Page 28 - MetalForming September 2019

FABRICATION
What’s New
in Nesting for
Laser Cutting?
Powerful algorithms help deliver productivity-enhancing features such as improved estimating, lead-in optimization, part-in-part nesting and more.
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR
Nesting software, with the capability to arrange parts to minimize webs and spacing while determining the ideal cutting path, provides the engine to drive material utilization into the 80 to 90-percent sweet spot.
Material savings is the goal across all metal forming and fabricating operations. This holds true especially in laser cutting, where dizzying production speeds push part volumes into the realm where once only hard tooling resided.
Optimal material utilization propels volume capability even further, while slashing material-purchase costs as well as costs associated with material handling.
Nesting software, with the capability to arrange parts to minimize webs and spacing while determining the ideal cutting path, provides the engine to drive material utilization into the 80- 90-percent sweet spot. But, it’s quite the understatement to say that nesting is complex. Placing parts in a sheet to optimize material use represents a challenge, but the challenges don’t end there. Proper nesting also takes into account part orientation and many other factors to optimize the cutting
26 MetalForming/September 2019
www.metalformingmagazine.com