Tekla + Steel Projects + Ficep: the 'dream team' of productivity

All manufacturers of metal structure, regardless of its size and capacity, are on a daily basis with problems as waste of material, excessive handling of materials, productive inefficiency, human error or lack of communication between technical office and manufacturing. Host three companies of the Conference have shown as linking their technology, they can provide any process of production of metal structures. So Eric Beyer, Application Manager of Tekla, Wissam Dagher, A business of Steel Projects, and representatives of Ficep demonstrated: Patxi Xabier Blanco and Enrique Artaza, Ficep Ibérica, S.A. and Giovanni Fioroni, Ficep Spa.

Tekla Structures

Tekla Corporation is an international company of Finnish origin that sells Tekla Structures, the software of information modeling (BIM) construction for the steel sector. This software is integrated completely in the entire structural design process, from conceptual design to the detail, the manufacturing and construction.

In the design phase, Tekla Structures designers offers flexible tools to build a plan detailed 3D model to automatically generate sketches and reports of mounting. Design in a 3D environment guarantees error-free collaboration during the stages of manufacture and Assembly. In addition, all plans and reports are automatically generated from the detailed 3D model, so they are always up to date. This software configuration makes it possible to several designers to work simultaneously on the same model.

For mounting, Tekla Structures includes tools that detect possible inconsistencies in the design of the plant before proceeding to the stages of manufacture and Assembly. Also, avoid costly delays in the Assembly. Early coordination and planning ensure that the work equipment and manufacturing arrive in the correct sequence.

In the Conference rapporteurs Tekla, Steel Projects and Ficep could explain how, from a Tekla model, you can automatically import all the draft of a work in Steel Projects and later directly download all machines Ficep work programmes so that they not only made the usual processes of cutting or boring but that he also leave the pieces with their respective paths and references to facilitate the subsequent Assembly.

The process begins when it imported directly from the 3D design of Tekla (including marking paths) to the processing of all the pieces without additional programming. The different modules of Steel Projects are the managers of the details of the project, being the direct link between the technical office and manufacture on site. All the process information is extracted from the Tekla Structures model and is imported directly into the standard WinSteel solution through the application that has developed Steel Projects through the Tekla Open API. From WinSteel, the information is transferred directly to Ficep machines to process the actual pieces. As he remarked Wissam Dagher, A business of Steel Projects, this Automation limits to the maximum production errors and her increases while reducing costs.

Once Steel Projects manages information, performs the appropriate work orders in 'machine language' to the different models of Ficep, that they not only perform the usual processes of cutting or drilling, but that also obtained the pieces with their respective paths and references to facilitate the subsequent Assembly. And all thanks to the management of files in XML format. The DSTV standard only dimensionally describes the piece, while the XML offers also the data of what and where, by integrating objects in a reality of set. While a CAD design can occupy up to 100 megabytes of memory, format XML can get more information, much more complete and occupying only 1 megabyte.

In the next step, all CNC machines of Ficep have the ability to report in real time of manufacture, State and list of outstanding production. Steel Projects gathers all the information production and becomes aware of the technical Office, in real time, the status of the entire project process. Thanks to this information, Tekla Structures can be represented in 3D the State and the forecast of the Assembly, again in real time. As it is easily understandable, manage several works of great caliber is not an easy task. 4 D technology to manage multiple projects is simple, efficient and profitable. Management and analysis of the costs (time/machine, time/man, materials, etc.) are becoming increasingly important in every day in a highly dependent on the volatility of the prices of the steel sector. This allows to control all the variables that make a project more or less profitable for the estructurista. In this way you can visualize in real-time the status of all and each of the processes involved in the completion of a project, and can thus remedy possible errors before they occur and organize in advance all parties linked to thisregardless of its size.

The synergies of all developments carried out by the three partners in question, have come together in the development of the 4 d technology. The machines not only obey orders, they also offer data and reports in real time. The flow of information takes a reverse: design (Tekla) software sends orders transformed to XML language by the software management (Steel Projects) to the CNC (Ficep) machine, which in turn generates information that collects key which generates estimates of the status of the project.

Steel Projects

Steel Projects is a French company specializing in integrated steelmaking systems, CAM (computer aided manufacturing) and my (manufacturing information system) which has developed the interface between Tekla Structures and WinSteel (System my). WinSteel is the basic configuration that is imported formats and transforms into 'language' Steel Projects. This application collects the data for the creation of parts of a design, plane or an order carried out manually. WinSteel is complemented by WinBar, for provisioning and 'nesting' bars; WinCN, for management of CNC machines; WinSer, for the management of manufacturing; WinNest, for 'nesting' badges; and WinPlan, management of loads on the machines. In most complete setups, Steel Projects proposed applications as SC_Stock, for warehouse management; SC_Prix Revient, which administers works; SC_Temps, service, function and work time management; SC_Achats, to manage purchases; and SC_Devis/Metre for the creation and monitoring of budgets and measurements.

The introduction of the CNC of the 'scribing' or layout process reduces human errors in the processes of design and Assembly of steelmaking, improving automation. Ficep has added to its range of CNC products this system of tracing of carbide of high speed that allows drawing characters and lines in the upper and lower part of the soul, as well as on the outer face of the wings.

Before, the piece marks and the position of the details marked manually based on information obtained from the plans of the workshops. To take full advantage of layout technology, Steel Projects has developed a new application that is capable of extracting CNC information directly from the 3D model of Tekla Structures and transfer it to machines for the manufacture of the workshop. The new Tekla Open API (acronym in English of 'application programming interface') of Tekla Structures has made it possible to perform this step. The implementation extracts not only traditional information on drilling, drilling, cutting and copy that is used in the extraction of more common CNC files (such as DSTV), but it also introduces new information, as a trademark piece of detailed material and locations of the pieces of detailed material on the material of the main partiesabsolutely referencing the entire piece. With the introduction of this new interface and technology layout of 4 sides, considerably increases the efficiency and accuracy of the process of Assembly of the workshop. With the track, "the piece becomes its own map" as stated by Patxi Xabier white, commercial director of Iberian Ficep.

Ficep group

Located in Varese (Italy), Ficep Spa. factory lines and automatic equipment of numerical control for steel construction structural components, such as buildings, bridges, industrial buildings, pylons, etc. The Spanish subsidiary, Ficep Ibérica, S.A., sells and provides after-sales service of automatic lines manufactured by the Group Ficep: CNC punching and cutting of angular lines; lines CNC punching, drilling, oxyfuel/plasma, plates and sheets; and lines of sawing, drilling, dismember oxyfuel/plasma beams and profiles.

Enrique Artaza presented the new developments of Ficep, notably a single system patented by Ficep of loading and unloading with magnet and a complete Simulator of production during the day.