Invest in the Best Available CAM Software

When Copsey Engineering committed to set itself as a benchmark in the subcontracting industry, the Essex manufacturer made its first step from 3- to 5-axis machining with the acquisition of an OKK 5-axis machining centre and CAM software from OPEN MIND Technologies to drive the business forward.

Since acquiring the OKK VP600 machine and its first seat of hyperMILL^® in 2006, the company has since invested over £1.2m in machine tools with the inclusion of three Mazak 5-axis machines and an additional three seats of hyperMILL^® to support the machine purchases. As Copsey Engineering, Managing Director, Mr Stephen Collins comments: “We didn't want to be a 'Fred in the Shed' subcontractor, so we invested in the best available machine tools and CAM software. From a CAM perspective, we investigated the market and noted the amount of marquee OEMs using hyperMILL^®. Our investigations led to demo's from five leading vendors and we instantly noted why the blue-chip OEM's use hyperMILL^®.”

A real time saver

Discussing this situation, Copsey Engineering’s Works Manager, Mr Mick Brown says: “The flexibility from OPEN MIND’s post-processors have been a major boost to the through-flow and scheduling of our work­load. However, as someone using hyperMILL^® daily, it’s the speed the CAM software gets us through pro­gram­ming to final part that is a real time saver. hyperMILL^® allows us to incorporate vices and workholding devices into the program, so we can visualize awkward jobs on the screen and ensure our toolpaths and set-ups are correct. If we ever make errors, hyperMILL^®’s collision avoidance feature is second to none.”

Improved cycle times and productivity

“The arrival of OPEN MIND’s hyperMILL^® CAM package has improved our cycle times and productivity, in­cre­a­sed our capacity and also delivered complete flexibility for work scheduling whilst reducing on-machine programming times. Away from the shop floor, it has proven easy to use and intuitive and has allowed us to target more complex work from a wider range of industry sectors. This is a major factor in our ongoing growth and upturn in our turnover and profit margins. We picked OPEN MIND based on the re­com­men­da­ti­ons of leading OEMs and we haven’t been disappointed. It’s delivered everything we wanted and much more,” concludes Mr Brown.

www.copseygb.com