusser, Production Manager at Resax. He explains that Bystronic s Plant Manager enables a clear allocation of tasks, and thereby supports quick order processing. Up in the office, Reto Reusser and Rolf Uebersax program 3D parts, inputting the cutting commands to the Plant Manager. Below, in the workshop, machine operators nest the parts onto metal sheets; the rest is taken care of by a Byspeed and a Bystar. And what is so particularly fast about this process? We used to create cutting plans roughly every two days. Now we can react much faster, Rolf Uebersax explains. If, for example, a particularly urgent order arrives, the programmer immediately inputs the cutting command to the Plant Manager. Seconds later, the machine operator sees it, notes that the order is urgent, and squeezes it onto a metal sheet that has some free space left on it. It takes hardly any time for the finished parts to be delivered to the customer. Expressed in computer game terms, cutting plans are created in real time, instead of being turn based. And in Rolf Uebersax s language: We could barely manage without the Plant Manager anymore. Just a few mouse clicks The Plant Manager is one of four modules comprising the BySoft 7 software package. The others are Sheet Processing, Bending and Tube Processing. The Resax company has all of them. What is more, as a test customer, the company was even involved in the software development process: We have been working with Bystronic for a long They can t imagine being without it: Managing Director Rolf Uebersax (left) and Production Manager Reto Reusser have quickly become used to the advantages of the BySoft 7 package. 34 BystronicWorld 2/2013
In the office, the designer inputs a part to be cut in this case, a dial face to the Plant Manager (left). Workshop Manager Marc Müller creates the cutting plan BySoft 7 lives and learns like an organism, because everything is designed in the same way. Reto Reusser, Production Manager time now, and have always been willing to break new ground and to try things out, Rolf Uebersax says. And this was no less true with BySoft 7. It was January last year, when Resax received the software for testing. They worked with it productively from day one. Bysoft 6 only served as a backup, in case of emergencies. Rolf Uebersax admits that this was not always easy, but he praises Bystronic for actually listening to its test customers. Bystronic took any criticisms we had seriously, he says. And so, naturally, our wishes had some influence on how the software developed. When asked about what has improved in BySoft 7 compared to the previous version, Production Manager Reto Reusser s instant reply is, Solidworks. This 3D CAD program has a global following of users, and is an integral part of the new Bystronic software. It is a giant step into the future, he says. Nowadays many of his customers send him 3d model files in STEP format. The integration of Solidworks into BySoft 7 means that he can now use these to create cut parts, as one clean and simple workflow: He opens the STEP file, processes the 3D model, and, immediately, BySoft 7 automatically adds the bending reductions and laser geometry parameters; creating a bending program as part of the same step. With just a few mouse clicks, we are precisely where we want to be; going from a 3D model to the completed cut part, the Production Manager explains, adding, This is our day-to-day business. A lot of control To help such day-to-day business progress smoothly, Bystronic has integrated numerous safeguards and warning messages into BySoft 7. For example, colors are used to illustrate the locations of bending zones; thereby, preventing the programmer from 36 BystronicWorld 2/2013
and uploads it to the Byspeed. In no time, the dial faces lie on the cutting grate ready to be stacked and shipped. programming a part that would collide with the bending tools during processing. Should the programmer choose a larger tool, the program automatically adjusts the bending zones: A tool that works excellently in practice, Reto Reusser observes. In the event that a programmer creates a part that cannot be manufactured, the software displays an optical warning message or as Reto Reusser puts it: If there is a tick in every box, I can export the part and am sure that it will work. Nevertheless, the Production Manager does not want to rely entirely on the automatic features of BySoft 7. He leaves bending sequences, for example, to the pressbrake operators: That requires hands-on skills, he explains. As a programmer, he lacks the knowledge to accurately assess whether a bending sequence generated by BySoft 7 is suited to the pressbrake operator. The same applies for nesting parts: The operators simply have more experience in nesting. They know, for example, what margins they need for which materials, he explains, adding that one operator might want a slightly larger spacing between parts, while another operator might prefer a slightly narrower one: After all, everyone is a little different. The program lives and learns BySoft 7 has changed Resax Laser GmbH. Not only because machine operators now nest metal sheets themselves thereby working at the screen much more than they did before but also because processes have a shared Bystronic DNA. The machine control unit and BySoft 7 have the same way of thinking, Reto Reusser says. Everything is compatible. He points out that the control unit and the software even stay synchronized with one another: If, for example, a machine operator were to adjust the cutting parameters on the con BystronicWorld 2/2013 37
Going from a 3D model to the completed cut part including a bending program with just a few mouse clicks: The integration of Solidworks into BySoft 7 is a giant leap into the future, according to the managers at Resax (top). Also at the height of efficiency is the Xpert, which Resax has connected to a bending robot (below).
trol unit, the modification would also be automatically adopted by BySoft 7. The software lives and learns like an organism, because everything is designed in the same way, he summarizes. Improved calculated cutting times are just one of the benefits from this synchronization between the control unit and the software. It means the Production Manager, up in the office, can always be certain that his cutting time calculations are based on the parameters that are actually in use in the workshop: a vital factor in any order, Two hours cutting time or three hours can make the difference between receiving an order or not, Reto Reusser says. In addition to benefitting cutting times, BySoft 7 also reports on material consumption and it does this automatically, because Resax has linked the Plant Manager to the company s ERP system. Reto Reusser believes that this is extremely convenient, as it means that the Plant Manager can support him in carrying out the entire postcalculation. Modern sheet metal processing places enormous demands on software. In the past, it was sufficient to copy a cut part design onto the machine, using a USB stick, and then cut it; however, the managers at Resax Laser GmbH say that those days have gone. Today, there is BySoft 7, and as Production Manager Reto Reusser puts it, This program makes our system complete. We have been working with Bystronic for a long time now, and have always been willing to break new ground and to try things out. Rolf Uebersax, Managing Director, Resax Laser GmbH Resax Laser GmbH Resax owes a lot of its success to Bystronic. From its foundation in 1994, until 2003, Resax Laser GmbH used a Byflex to cut its sheet metal. Since then, a Byspeed and a Bystar have taken its place. For bending, Resax has among other machines a Hämmerle and an Xpert at its disposal. The latter is equipped with the new ByVision Bending machine control unit and is connected to a robot, our high-tech department, as the company s Co-Managing Director Rolf Uebersax calls it. Resax employs 20 people and is a typical job shop, without its own products. Most of its customers are local, only a few are from other regions of Switzerland. BystronicWorld 2/2013 39