It’s not often that a new company puts a software package right at the top of its ‘must have’ list, but Jason Austin, director of Nuneaton-based Unifabs, knew exactly what he wanted. Having used Planit’s estimate-to-invoice multi-purpose management system e2i extensively at his previous company he had over five years experience of what the software could offer the new business. He says: “I knew when we started this company e2i was the only way forward, it was the only thing we considered using.”

Both directors took on the machine tool investments and the impressive 30,000 ft2 facility that houses them with the backing and support of the managing director of sister company Universal Fabrications. This 25-strong company has been involved with intricate engineering of components for the automotive industry for a number of years. As Jason Austin explains: “We are part of the same group but we work for different sectors in different ways. Unifabs needed a low cost solution as so much sheet metalwork was going abroad, so we were set up to compete with emerging economies such as China, India and Eastern Europe.”

Currently shop fitting and point of sales displays represents about 50 per cent of Unifabs turnover. Other sectors successfully targeted include the yellow goods (off highway) industry and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) as well as material handling and goods transit. Volumes range from 1-off right up to production runs of 50,000.

“We focus on the bespoke elements of shop fittings for most major high street stores that are designed to stand out from the rest of the produce shelves,” Jason Austin says. “It is quick turnaround, with every job quoted within 24 hours and the lead times required are usually between two and five days. Of course all the volume shop fitting work is sourced overseas but the work that remains in the UK includes items that are needed quickly. The order may stretch over a few weeks but we usually have to supply the first batch within a couple of days.”

The majority of parts for quotation come in as a CAD file - DXF or DWG - with a 3D view and a flat development of the part. The files are opened in Radan CAD/CAM and the data is imported into e2i which carries out the estimating. As the software knows the physical size of the sheet required for the total job all that is required is the material type and the software selects the best use of the sheet sizes already in stock. This gives a very quick material cost to which can be added the tooling and run time as all the data is in the Radan system.

“e2i has every manufacturing process planned on it and uses Radan to calculate material usage. It allows us to quote parts very quickly so we are never eating up the lead time. This is one of our core strengths and wins a lot of business,” Jason Austin says.

If the quote becomes an order the company prints off the manufacturing route card with bar code information directly from e2i software. As the file is already in the Radan system it can be transferred from the quote database to the manufacturing database and the CAD programmers can generate a program for the shopfloor.

Radan CAD/CAM transfers the NC code to the machines on the shopfloor via a DNC link. The operator selects the program from the customer files on the Radan database, which also supplies the drawing, nest program and tool positions.

All the Amada sheet profiling and punching machines were purchased for the new company to start up. They include a new EML punch laser combination machine with a 4 kW laser and a 48-station punch tool capacity with an automated loading/unloading system which can accommodate 6 tonne of raw sheet material be it 0.5 mm of 6 mm thick it will just work through. It also has a phone alert system built in so that any machine stoppages out of hours will call specified telephone numbers to make them aware.

These machines can be operated 24 hours per day unmanned to give the capacity to drop jobs in and get them turned around quickly. As Jason Austin explains: “The machines run through the night and in the morning we have work which is ready to go through the pressbrake section. We believe the load/unload unit doubles the capacity of the machine, not only in terms of operation around-the -clock but also from a material handling perspective. A 6 mm mild steel sheet is going to need three or four people to move it about, the automation on the Amada machines can unload a finished sheet and load a fresh one is just 20 seconds.”

Even on the pressbrakes the company has moved from programming on the machine to programming offline. The operator selects the program which tells them where to put the tooling and the sequence of bending operation. Checking tools are fitted to the pressbrake which compares the actual bend achieved to the CAD model and automatically adjusted the tonnage of the press stroke to compensate for material spring back caused by grain or an inconsistent sheet thickness.

On the shopfloor the operator will scan the bar code from the route card and from their own identification and that information is passed back to e2i. So if a customer requires a progress report real-time data is able to show where any job is on the shopfloor, what process it is going through and what stage it is currently at so the feedback to the customer is accurate and concise. “We can also monitor jobs,” Jason Austin says. “So, if we planned to complete a batch run in 10 hours and we are over the estimated time e2i will tells us and we can investigate the reason to ensure that all the data is accurate and we are working to achievable targets.

“When the job is complete we know how many parts have been made and the delivery note is generated from e2i which will also create the invoice and this is often emailed as a PDF file – providing support from estimate through to invoice.”  

He goes on to say: “The software also provides capacity planning because when we cost the job we input the manufacturing data for each production process allowing us to look at any given time to see how many hours of manufacturing time are scheduled and when it is due out. So we can put a job on the system with a start date and estimated end date and it generates a graphical display of the capacity used and still available which allows jobs to be manoeuvred to keep all the customers happy.”

Increasing the company’s capacity at a cost of around £750,000 a new Amada EMR automated combination punch laser machine will be delivered in October 2008 which will have a 200-station punch tooling capacity and a parts picker to provide greater flexibility and extended running. As Jason Austin says: “These machines are a significant investment but if you run them correctly they pay for themselves and e2i with Radan is certainly helping us to do just that.”

The sheet material processed is mostly powder coated mild steel around 1.2 mm thick, and because Unifabs purchases raw material through e2i and it can cost everything through the system it is always using live material prices so the price quoted is always up to date. “The software can store material price history so if a job comes in that was quoted more than 8 weeks ago we would have to adjust the price because of the dramatic rise in the cost of raw materials. It’s all contained in e2i so it is very quick and easy to compare the original quote against what the new price would be,” Jason Austin confirms.

He points out that Radan Nesting is critical to getting the most out of a sheet of material especially on the tight margins we work on, and multiple parts required for assemblies are programmed into the least number of sheets so that the job is never held up waiting for the last part to come out of the sheet at the bottom of the pile. To keep the lead times down Unifabs holds a stock of raw material and works with a specialist stockholder that supplies next day – and most sheets are tailor-cut to size to keep the material waste to a minimum.

Today, 13 people work for Unifabs and growth has been phenomenal, beating the predicted turnover by over 100 per cent in the first year. That figure has already been surpassed this year and there is more to come. A reputation for quick competitive quotes and rapid turnaround of finished parts has helped. However, as Jason Austin explains, getting new business is just part of the equation, “we keep these customers by ensuring they have keen prices and we deliver their parts on time.”

He says: “When I’m costing a job e2i can tell me the perfect sheet size, so by the time the order is confirmed and the route card goes to the programmer to start the Radan CAD/CAM process the material has already been ordered. This avoids any waiting for material on the shopfloor and it saves a couple of days lead time that we cannot afford to lose.

“We really can get the price right down with e2i and the software interfaces seamlessly with our other packages such as Sage for accounts, which improves the efficiency of the whole business. Because the software is linked I have a great deal of information at my fingertips, so if  a customer has a delivery note, invoice, price or time query all the data that I need is there.”

The software was put in as a foundation stone at Unifabs and Jason Austin could not imagine running without it. In fact it has been so successful that Universal Fabrications has also invested in the software. The company was previously running a different system which had nowhere near the capability or flexibility of e2i. Now, Unifabs has five seats and Universal Fabrications has eight seats. “Considering what it does it is really good value for money, worth every penny it costs,” concludes Jason Austin.