Customers and Partners Demonstrate Continued Confidence in ESPRIT CAM Software

A couple times this year, I have met up with CAM developer DP Technology. Each meeting impressed me with the company itself and where its ESPRIT CAM Software product line is heading.

DP Technology is the developer of the diverse ESPRIT CAM Software system sold and supported via the company’s regional offices and its network of resellers throughout the world. ESPRIT has also developed close partnerships with several leading milling, turning, and wire-EDM machine tool manufacturers, such as Okuma, Mazak, DMG Mori, Citizen, Mitsubishi, and GF AgiCharmilles.

From the beginning and still one of the company’s main goals is ease of use, and greatly reducing the learning curve, which Don Davies, VP of Americas, DP Technology Corp., said is usually on the order of a year or more for most competing CAM products. Learning is one thing, mastering is another, and DP Technology is more interested in providing its customers the potential at mastery.

Video Interview with Don Davies of DP Technology at IMTS 2018

When asked about the state of the CAM market, Davies said that it is largely fragmented into distinct segments – integrated CAD/CAM vendors, and independent CAM vendors. He said each has its own advantages but thought that the dedicated efforts that independent companies specializing in CAM bring the most to the table, and obviously, he felt that DP Technology had the ability to serve up the most comprehensive product/technology lineup in the competitive CAM market.

Reflecting on the company’s IMTS 2018 experience, Davies said that ESPRIT had a presence at 25 machine tool partner booths.

ESPRIT Kiosks were also manned with ESPRIT application engineers and countless parts were programmed by ESPRIT. Davies said, “We had a great show. The value of machine tool partners and ESPRIT served several purposes. First, we needed to create a solution that simulated and then created correct NC Code. We also needed to make sure that our code complied 100% with a machine’s capability.”

“When a machine tool builder or dealer allows you to participate at the biggest manufacturing show in the world it demonstrates their confidence in the ESPRIT solution. This confidence comes only after years of work producing those solutions. Driving the tool (toolpath) regardless of the machine tool, simulation, and the correct NC code are all essential.”

“Viewing the simulation and defining what you will get in the digital world before you run the machine is what we call the Digital Machine Package. This piece of ESPRIT software is the handshake between the digital world and the real machine environment.”

“ESPRIT is the de facto leader in the CAM environment as we fulfill the most important reason to have a CAM system – making good G code. ‘Post and Go’ is more than a slogan for us – it defines our brand.”

The products that were showcased at IMTS included MillTurn and Swiss, according to Davies, “They are at the top of the pyramid of machine tool complexity – if you can program those machines you can program any machine tool. We consider our Wire EDM solutions to be the standard in the industry for CAM programming, and they were also demonstrated.”

CAM Trends and Differentiators That Make A Difference

Davies said that DP Technology has always been a very CAM-centric company whose primary competitive differentiator is the level of support it provides its customers. The company’s goal is to get back to customers on support calls in 30 minutes or less. Also, all support staff receive broad CAM product and process education and rotate between various roles, such as support, teaching, development, and on-site experience, to facilitate their overall education that ultimately benefits customers.

With regard to CAM trends, beyond the ability to handle multi-axis and multi-turret machines, as well as continuing improved ability to deal with BIG data, Davies says he sees continued CAM industry consolidation that scares end users due to their CAM investments. Since machines are such a huge investment, they need and are expected to be able to hold tolerances for 20+ years. So, in his view, a comprehensive software family from one vendor that is able to function across a wide range of machines and processes for the long term is a panacea and one that DP Technology can fulfill.

Davies said, “Machine builders are continuing to make more complex machines and manufacturers are purchasing those machines. Integrated or multitasking machines are becoming ever more prevalent as they lend themselves to productivity. Whether a mill-turn machine or swiss type machine – they all are coming with 5-axis milling capability.  The only way to make these machines function is with a capable CAM software system. ESPRIT has spent the last 20 years working in those complex machining environments building solutions to generate G Code for those machines. If you can program these multitasking machines, you can program any mill or lathe.”

As for the future, Davies said, “As a company that reinvests 30% of revenue into continuous product development – we will continue to add functionality. That functionality will facilitate driving tool path in more efficient and productive ways across a broad group of machine tools.”

