organizing programs, set up sheets and prints for shop access

We really need to organize the flow of programs to the shop and how things are stored. Over the years there has been multiple people programming and modeling and there kept in half a dozen or more different places on the server. It can get quite time consuming searching for a part we made a few years ago. Sometimes I'll find 3 or 4 programs for the same part. Right now I try and take the time to weed them out one job at a time. We use inventor for modeling and edgecam for the cam side. How do you manage your flow? Any software suggestions that make organizing easier?

Thanx much

Steve

Easy.
Each part has a drawing a d each drawing has a number.

Create a folder for each drawing number and dumb everything that pertains to it in there.

All of the places I worked for this is the way.

Of course you need to discipline people who don't flow the scructure.

conceptdevelopers said:

We really need to organize the flow of programs to the shop and how things are stored. Over the years there has been multiple people programming and modeling and there kept in half a dozen or more different places on the server. It can get quite time consuming searching for a part we made a few years ago. Sometimes I'll find 3 or 4 programs for the same part. Right now I try and take the time to weed them out one job at a time. We use inventor for modeling and edgecam for the cam side. How do you manage your flow? Any software suggestions that make organizing easier?

Thanx much

Steve

Click to expand...

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i use Cimco software for file transfer.
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1) programmer can lock old programs so not possible to file transfer the incorrect program. only approved programs can be downloaded to cnc
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2) beginning of program is Revision level number which needs to match drawing Revision level
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3) Using a different program number is useful. basically Excel file has part number to program number and you search for newest program number not older versions with different program number
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4) if you have different programmers they have to agree to use latest program, edit it if need be, but not create multiple versions. usually better to get rid of older programs no longer to be used
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5) i use PowerPoint file for setup info. easy to scan old photos and pencil and paper sketches and put into Powerpoint. i quite often have a Setup file of many pages on one part. Powerpoint easy to add a arrow and text box saying or pointing out something important

Yikes, revision control is definitely in order.

We use Inventor and Mastercam although, I have been dabbling with and pushing for us to convert over to Inventor's HSM - the programming and setup all in 1 parametric file sounds like the bees knees.

Like the above poster, we have a part number for every part as well as a revision number which is written in the first part of the program.

We don't save any old part (model) files, however, we do save all revisions of the drawing as a non-working file like a PDF (DWF to be specific).

95% of our parts are fairly easy so we don’t use any setup sheets although this just caused a problem over the last 2 days.

When a part is changed, the revision gets bumped, a new program gets written and the old program gets trashed. You could save old programs but it’s extremely rare that we revert to an old revision so it’s not worth the trouble. I would suggest moving the old program to a different folder and have a specific "current, working" folder.

Your problem doesn't seem like that big of a deal but you'll have to establish a procedure (written out so new people can follow along) and stick with it.

For each part, I put everything it needs (except drawing, although ideally it would be) in one folder named as the partno_rev. That is stored under customer folders, in a programming folder on the file server.

CAM file, nc program, model/dxf/whatever, and if necessary, setup sheets as well. Everything is in one spot for the part, mostly.

The drawings aren't that big of an issue, but they are stored in a different location. Just the way they've done it here for years with the sheetmetal shit.

The root directory of that is read-only for everyone, except programmers. This works really well on the floor. Everybody can access what they need and you don't have to worry about somebody modifying or deleting things. Program and (if needed) setup sheet in the same spot. Bonus is having the CAM program there too. Operators can open it on a workstation for reference, or to view simulation for example.

Like Brandon said, most of our parts are pretty simple as well, so I can easily describe the setup in a few notes in the program. Lately I've needed to create setup drawings for fixtures so I just save a PDF right there. Very easy.

DMF_TomB said:

3) Using a different program number is useful. basically Excel file has part number to program number and you search for newest program number not older versions with different program number
.
4) if you have different programmers they have to agree to use latest program, edit it if need be, but not create multiple versions. usually better to get rid of older programs no longer to be used

Click to expand...

I don't mean to pick on you Tom, and this probably isn't your doing, but excel sheets with program number to part number charts are asinine. I've heard of other shops doing this around here cause "that's the way it was done" or whatever.

There's no reason to setup such a clusterfuck. If the programs are saved on the filesystem as the part number-rev, they can be found easily. There's no reason to "keep track" of the program numbers. Unless they are only stored on the machine control? But that's just as stupid and a big problem waiting to happen.

I do agree with you that different program numbers are useful. For each new program, I just increment the program number by 1. It doesn't matter what the number is at the control really. I only do it so any two programs can be in machine memory at once.

Each time a part is ran, the program is just downloaded. Easy. When you're done or whenever is convenient, delete it. There's no need to have to reference a program number.

We have multiple controls in our shop so each program is reposted each time the job repeats for the necessary controller. We use custom EDP software that links things like the quote folder to traveler number, due date etc. Each part belongs in a CAM folder inside the quote folder with the CAM programs and setup documents which the machinists will use to post the programs. Changes are made by me and I keep an obsolete folder in the CAM folder which has obsolete internal versions and customer revisions in it.

Our biggest hassle is actually inside sales rollover quoting parts from scratch that are simple modifications of already existing programs under different part numbers. Personally I'm all for charging the customer for programming it from scratch but like to save myself some of the legwork of reinventing the wheel every time I recognize a part.

We keep our mold projects organized by their own folder in the network, using the job number for the folder name. These are typically large projects so they require a lot more organization than machining widgets so bear with me.... Separate sub-folders are for organizing everything: cad/cam prt files, nc files, design prt files, PO's, images, custom from, customer to, manufacturing plan (which contains the work order, design/manufacturing schedules, gant charts, etc-), checklists for various departments/functions, etc-. In all a typical job folder contains 18 sub-folders. We use a pre-made folder which has everything in it from the get go. Without going into micro details it typically flows from sales/project managers, to designers, to programmers and tool makers. By project completion there are also a number of checklists, inspection/audit reports as well as all the prt files which shows a thorough, electronic trail starting from the initial customer data and ending with delivery day.

Sounds like a lot and many of you are probably dry heaving right now but this was an evolutionary process to address shortcomings in planning and execution of large projects. Need to have an open mind and be creative otherwise you go out of business or stagnate at lower rate of growth.

So far so good.

I have a folder tree.
All of my programs go into a folder called NC Programs.
Inside that are folders for every customer.
Then (depending on the customer) a folder for their customers, because some of my customers have 200 customers that we make parts for.
Then a folder for part number.
Inside that folder are the programs,setup sheets and any other info my operators need.
They are networked to the NC Programs folder on their machines and just navigate to where the program is.
Easy peasy.

First thing you need to do ASAP is to start putting everything in one location, or else you'll never get organized.