PAS TECHNOLOGY, solution provider of the revolutionary PAS CMM automation software, announced the release of PAS CMM for SolidWorks, an add-on that enables SolidWorks CAM users to automate CMM programming directly from their familiar SolidWorks environment.

With PAS CMM for SolidWorks, users can utilize their SolidWorks models or drawings, including GD&T, to create, off line, CMM programs in three easy steps that take minutes instead of hours or days.  The integrated solution supports the generation of CMM programs suitable to any CMM machine in a DMIS environment.

  Solid Works Model converted automatically from Solid Works menu to CMM programming

"We are excited to bring our solution to the SolidWorks world," said Sam Golan, PAS Technology's President and CEO.  "PAS CMM has a successful track record of enabling leading manufacturers to dramatically reduce the time and effort required to produce CMM programs.  The tight integration between the two products will provide even greater time and cost savings to organizations that use SolidWorks."

Solid Works Drawing converted automatically from Solid Works menu to CMM programming

Visitors to the 2010 SOLIDWORKS World will be able to see a demonstration of the PAS CMM solution in booth #445.  The event will take place in Anaheim CA, from January 31st until February 3rd.  PAS CMM for SolidWorks is available immediately from PAS Technology and authorized resellers.

A complete CMM program for Solid Works Model, Drawing and both including GD&T

"Inspection, as any quality professional knows, is not without its challenges. Though an essential part of the manufacturing process, it can be both expensive and labor intensive, and create bottlenecks in getting products out the door.

Coordinate measuring machine (CMM) programming in particular is often a bottleneck in the entire design and manufacturing process, says Sam Golan, president and chief executive officer of PAS Technology (Cresskill, NJ), and the demand for highly accurate and complex parts increases the need for a better CMM inspection process.

CMM departments today may be considered one of the most expensive in the supply chain, Golan says. In addition, growing global competition is forcing companies to cut costs and trim delivery times.

“Definitely the industry needs to change,” Golan says, “And we help to do it as much as we can.”

New software from PAS Technology provides an automated link between the CAD domain of the 3-D model and drawing and the inspection domain of DMIS code.

PAS Technology’s CMM solution is an automated CMM programming tool that can save time, reduce cost and expedite delivery time, Golan says. Going from a computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) model to complete CMM program takes minutes—rather than hours or days and eliminates CMM department bottlenecks.

"The current economic downturn may have reduced a company’s business, but it has not reduced the requirements associated with doing business. This is particularly true for the numerous activities associated with technical data interpretation and application. For example, although the quantity of parts to be produced may be significantly less than last year, everything associated with the technical data package must still be addressed. This includes reviewing the constituent documents to determine accuracy and completeness, setting up first article inspections, generating manufacturing process plans, and so on.

In this period of reduced resources, there is even less margin for error. This means that those companies that get it right the first time have a distinct competitive advantage over those that can’t. The former are more productive, more cost-efficient, better able to meet schedules, and more valuable to their customers who are being whipsawed by rapidly changing economic conditions.

Fortunately, there are a variety of reasonably priced software tools available to greatly reduce the occurrence of errors. These tools enable the user to dramatically enhance accuracy and productivity when working with a customer’s technical requirements. These tools help to identify a part’s detailed characteristics, derive specific process requirements, generate process plans, and automate the creation of inspection plans.

"CMM manufacturers spend much of their development time and money creating better machines. CMM manufacturers see the creation of software program and drive their machines as necessary, but it is not their primary focus.

Programming a CMM using only the software supplied by the manufacturer is far more tedious and time consuming than programming a CNC with any of the current CAM packages. In fact, it frequently is similar to programming a CNC machine by writing one line of G-code at a time.

In response to the need for a better, easier way to develop programs for CMMs, several software development companies have created packages that attempt to bring the user-friendly, feature rich qualities of a CMM package to the task of programming CMMs."

Read the whole article: http://americanmachinist.texterity.com/americanmachinist/200901/?pg=38&pm=2

"Creating a program to have a Coordinate Measuring Machine(CMM) inspect a complex part is a time-consuming activity that can take hours and sometimes days to complete. However a new software package has been developed to reduce that time by as much as 90 percent.