A £1 million investment is significant by any company’s standards, but state-of-the-art machine tool technology can expose deficiencies in other areas of the manufacturing process.

This is exactly what happened when Lion Engineering invested in Mazak machine tools, capable of high speed cutting and offering significant improvements to productivity.  Unfortunately, the new machine tools exposed significant limitations in Lion’s CAM software.

Lion Engineering primarily manufactures components for the onshore/offshore drilling industry.  The company first moved into CAM four years ago when it increased its milling capacity and acquired a four-axis milling centre.  It tried various CAM systems but was never satisfied with the software or the support staff.  “They never seemed to have the knowledge and experience we needed,” said Director Martin Brown.

The investment in Mazak machinery brought the situation to a head.  “The existing CAM system was not equipped with post-processors for the new equipment,” said Mr Brown.  “In addition, it was unable to program the helical milling operations needed to produce critical features within the components.”

“Once the decision to change had been made we immediately began to look at other CAM providers,” said Mr Brown.  “We bought FeatureCAM two years ago, and have found both the software and the support to be really good.”

Machinist Neil Boags had struggled with the CAM system for his first year at Lion Engineering and couldn’t believe how much easier and more reliable FeatureCAM was.  “It just worked!” he said.  “I was new to CAM when I came to Lion as I had only used programming on the control previously.  The support I received from Delcam was excellent.”

“FeatureCAM gives us the high-quality surface finish we need,” added Mr Brown.  “We have to deliver the highest quality at every stage to satisfy some very demanding clients.”