More than four decades. That’s how long Ray Proeber has been working in the stamping industry. After serving as a tool and die apprentice, he took a path that many of us would find familiar: working his way up to tool and die maker, manager and vice president. In 2001, he struck out on his own and started a company with the sole function of increasing efficiency, accuracy and profitability for his fellow tool and die makers.
“I’m passionate about the tool and die industry,” says Proeber, president and owner of Accurate Die Design Software Inc., a reseller of die design and simulation software, including LogoPress and Stampack. “Unfortunately, I see too many people designing, building and trying out dies just like they did when I first started in the shop – relying only on their years of experience. And while I salute those craftspeople and all they are capable of, it’s a shame how much time they waste by not adopting modern software applications.”
Performance enhancers
Proeber refers to the first of these applications, LogoPress, as putting SolidWorks on steroids for die design. As he explains, LogoPress has a “massive number of tools to help younger people get up to speed faster while making experienced die designers more efficient.” As a result of the large-scale corporate offshoring to China and other low-labor cost countries that began in the early 1990s, followed by 20-plus years of “the trades are dirty” messaging, it’s the first group – the Millennials and those from Gen Z – who are crucial to the future of U.S. manufacturing.
“One of the biggest problems we have right now is that so many of our tool and die makers are getting to be older and thinking about retirement,” he says. “We must replace that skillset. The good news is that we’ve seen incredible success with young mechanical designers fresh out of school picking up our software and running with it, developing high-quality progressive and forming dies far more quickly than any of us older folks ever could have imagined back in the day.”
Much of this newfound efficiency is due to simulation. Proeber describes two types: the forming simulation used to virtually form a stamped part while identifying potential problem areas and the mechanical simulation of the die and its many moving parts. Proeber likes to call these things the virtual tryout press.
“It wasn’t common until the 1980s for all designers and toolmakers to own a calculator,” he says. “Jumping ahead four decades, today’s calculator comes in the form of user-friendly, affordable software that can calculate everything that will happen when a stamping die is put into a tryout press. This includes mechanical mistakes in the die, formability, springback, and automatic development of the exact contour of both the forming punches and the cutting punches.
“Even the most experienced designer in the world can’t compete with a computer and software application as far as determining material formability, trim optimization, stock usage, die debugging and so forth, never mind the ready access to component libraries and various layout tools,” Proeber adds. “Best of all, these applications are user friendly, powerful and affordable. There’s simply no reason for people not to take advantage of them.”
Anyone who’s kicked the tires on die design and simulation software may feel it seems expensive. But, as the providers of these applications are quick to point out, the ROI is significantly faster than most expect.
“Last week, I asked one of our customers how long it takes him to debug a die using our die debugger software, which is included with our die design software,” Proeber says. “I was thinking an hour or two at most. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that that it’s faster now than when he designed dies without it, due to the fact that he doesn’t have to spend as much time figuring out things like where the cams will sit at full open and whether there’s enough clearance to avoid interference.”
The missing piece
Dassault Systèmes offers a competing solution. Daniel Pyzak, Catia technical director, explains that, seven years ago, the company introduced a Stamping Die Face Design application in its Catia 3-D solid modeling and design release (currently on V5), and more recently, a Stamping Die Designer Role for Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform.
And even though both platforms enjoy robust simulation capabilities, they were missing one piece. “We needed an advanced simulation tool specifically for die designers,” Pyzak says.
Jean Louis Duval, Simulia industry business consultant, is quick to note that the decision to integrate with Abaqus wasn’t based on not having simulation available – given Dassault Systèmes’ acquisition of the Abaqus finite element analysis (FEA) solver more than 20 years ago, the technology company is recognized here and in other industries for its deep expertise. “Abaqus delivers a tool for people who have no such FEA expertise, and it does so within a simple yet completely integrated CAD environment,” he says.
One customer success story comes from automaker and Catia user BMW. A 2022 press release notes that “the two companies collaborated to create a process-oriented, industry-ready solution for stamped sheet metal parts definition and stamping die design that will increase the efficiency of the parts design and production process.”
Similar use cases exist, although due to confidentiality agreements, neither Duval nor Pyzak are able to share many details except to say they include numerous other automakers and aerospace manufacturers as well as a customer that’s exploring the use of hot-forming technology with progressive stamping dies (something that Duval says has not been done before) and wishes to incorporate thermal cameras into the process.
This raises an important concept that extends well beyond die design and simulation: using the digital twin, together with AI and machine learning (ML), to optimize a host of manufacturing processes, stamping among them.
“One of the difficulties when using FEA in simulations has been the length of time the model takes to run,” Duval says. “For example, you might change a single parameter and wait an hour for it to regenerate, but with AI and ML, we’re able to dynamically change values and see the impact almost immediately.”
Duval elaborates, noting that this near-instant feedback gives users a certain level of predictive performance and maintenance abilities, which are further bolstered by data made available through the Industrial Internet of Things.
“If you can gather values like temperature and speed and compare them with the simulation, it opens the door to additional optimization that would not be possible without the digital twin,” he says.
Get with the program
One company that’s well aware of the many benefits associated with advanced die design and simulation software is Die Cad Group Inc., a Tooling Tech Group (TTG) company that uses a combination of Catia, Siemens NX and AutoForm. Mike Seekman, general manager, explains that a fair amount of the company’s work comes from the auto industry, but that it also has customers in the garage door business, metal roofing suppliers, appliance manufacturers and those in the consumer goods, power sports, and medical and dental industries.
“We primarily provide design and simulation services to OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers while also supporting our member companies within TTG,” Seekman says. “With that are tool and die shops that either don’t have the in-house expertise and software or the volumes needed to justify investment in each.”
This last point reinforces what Proeber noted earlier – the reluctance, especially among smaller manufacturers, to spend money on software. We won’t discuss those figures here, but according to Proeber, today’s software is more affordable and flexible than it has been in the past because many software companies have switched to an annual lease that includes the software as well as the support.
Certainly, many shop owners would rather buy a new machining center or wire EDM than a tool that doesn’t actually produce anything. And yet, considering the extreme complexity of many progressive, transfer and forming dies and the high cost of developing one, never mind the cost of premature failure and subsequent rework, the stakes are high.
“Simulation takes much of the trial and error out of what is otherwise an iterative process,” says Jeff Werkema, Die Cad’s simulation manager. “I won’t say all of it, though. You still have some unknowns like coil variation and material springback to contend with, but there’s no arguing the software tools we have available save a great deal of downstream effort, whether it’s avoiding recuts in the machine shop or reducing the amount of tryout needed in the press.”
It also makes for happier customers. Between their simulation tools and years of experience in die design, the Die Cad team can solve problems that, before simulation, were very difficult to predict and timely to correct.
“These are the kinds of home runs that lead to repeat customers,” Seekman says. “It’s also where the ROI becomes quite evident because software drastically reduces the amount of time that would otherwise be spent on the floor.”
Die designer Michael Chaulklin seconds this, noting, “Large automotive and commercial product OEMs recognize its importance and, if you wish to supply them with tools, will typically require a simulation report before final buy-off. By doing so, they’re certain to get a high-quality tool that will produce high-quality parts – a tool that also required less time to develop and will give them years of predictable service. It’s tough to argue with that.”
Accurate Die Design Software Inc.
