People, Process, Principle
An aerospace parts supplier in Wichita, Kansas, US has built a business on the three pillars of People, Processes and Principles \u2013 and it is the VERICUT toolpath simulation and optimisation software from CGTech that helps support the second principle.
The company applies integrity and experience, consistent performance and clarity of purpose as words to live and work by, no matter what the vocation. They are the guiding philosophies behind Trinity Precision Inc.\u2019s motto, \u2018People, Process, Principle,\u2019 and ever since founders David May, Steve Ford, Dave Tice, and Chris VanNover opened the company\u2019s doors in 2014, they\u2019ve stood by them.
\u201cWhen we started Trinity, it was important that we establish the foundations needed to assure success for the company and its employees,\u201d said VanNover, Trinity Precision\u2019s Vice President of Operations. \u201cOne of these was the use of robust programming technology, which includes accurate, productive toolpath simulation. VERICUT has filled that role since day one.\u201d
CNC Programming Manager Merritt Stuever has worked for the company for the past five years. Like VanNover and the rest of the company\u2019s management team, he also has great respect for VERICUT. Including his time at Trinity Precision, he\u2019s been using the product for nearly two decades. \u201cAfter running a program through VERICUT, you\u2019re not only assured that the G-code is consistent with a good part, but you also eliminate any chance of a crash,\u201d he said. \u201cConsidering the cost of replacing a spindle and the machine downtime that comes with it, it\u2019s a simple choice. VERICUT is a no-brainer.\u201d
Trinity Precision is heavily into aerospace work and its customer list includes Boeing Commercial and Defense, Northrop Grumman, Gulfstream and Textron Aviation. These are OEMs with zero tolerance for deviation in part quality or missed deliveries. As such, strict adherence to established processes is critical, which helps explain the aerospace supplier\u2019s early focus on \u2018the three Ps\u2019 in its logo, along with its reliance on sound programming.
VanNover explained that Trinity Precision president David May purchased an existing \u2018mom and pop\u2019 machine shop as a starting point for the new business. The previous owners were using a well-known brand of CAM software and had a single seat of CATIA from Dassault Syst\xe8mes that was gathering dust. May and his management team hit the reset button.
\u201cWe knew from previous experience that implementing change once you\u2019ve reached a certain size can be difficult, so we took the opportunity early on to build everything right from the ground up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe stayed with CATIA because that\u2019s what most of our customers require. VERICUT does everything that we need it to do, and seeing as we were looking forward to a lot of new CNC equipment back then, also liked the fact that we can develop our own machine tool models. It gives you a lot of flexibility.\u201d
Today, Trinity Precision boasts 32,000sq/ft of manufacturing space and a fleet of advanced CNC machinery. It has also enjoyed a four-fold revenue increase since those early days. VanNover noted that, like most in the aerospace industry, the pandemic-related slowdown in commercial aviation gave them \u2018a pretty significant haircut\u2019 over the past two years, but that tide appears to be turning, and Trinity\u2019s 70+ employees stand ready for future growth. However, that growth depends on robust processes, something Stuever and the rest of the engineering team spend their days developing. Every CNC machine tool has a standard tool list, greatly reducing setup time and eliminating the chance that an operator will place a cutter in the wrong position.
In addition, all feed rates, cutting speeds and other machining parameters are similarly standardised within CATIA. Offline presetting is used, and many of the machine tools employ tool breakage detection for automated operation. Every job goes through VERICUT before leaving the programming office, a requirement that Stuever noted has saved the company countless hours of rework and even scrap.
\u201cWe\u2019re mostly a high-mix, low-volume shop, so we might have a couple of dozen new part numbers in a week,\u201d Stuever said. \u201cSince none of us can read and visualise hundreds of thousands of lines of G-code, VERICUT is the best way to check for interference, gouging, leftover material, and any of the other everyday programming scenarios that can lead to a bad part or worse. And since you know the software will catch things like that, it makes the programming process both easier and faster.\u201d
Stuever\u2019s also quite pleased with CGTech\u2019s support level. He\u2019s taken several classes over the years and attended multiple VUE sessions (VERICUT Users\u2019 Exchange). Because of this, he\u2019s come to know many of the people in the software developer\u2019s Irvine headquarters. \u201cThey\u2019re very helpful and always take the time to make sure any issues or needs are resolved. As far as technical support goes, there are only two companies that I rank extremely high. CGTech\u2019s one of them,\u201d he said.
VanNover offered similarly high praise: \u201cThe rest of the management team and I have worked in shops where machinists were out there changing programs, selecting their tools and pretty much doing their own thing, but you just can\u2019t operate like that anymore, especially with the available labour force. This is why we\u2019ve taken most of that responsibility and put it in the programmer\u2019s camp, making it critical that you have the right software tools. And so even from the very start, this was a non-negotiable aspect of our desire to lay the right foundation; VERICUT is a big part of that foundation.\u201d