5 June 2021
The Swiss SME manages the most difficult machining operations thanks to its outstanding mechanical skills, its latest generation machine tools and a coherent design/manufacturing solution based on TopSolid'Design and TopSolid'Cam.
Specialized in mechanical subcontracting of high technological level, Polyaxes SA manages the manufacturing of difficult parts to be machined from A to Z. The young company, founded in 2018 in Neuchâtel, in the eponymous Swiss canton, is used to entering uncharted territory. "Our specific approach is to be able to meet the most demanding specifications thanks to our various skills and adapted manufacturing solutions," explains Jules Sémon, CEO of this SME that works for the watchmaking industry as well as for the medical, aerospace and general mechanical industries. “Strict applications that leave no room for manufacturing error."
To achieve this, the small Swiss company is equipped with the best manufacturing solutions on the market. "We have invested in a state-of-the-art 4-axis machining center and a 5-axis turning center, as well as inspection equipment capable of detecting the slightest difference in quality," says the manager. However, this array of high-performance equipment was not sufficient to manage a comprehensive service. Therefore, it was also necessary to think about design and manufacturing software capable of managing the complexity of the parts and allowing the full potential of these machines to be exploited.
"These CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) tools are essential for analyzing STEP or DXF files of the parts to be manufactured and being able to offer optimized machining approaches to customers on a case-by-case basis," explains Jules Sémon.
After having thoroughly studied all the existing CAD/CAM solutions on the market, the experts at Polyaxes decided to adopt the TopSolid'Design and TopSolid'Cam software from the French publisher TOPSOLID SAS. "These are perfectly suited to our production, which includes both prototypes and series ranging from 500 to 1,000 parts in various ferrous and non-ferrous materials and with dimensions ranging from 2-3 mm to 1 m in length. They allow us to easily manage parts with complex geometries throughout the entire production line."
Powerful, versatile and easy to use, TopSolid software manages the formatting of STEP and DXF files provided by the customers. This is followed by the creation of machining programs for that type of production, which is often a real headache. "Their various features meet our productivity, quality and reactivity goals," says the experts.
"With its intuitive interface, TopSolid'Design offers us intelligent assistance, has a native PDM, powerful modeling and even simulation tools. These solutions are indispensable when it comes to machining difficult materials or designing suitable fastening systems. This makes it easier to safely manage the wide variety of parts that we process." Because everyone involved in a project can see the changes and can change the design of a part without fear of losing information. For Jules Sémon, "the software's file exploration module is also very well thought-out.
On the CAM side, the efficient preparation of the cutting tools for a given machining operation is carried out without difficulty with TopSolid'Cam, a tool capable of switching seamlessly from the programming of the machining center to that of the turning center which equips the Polyaxes workshop." The libraries of the cutting tools and cutting conditions, as well as the tolerance management feature of the software, provide us with the appropriate machining information, thus ensuring rapid development of the machining program," says the manager. "In addition, new machining strategies can be easily constructed and, thanks to the reliable simulation features, programming time is significantly reduced. The aim is always to find better machining tool paths to reduce tool wear and increase productivity." This first successful experience prompted the Swiss SME to consider installing other digital tools from the TopSolid family. Like TopSolid'Erp, for example…
Advantages of the TopSolid application
- A coherent and complete digital design/manufacturing chain
- Powerful and reliable modeling and simulation tools
- A solution that reduces costs and significantly improves productivity
Jules Sémon's opinion : "The TopSolid CAD/CAM solution has a variety of intelligent features that help us to fully exploit the potential of our machine tools and meet our productivity, quality and reactivity goals."
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