TOOLING MANAGEMENT


Tooling management software that connects to the cloud, like Kennametal’s Novo, allows for access via tablets and smartphones.


Tools for Managing Tools


The ability to manage the vast intricacies of cutting tools is aided by a number of developments, most important of which might be the adoption of ISO 13399 and various applications to manage and order tools in an intelligent way. What is the nuts and bolts of how all this works?


Bruce Morey Contributing Editor


M


achinists today can create some of the most complex, efficient, and precise parts ever made. However, with precision comes complexity. This is especially true in the choice of cutting tools used


in today’s five, six, and seven-axis CNC-driven machine tools. The old tried-and-true methods of engineers exploiting years of experience while searching paper catalogs, ordering a tooling package, and creating a CAM program using nominals and ap- proximations are beginning to fade.


For example, an individual cutting tool manufacturer might have 50,000 tools in its catalog, according to Chuck Mathews, managing director of MachiningCloud (Camarillo, CA). “You add all that up worldwide, and there is something like one million cutting tool items in the world one could choose from,” he stat- ed. “The average professional on the shop floor only wants ac- cess to his 200 or so tools.” Not only is there too much choice, but manufacturers need more data about each cutting tool. “Today’s tolerances mean you really need an accurate, 3D CAD


April 2017 | AdvancedManufacturing.org 59


Image courtesy Kennametal


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