Early adopters embraced Industry 4.0 solutions a scant decade ago, so it’s no shock to hear that some job shops remain reliant on Excel spreadsheets. But with each new software update, the already antiquated spreadsheet is on the verge of being as passé as the horse and buggy – particularly for those tied to sheet metal fabrication.
From the introduction of CNC in the 1980s, networking in the 1990s and then ERP integration in the 2000s, there are plenty of milestones to look back on that have helped manufacturers to attain efficiency and productivity. When the Internet of Things (IoT) hit in the 2010s, cloud technologies made real-time monitoring possible. And with the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the last few years, manufacturers now have a way to make their data work for them.
Lantek, a leader in sheet metal software solutions, recently widened the gap between the spreadsheet and nesting software with its latest update, dubbed Lantek v44, which takes connectivity to new levels. Lantek v44 brings a comprehensive suite of innovations across its CAD/CAM (Lantek Expert), MES and ERP (Lantek Integra) software.
“It’s the concept of being connected to the machine,” says Lukasz Marks, product manager for Lantek MES and Integra, of the update. Prior to this update, Lantek customers connected to their machines via a third-party solution. The change, therefore, is a significant departure from the “norm.”
“We decided that we didn’t want a third-party application from other companies to do the connection,” Marks says, “so we implemented technology that is like a bridge between on-premises software and cloud software. Which means that for each type of protocol, even the controller of the machine, we are developing machine connectors.”
Constant connectivity
With machine connectivity, Marks says they achieve automatic validation, which means they are registering, in real time, machine activity, including starting and stopping the machine and then reporting the finished job into the shop’s system or database. But all of this information needs a clean interface if it’s going to mean anything to the shop manager.
“We are able to show the customer,” Marks says, “in a really nice way, his workshop by means of widgets in the dashboard.”
Marks says with an easy-to-read dashboard, managers have visibility into every connected machine, the status of the machines and which jobs are being cut – in real time.
“Lantek software is for the shop floor manager who wants to look at the whole workshop and see the current status of everything being cut,” he says. “He can also see the next jobs that are waiting in line.”
Anupam Chakraborty, sales and business development director at Lantek, says that while many software companies offer the capability to connect to the machines on the floor and monitor the progress of each job, the software is tied solely to one specific brand of machine.
“Lantek can give this connectivity to multiple brands of machine, taking into consideration multiple protocols,” he says, adding that unlike other software providers, Lantek also offers connectivity to CAD/CAM with its Lantek Integra solution. “You start from the beginning of the manufacturing process, so you can go from planning to actually doing the nesting and then feeding that information to the machine to monitor it and get real-time feedback. Nobody in the market today has this solution.”
Software differentiation
Lantek’s CAD/CAM nesting software, called Lantek Expert, is also part of the update. Lantek Expert v44 offers a variety of new perks, including the properties-based nesting feature, which provides users the ability to group parts by attributes (delivery date, customer, etc.) which can improve efficiency throughout the production process. Lantek has also built in an import assistant, which allows users the ability to filter layers in DXF/DWG files. Users can also delete unnecessary geometrics when files are imported, which reduces manual cleanup and speeds up the preparation phase.
The update also includes the “punch swap in turret configuration,” which is an answer to the problem related to turret limitations. Users are able to use “rectangular and square punches on operations made with tools of different sizes, even when they are loaded at other angles, ensuring smoother operations without the need for time-consuming workarounds,” according to a company news release.
Marks says that the CAD/CAM integration within Lantek’s ERP and inventory module make it “one big environment” that includes the machines on the shop floor, regardless of the brand of machine – they can all be connected.
And with the smarter approach to scheduling jobs and enhancements made to the quoting solution (Lantek iQuoting), there is less room for user error. For example, in a traditional MES, operators are tasked with manually keying in various bits of information, such as when a machine will start and stop. Lantek’s update automates the process.
“We have enhanced that capability,” Chakraborty says. “We can track, in real time, what is going on, including manual interventions. If something is wrong, the operator can manually stop the machine and give their feedback in real time. That is the future, basically.”
Initial feedback, quoting
Marks says that the feedback they’ve received from beta testers has been beyond encouraging.
“Downtime is minimized because now the operator is really focused on the work,” Marks says. “They don’t have to click on start or stop because everything is taken automatically from machine signals.”
Chakraborty adds that another positive outcome thus far is related to a lack of a “paper trail,” which most shops are plagued with. He says most small to medium-size shops have a process where the scheduler has to transfer information to the nester, and then the nester creates the nesting report, which is sent to the operator.
“Things can get lost in translation,” Chakraborty says of the traditional process. But with Lantek v44, “the elimination of the paper trail creates more time for the operator to do his job. The accuracy of reporting has improved, and your time, materials and parameters related to cost are now being recorded. Tomorrow, when someone at the job shop is trying to quote for a particular project, they know exactly what needs to be estimated.”
Another perk with v44 is that the quoting process can now go mobile. Chakraborty explains that in most job shops, the sales team is in charge of doing the quoting. But instead of being tied to their desk and an on-premises quoting module, they can now use iQuoting on their tablet.
“They can go to their tablet, open a browser and open iQuoting,” he says. “They then log in and get the parts from the customer to immediately calculate the estimated cost and give it to the customer. That is the ease and portability of this whole module. With the spreadsheet, you are limited to doing the work in your office.”
For more complex situations where a deep dive into data is required to provide an accurate quote, there is a more robust on-premises solution called Integra Quote that the sales can utilize. Furthermore, this is also where AI comes into the picture. Chakraborty says that as additional information is entered into the system, it bolsters the ability for the iQuoting module to learn.
“Eventually, over a period of time,” he says, “AI will give them much more accurate results.”
