Page 36 - MetalForming February 2019

FABRICATION
Nesting-Software Add-Ons Gain
Fabricator ‘Power User’ Status
From basic nesting to Industry 4.0 efforts, SteinerZ sets the bar high.
BY JOE JANCSURAK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Titus Steiner, owner of SteinerZ, a Russellville, MO- based custom fabrication shop, is a quick study when it comes to nesting software.
From the 2010 launch of his firm (spelled as an alternative to Steiners) in a 2800-sq.-ft. shop, to its present-day 14,000- sq.-ft. facility, SteinerZ’s use of ProNest CAD/CAM nesting software by Hanover, NH-based Hypertherm, has grown along with its output. SteinerZ started cutting parts with a single machine, a Trumpf 2600-W laser, which it sold in 2016. Today, using a Durma 6-kW fiber laser, an ACL Group 175- ton, 10-ft. CNC press brake and an Accurl 13-ft. by 1⁄4-in. CNC sheer, its work ranges from one-offs to 10,000-part orders for such applications as automotive, agricultural, thermal oxidizers, generators and commercial trailers.
“When we started with Hypertherm in 2010, we only pur- chased the base nesting package with these modules: Auto- matic Nesting and Common Line Cutting,” says Steiner. “Since then our custom-parts work has expanded, and we’ve added several advanced-productivity nesting modules,
Kent Nolt, SteinerZ programmer, works on two projects: a nest (left screen) made up of large and small parts for a laser setup, and a CAD drawing of a thermal exhauster unit.
including Chain-and-Bridge Cutting, Collision Avoidance and Skeleton Cutup, as well as enterprise modules for Plate Inventory with remnant control, Work-Order Processing and
Data Sync for ERP/MRP integration.” (See Nesting Modules box for explanations of these modules.) The software enables SteinerZ to create large nests—as many as 45 sheets—in 2 to 3 min. “These nests represent about 20 hr. of laser time,” says Steiner, “and typically range from 11 to 110 parts/sheet, though we often have nests with
more than 500 parts/sheet.”
“SteinerZ’s expanding use of nesting modules
puts it squarely in the power-user category,” says Jason Michahlski, regional sales manager for Hypertherm, who sold Steiner the ProNest soft- ware in 2010, and has been working with him since.
Custom-fabricated parts produced by SteinerZ include these jet exhausters for use on a charcoal kiln.
34 MetalForming/February 2019
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