Precision and efficiency: the two go hand in hand at C.u.W. Keller, as the Troisdorf-based company manufactures gears and special gearboxes for the highest demands. The manufactured products and assemblies are used in ship engines, in excavators for open-cast mining, in machines for processing plastics or foodstuffs. It goes without saying that these industries expect products of the highest technical quality on the one hand and excellent service and punctual delivery on the other. In order to survive in this field of tension, C.u.W. Keller uses an end-to-end virtual machining software process solution from Coscom in its entire CNC production.

With its help, the company is making the entire AV process much more efficient: Transferring design data from Inventor CAD, tool management, CAM data management, NC programming, machine room simulation, linking to the ERP system - this end-to-end networking of production drastically reduced set-up and non-productive times and uncovered productivity reserves. According to the company, it was not only possible to achieve greater added value in-house, but also a demonstrable reduction in throughput times of around 25 percent for better adherence to deadlines

More added value with an end-to-end process solution

The new DMG 5-axis machining center for the universal milling of bevel gear sets in spur, helical and various special gearings is supplied with NC blocks from Coscom ProfiCAM VM in production at C.u.W. Keller. The CAM software is also used universally for all other machining operations for horizontal turning, vertical turning and 3-axis milling. The CAD/CAM system ProfiCAM VM was successively supplemented with the CAM data management system FactoryDirector VM and the tool management system ToolDirector VM, releasing further productivity reserves: C.u.W. Keller was able to increase the added value of parts produced in-house by around 20 percent.

Virtually secured, even with large dimensions

As a specialist in gear and transmission production, C.u.W. Keller machines components with a diameter of up to 4.5 m and a weight of up to 40 tons. The 16 CNC machines and machining centers must also have the appropriate dimensions and equipment for machining large parts. With the help of the ProfiKinematik VM machine simulation, all machining processes can be checked virtually in advance of production and corrected if necessary, including modern technologies such as turn-mill or 5-axis simultaneous machining. As a result, the paver has reduced the error rate in programming by around 10 percent. Higher cutting values were also achieved. The innovative Coscom Profi NC-Joker post-processor technology with its machine change concept significantly accelerated production, even with large dimensions. Machine-specific, runtime-optimized NC programs increased product quality, for example in gear machining.