What do you do when your production is running at full speed, but orders keep coming in and you can't keep up? This wood processing company found the answer not in extra machines, but in smarter software. Thanks to software solutions from ARDIS®, output per shift increased by 17% and overtime disappeared like snow in the sun. Staydown nesting, efficient optimization, and ingenious milling proved to be game changers. “We never thought it would make such a difference,” it sounds.
This woodworking company, founded about ten years ago, specializes in supplying custom furniture for designers, carpenters, and private individuals. In 2021, the strategic decision was made to focus entirely on nesting machines, with the primary goal of performing multiple operations in a single cycle: sawing parts and performing operations on one machine.
However, due to the strong growth of the online market, machine capacity had to be continuously expanded. Initially, a single nesting machine was used in combination with the automatic warehouse, but a second and third machine soon followed. Nevertheless, production capacity remained under pressure, leading to overtime and late deliveries.
With every order, the project is first (partly automatically) worked out in the CAD/CAM system. Initially, the nesting machines were controlled directly from this system. “The machine control was included in our CAD/CAM package, so it seemed logical to do it that way. It was only through word of mouth that we learned about ARDIS®, which showed us where we could optimize,” says the company manager.
The implementation of ARDIS® OPTIMIZER and CAM CENTER in 2024 gave production a serious boost. On the one hand, a revolutionary algorithm ensures the shortest milling path, whereby the pieces are milled at the same time in the opposite and same direction as the milling cutter, and the milling cutter never passes over the same area twice. On the other hand, the machines now use staydown nesting: instead of contouring each piece separately, the milling cutter only enters the plate once and mills all parts in a single movement. The advantages are considerable:
“We never expected it to make such a big difference. Thanks to the increased productivity of our existing machine park, we have been able to avoid purchasing an additional nesting machine,” says the manager. ”The software paid for itself in less than six months... a real no-brainer.”
The shift from traditional sawing machines to nesting has been underway in America for some time and has also been gaining ground in Europe in recent years. ARDIS® OPTIMIZER and CAM CENTER solutions support this evolution by maximizing the efficiency of nesting machines. In addition, CAM CENTER is the ideal solution for companies that work with a mix of machine brands and types (saws, nesting, CNC, edge banders, etc.), enabling them to optimally distribute and control all operations from a single central platform.