CAM让企业获利，企业要求CAM改变

　　摘要：全世界有30多个公司开发和销售电脑辅助制造（CAM）软件，这在任何成熟的商业领域中，几乎都是独一无二的，并越来越难以维持下去。在很多人看来早该发生的巩固举措对负责制造工程的人们来说，将是一个很大的影响，包括那些为数控机床编程的人。
　　为什么是现在要求加以巩固呢？因为现在对程序员以及CAM的功能要求都在大幅升级。耗时越来越少的生产运行（需要更多的软件以保持企业的运作） 、越来越多的工程要在更短的时间内得以处理，还有越来越多的样机中断，这些都是压力的来源。全球竞争使得企业获得的利润更低，而且没有留下任何一丝犯错的余地。

　　英文全文如下：

　　CAM benefits, CAM changes
　　By Peter Roost, Planit Holdings Ltd．
　　Worldwide, 30-odd companies are developing and marketing computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software. That is almost unique in any mature business—and is

increasingly unsustainable. Consolidation, viewed by many as long overdue, is going to have a big impact on the men and women responsible for manufacturing engineering, and who program computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines too.
　　Why now? Demands on programmers, and thus on CAM capabilities, are escalating. The pressures include ever-shorter production runs (more programs are needed to keep the business humming), more engineering changes to be dealt with in less time, and more interruptions for prototypes. Global competition has created thinner margins and no leeway for error.
　　On the vendor side, complex and pricey new machine tools are putting new demands on programmers and CAM. The development of a two types of CAM vendors—those that have tight digital links to solid modelers for machining from the solid, and those that don’t—is producing added pressure. Solid modeling has driven two-dimensional and wireframe computer-aided design (CAD) almost completely out of design and engineering.
　　The coming consolidation will be led by large CAM vendors with global reach, by developers of solid-modeling systems and by product lifecycle management (PLM) software companies. It will make a transition to CAM easier for users, because the surviving CAM companies will realize, as Planit has, that the basis of competition is shifting strongly toward customer service.
　　But CAM users and customers have a role to play too. All demand a broad portfolio of products from a single supplier like Planit (and its business units EdgeCAM, Radan, PartModeler) and other leading suppliers. They tell us they are happy with the products and services, and that they are willing to turn a sales relationship into a partnership with many added benefits. But many don’t follow through. They don’t send their users to advanced training to learn to use these tools.
　　If there is a disconnect in the CAM business, this is it. And that disconnect may grow bigger as customers increasingly demand all kinds of production data to feed PLM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
　　Fortune 1000 manufacturers, defense contractors, regulated companies, and their counterparts worldwide already demand that these information loops be identified and closed tightly. Most insist that parts suppliers “get with the program” and use the CAM products that are available. Those that can’t or won’t are dropped. So let’s take a deeper look at how CAM is used and assess the second-order benefits, the ones that accrue to the business as a whole.
　　CAM allows a company to:
　　·Safeguard design intent by eliminating all redrawing of geometry.
　　·Eliminate errors that cause rework or scrap by verifying CNC toolpaths.
　　·Slash delivery times and simplify operations by minimizing machine-to-machine transfers and setups.
　　·Integrate inspection and quality assurance.
　　·Generate accurate time estimates and avoid collisions by simulating processes.
　　·Get the best from skilled workers by increasing their productivity.
　　·Evaluate workarounds for avoiding production bottlenecks and optimize key equipment.
　　All these factory floor innovations lead directly into tools and techniques that the front office can put to work this afternoon or next Monday morning to improve the business. In this environment, the robust and well-financed CAM-using companies that capture the information underlying these second-order benefits—and present it usefully—will survive.
　　Benefits from these bullet points are invaluable to every user of CAM—original equipment manufacturers, contract parts makers, tooling suppliers, and custom machinery builders. For shrewd managers, CAM information provides the best data on cost cutting and waste elimination. In world-class companies, CAM information is put to work in almost every part of a manufacturing business. In smaller companies, the benefits can be just as great.
　　Author Information
　　Peter Roost is marketing director for metals business worldwide at Planit Holdings Ltd. in Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.planit.com.