Product development contributes to Dunham-Bush growth

Innovative product development is contributing to the growth of heating and cooling equipment manufacturer Dunham-Bush, in conjunction with ongoing investment in the latest technology to design innovative solutions that exceed customer's expectations. In 2005, the company installed three seats of Radan's powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software and has subsequently seen lead times shrink from typically six to three weeks.

Dunham-Bush is the result of the merger in the early 1950s of three manufacturing companies founded in the late 1900s and the early part of the 20th century. The new company introduced water and glycol chillers for commercial and industrial applications and in the 1960s, a revolutionary technology in the form of the rotary screw compressor.

Providing custom-engineered solutions is fundamental to the success of the company and as such, a CAD/CAM system that could handle its extensive sheet metal work was an absolute necessity.

The machine set-up at Dunham-Bush includes three Amada punch presses: a 20-ton Vipros 255, a 20-ton EM 2510 NT and a 30-ton Pega 367 - working two or sometimes three shifts.

"Sheet metal forming is central to our manufacturing operation," explains technical director David Shuttleworth. "Metal sheets up to 2mm thick are punched for casework etc. for our range of heating and cooling products.  We need to utilise the best technology and equipment to ensure optimum efficiency and provide customers with quality products.

"The system we had been using previously did what we wanted in many ways - it was perfectly capable of creating the forms we required - but it did not provide the process specific tools to allow us to then take these parts into manufacture. With the volumes of work we handle - involving punching, profiling and folding of sheet metal - we needed tools with a high degree of functionality that would support the whole process from design through production preparation to manufacture.

"We had been monitoring solid modelling packages for some time before installing Inventor and Radan around two years ago and with experience in using AutoCAD previously, it was a fairly easy transition. We were able to easily transfer 3D models, including material types and profiles, into Radan via DTM transfer."

The Inventor and Radan system was also attractive to Dunham-Bush because it offered a much more comprehensive support package - a vital requirement for the company, especially when making changes to a new product.

"The guys at Radan are always prepared to help us by coming up with imaginative solutions to problems we encounter from time to time," comments production engineer Glenn Syder. "The process of designing in CAD through to CNC manufacturing using Radan, gives accuracy and repeatability, and eliminates the human error aspect which was always a possibility when we relied heavily on manual transfer of information."

In driving all changes from the design model, all parts are in one directory that enables the same data to be used each time. With two-way exchange between drawing and solid model, an updated drawing is generated from the approved design every time changes are made, and the machine program is then based on the latest version.

"We are able to utilise material more effectively, so there is less wastage - and with the price of steel increasing all the time, that is a significant saving," says Syder.  "The system pays for itself on that basis alone. Radan takes direct control over the process from the shop floor back to the planning department. We have been able to reduce lead times from six to three weeks from the time an order is placed and don't require so much line stock - that will decrease further as we use all the features of Radan to their full potential. Our maintenance agreement with Radan ensures we are kept up-to-date with software updates which are relevant to our particular manufacturing processes."