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Dark Engineers See The Light

With Vero Software

The choice of two types of software has been a vital aspect in helping engineers develop a

production engineering subcontractor’s thriving business during the two years it has been

trading in these harsh economic times.

While Dark Sheet Metal Products’ engineers run their entire CAD/CAM operation through the

world’s most powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software Radan, the overall administration of

the company is monitored through the multi-purpose management system e2i.

e2i – estimate to invoice

– enables Dark to

integrate all their

activities from initial

enquiry, through the

production stage, to final

delivery and payment.

“It’s the only production

control software we

use,” says Dark’s

Technical Director Simon Latham (pictured above).

He says Radan and e2i, both of which come from

the Vero Software stable, have been instrumental

in helping the business succeed in so short a time.

Dark Sheet Metal Products works for around 50

customers, mainly in the retail sector. Operating

out of a 20,000 square foot factory in the West

Midlands with 25 employees, they produce in-store

racking systems for end-users such as Tesco,

Primark and Marks & Spencer; and segregated

recycling bins for Spar. They also manufacture a

range of cycle lockers (pictured above...and in Edgecam, below) and systems for gas and

electric fires in static caravans.

Both of their Amada sheet metal cutting machines

are driven by Radan – a 4 kilowatt FO 3015 laser

with a feeder tower capable of holding nine tonnes

of raw material, and a VIPROS 2510 King punch

press. With steel, aluminium, brass and copper

accounting for around half of their total annual

spend, they rely on Radan’s Project Nester to

ensure maximum sheet utilisation. “It’s a

tremendous asset for us – we’ve had parts for up

to 40 jobs managed through one nest, and

because we attach route cards created through e2i to each nest print-out it’s easy for the

operator to pick and pack the parts on to separate pallets.”

And Simon Latham says using Radan’s Remnants feature, which nests parts onto offcuts,

has reduced metal wastage even further.

Both he and his engineering manager

have used Radan for several years, so it

was the only CAD/CAM software he

considered when setting the company

up. “I’d already decided on Radan

before we finalised our arrangements

with Amada for the machines. Even on

sorting out the punching tools and the

order to use them, which is considered

to be relatively complicated, Radan is

easy to use and self-explanatory.”

And another aspect of Radan makes it easy

transmitting the NC codes from computer to the

laser (left) and punch (below) – Radan DNC.

“I’ve actually got two options for the laser;

directly to the machine via DNC as it does for

the punch, but because the laser’s memory is

quite limited, I have to use another method if I

need to send code for multiple jobs. I

search for the program in Radan as

normal, and then download the blocks into

a Notepad file on the desktop and drag

those into the Amada software which

picks up the code created by Radan and feeds it line by line into the machine.”

The company has two full-time Radan programmers, with another two staff who can use it.

And he says Radan’s online knowledge base can usually answer queries they have

regarding specific applications. “On the rare occasion we haven’t been able to find the

answer, we’ve used the online support portal and had a phone call or email solving the issue

within hours.”

As a production engineering

subcontractor he says they

regard their business as

selling time on machines

rather than selling products –

and this is where e2i really

comes into its own, giving

them a real-time snapshot of

the company showing the

status of every job, and every

aspect of its administration.

“The Shop Floor Data Capture feature is particularly valuable, and will become even more so

when we’ve got full bar coding in operation throughout the factory.” The e2i Support Team

worked with them to link one bar coding station to the software. “We’re going to integrate

three more and then start back-costing to ensure we’re making money where we think we

are. Shop Floor Data Capture will record the actual time spent on each operation of a

particular job. If we think a job takes ten minutes on a machine, we charge for ten minutes,

so if it takes 12 minutes we need to know.”

e2i effectively models Dark Sheet Metal Products’ environment, managing all aspects of

their business including purchasing, sales, engineering, administration, production and

despatch.

• Purchasing: All Dark’s suppliers are on the e2i database, and all the company’s

purchasing requirements are managed through it

• Accounts, from Goods in to Invoicing: Every delivery is booked in against the

Purchase Order to raise the Goods Received Note. The GRN is clipped to the

supplier’s delivery note and forwarded to the accounts department. “The invoice is

checked against the GRN, and if it matches it’s paid. If it doesn’t match, it is sent to

me to see why there is a difference. So e2i is used as an effective catching

mechanism to ensure we don’t overpay suppliers,” says Simon Latham

• Sales: The customer database is used for contact records and activity logging

• Administration: Dark’s estimators draw up quotes manually, based on their

extensive knowledge of the industry, but they then input them into e2i to match the

orders on the system. “e2i contains full records of every order we’ve received for

every part – including quantities and prices”

• Engineering As well as operation libraries, bill of materials and finishing codes are

all included. “And we produce a full route card for every job, whether it has just one

operation on the shop floor, or a number of operations. Every drawing has its

individual spec number which is stored against the part on e2i. We print materials

picking lists from e2i, so when we generate the route card we also use the drop-

down menu to get the bill of materials and picking list.”

• Production: The schedule shows full order descriptions, and, in date order, what

quantities are on the order, what quantities are left, prices and due dates. With all

order acknowledgements generated in e2i, reports can be broken down by

customer, or by specific order.

“e2i ensures our whole process from inputting the estimate through to sending the invoice is

seamlessly integrated.”

ENDS

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About Vero: Vero Software develops and distributes software for aiding the design and manufacturing process in industry sectors such as automotive, aerospace, electronic, medical, white goods, stone and woodworking. The company has direct offices in the UK, Italy, France, Japan, USA, Canada, Netherlands and China, supplying products to more than 40 countries through its wholly owned subsidiaries and reseller network. It has more than 120,000 licenses installed.

WORDS 1054

Issued by Vero UK Limited

Contact – Stewart Bint

Tel +44 (0) 118 9756084

E-mail: stewart.bint@verosoftware.com

www.vero-software.com

Radan: http://www.radan.com

e2i: http://www.radan.com/e2i

Dark Sheet Metal Products Ltd: http://www.darksmp.com/