“Expect us to grow not only in product offering but in the numbers of engineers working with our customers and machine tool partners. We expect our North American presence to double in the next two years. We realize that CAM development happens as much in the field as it does in the R&D labs. As a direct organization it enables us to develop ESPRIT to fit the ever-growing complexities and automation demands of the manufacturing industry.”

Cloud-Enabled CAM and Smart Manufacturing

Davies said that cloud-enabled CAM is going in many directions, but handshaking with the cloud and the data that’s out there, along with ability to deal with BIG data is absolutely essential for success.

To further reinforce cloud-enabled CAM, DP Technology has partnered with, MachiningCloud, an independent provider of CNC cutting tool and work holding product data, and is a single source of access to the most current product data from a wide variety of suppliers. Davies said that MachiningCloud is similar to iTunes for downloading 3D digital components. The MC app allows you to quickly filter the digitized tooling and holder data along with all their detailed components very quickly, streamlining the process of developing tool lists for process planning. This is compared to historically wading through multiple catalogs to find this data and the hours to days long process. This digital data can not only be used for process planning, but can be imported directly into ESPRIT for simulation purposes. Additionally, feeds and speeds data defined by the vendor can also be utilized.

The ability to create digital/virtual environments that mimic the real world to quickly create process plans and simulate complex machines is the reality of today’s CAM. Not surprisingly, Davies predicts VR inside of CAM systems in the not too distant future, which is an extension of cloud-enabled CAM.

ESPRIT and MachiningCloud have a close relationship promoting Smart Manufacturing/Industrie 4.0 through their adherence to Industrie 4.0 principles, including interoperability, virtualization, decentralization, connectivity, the Internet of Things (IoT), and dealing with and handling BIG data.

KnowledgeBase Leverages More Than Knowledge

ESPRIT can provide an extensive KnowledgeBase that leverages a shop’s most important strategic assets — its best machining practices developed over the years — for maximized productivity and competitiveness. ESPRIT’s KnowledgeBase provides a “push-button” approach for any programmer or operator for determining the best method to machine a given part or feature by automatically selecting the most appropriate machining cycles, cutting tools, and machining parameters. The KnowledgeBase frees CNC programmers from repetitive part programming, letting them focus on strategic process planning to further improve best practices by quickly recognizing and setting up rules for automating machining.

Video Interview with DP Technology at SOLIDWORKS World 2018

With ESPRIT’s KnowledgeBase, process-specific information is stored securely and is readily available to any operator or programmer. ESPRIT uses the accumulated “knowledge” of a shop’s best practices and preferred methods to automate CNC programming. The multi-user SQL database built into ESPRIT’s KnowledgeBase provides a central repository for accumulating shop-wide machining experiences.

ESPRIT’s Automated Feature Recognition is a KnowledgeBase component providing CNC programmers with a new level of productivity-enhancing speed and accuracy. Automated Feature Recognition subdivides a given part into features like pockets, slots, shoulders, and holes. Each feature has a set of known physical characteristics including height, thickness, draft, volume, and area. This KnowledgeBase component automatically categorizes these features into feature cases based on a shop’s standards, terminology, and each feature’s characteristics.

The Process KnowledgeBase provides detailed tool control and extensive process automation, automatically choosing the most suitable process to machine a given feature — including machining cycles, cutting tools, speeds and feeds, and all associated machining parameters. When a process is applied, process steps are automatically adjusted to accommodate the feature geometry and other feature characteristics. Programmers can also create new processes and update details of existing processes with the Process Manager. All machining parameters are presented in a clear visual representation of each parameter’s source and condition.

My time with DP Technology and its ESPRIT product line provided me with insight into a company that seems right in step with the fact that machine tools and processes are getting more complex, and DP Technology is providing the ability for customers to get the most out of them.

About DP Technology:

DP Technology develops CAM software for a full range of machine tool applications, and ESPRIT CAM, DP Technology’s flagship product line, is a full-spectrum programming system for milling, turning, swiss, wire EDM, and multitasking machine tools. ESPRIT’s data exchange functionality reads data from most native formats, including Autodesk Inventor, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, Solid Edge, NX, ACIS, and Pro/ENGINEER (Creo). DP Technology also provides complementary add-ins for several CAD programs.

For More Information: ESPRIT CAM Software

Tags: CAM, DP Technology, ESPRIT, Machining Cloud, MillTurn, Swiss

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2018 at 17:00. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.