Unit 31 Evaluating the Suitability of a CAM Environment Assignment 5
In this final assignment, I will analyse a current low technology manual manufacturing system for
suitability to move to a CAM environment.
There is a variety of benefits that come with using CAM as well as a few drawbacks; but for this
section of work, I’ll only discuss the advantages. The first fact about the CAM software is that there is
a much higher productivity; there is more output in a short time & less money is spent.
CAM can also shorten design time as people can set up a program to mechanise & ensure that the
software functions 24/7, which essentially allows the design time to be extended as well as production
when a manufacturer isn’t there. Likewise, machines can be programmed to duplicate projects, so that
they can produce the same product over a given amount of time; similarly, CAM has the ability to
digitize, create very detailed copies of the original design to then create certain parts of the product to
then produce different variations of the end product.
From a business point of view, a company will be more
accessible by clients as they can receive CAD models from
clients faster & easier; they’ll be able to open CAD files easily,
setup the tool path for machining & implement replications that
provide valuable information for them, such as the calculation
of cycle times, problems in a certain machine etc.
Manufacturing can deliver products to a market sooner & is
more affordable.
Under certain conditions the company should upgrade to CAM
if they were to produce 100,000+ circuit breakers in a month for example, then CAM is vital for the
production as humans would be unable to endure long hours & maintain production rate. Furthermore,
XYZ could implement CAM in certain areas of the assembly line where some parts need to be
accurately combined; & a robot that is specialised in this could be the Cartesian robot due to its rigid
structure, it can maintain precision as well as be easily programmed.
Also, this robot allows manufactures like XYZ to go in the automation sector with a lower investment
in both equipment & training; the robot alone can range in price from £1,500 to £50,000, but this is
dependent on the size of the footprint; but since XYZ is only using it for circuit breakers, the cost will
be very cheap. Additionally, the Cartesian robot can be found in many manufacturing industries, such
as ABB Ltd. Which provides a range of robots to help manufacturers improve their productivity,
quality & safety of workers; ABB has installed roughly 250,000+ robots worldwide.
Additionally, another robot the company could invest into instead of
Cartesian (or use both) could be the Scara robot since this is
normally used for pick & place work as well as assembly operations
& handling machine tools. This robot costs as low as £10,000 & still
provide the same quality, reliability & high performance; Scara
robots are also created by ABB, but another industry they are used in
is BMW since these robots are used in the assembly line, they’ll help
with putting parts together, such as wheels, doors, panels etc.
In addition, since XYZ is creating circuit breakers, which is related
to creating Surface Mount Technology (SMT) in which the components are attached on the surface of
Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Observably, human workers can very much do this, but will mainly
require welding skills; with CAM however, the robots like the ones I have mentioned can produce
these SMTs in smooth flow 24/7.
To sum up, there are a few considerations that need to be reflected on XYZ as they must know how
much SMTs they are going to produce in a period of time & they should take into fact whether the
D1 Fahim Mohammed
In this final assignment, I will analyse a current low technology manual manufacturing system for
suitability to move to a CAM environment.
There is a variety of benefits that come with using CAM as well as a few drawbacks; but for this
section of work, I’ll only discuss the advantages. The first fact about the CAM software is that there is
a much higher productivity; there is more output in a short time & less money is spent.
CAM can also shorten design time as people can set up a program to mechanise & ensure that the
software functions 24/7, which essentially allows the design time to be extended as well as production
when a manufacturer isn’t there. Likewise, machines can be programmed to duplicate projects, so that
they can produce the same product over a given amount of time; similarly, CAM has the ability to
digitize, create very detailed copies of the original design to then create certain parts of the product to
then produce different variations of the end product.
From a business point of view, a company will be more
accessible by clients as they can receive CAD models from
clients faster & easier; they’ll be able to open CAD files easily,
setup the tool path for machining & implement replications that
provide valuable information for them, such as the calculation
of cycle times, problems in a certain machine etc.
Manufacturing can deliver products to a market sooner & is
more affordable.
Under certain conditions the company should upgrade to CAM
if they were to produce 100,000+ circuit breakers in a month for example, then CAM is vital for the
production as humans would be unable to endure long hours & maintain production rate. Furthermore,
XYZ could implement CAM in certain areas of the assembly line where some parts need to be
accurately combined; & a robot that is specialised in this could be the Cartesian robot due to its rigid
structure, it can maintain precision as well as be easily programmed.
Also, this robot allows manufactures like XYZ to go in the automation sector with a lower investment
in both equipment & training; the robot alone can range in price from £1,500 to £50,000, but this is
dependent on the size of the footprint; but since XYZ is only using it for circuit breakers, the cost will
be very cheap. Additionally, the Cartesian robot can be found in many manufacturing industries, such
as ABB Ltd. Which provides a range of robots to help manufacturers improve their productivity,
quality & safety of workers; ABB has installed roughly 250,000+ robots worldwide.
Additionally, another robot the company could invest into instead of
Cartesian (or use both) could be the Scara robot since this is
normally used for pick & place work as well as assembly operations
& handling machine tools. This robot costs as low as £10,000 & still
provide the same quality, reliability & high performance; Scara
robots are also created by ABB, but another industry they are used in
is BMW since these robots are used in the assembly line, they’ll help
with putting parts together, such as wheels, doors, panels etc.
In addition, since XYZ is creating circuit breakers, which is related
to creating Surface Mount Technology (SMT) in which the components are attached on the surface of
Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Observably, human workers can very much do this, but will mainly
require welding skills; with CAM however, the robots like the ones I have mentioned can produce
these SMTs in smooth flow 24/7.
To sum up, there are a few considerations that need to be reflected on XYZ as they must know how
much SMTs they are going to produce in a period of time & they should take into fact whether the
D1 Fahim Mohammed
