UGNX points out that it is challenging for moldmakers to make engineering changes to parts that have already been programmed.

These changes may only be trivial edits to an existing model, but that may have already invested time programming the original part,Now, when a change needs to be made, what do they do? Rather than reprogramming the entire part, it would be much more efficient to identify the change and only reprogram that area.

CAD/CAM software can help shops do this. Change Recognition is a feature that can actually identify changes in incoming files (from different formats like solids and surfaces), read the changes, and then determine what is different in that file and can help quickly program just those elements. This is much quicker then having to redo the part from scratch, which many shops would have had to do in the past.

Another automation software challenge moldmakers may run into is software that automates the shop but doesn’t allow the operator to override it when necessary. Shops need control over every aspect of their software, if you choose to have that much control in it, While automation is a great thing, nothing replaces the experience of an actual moldmaker no matter how good that software is!

A shop needs software they using to be “open” enough that they can go in and have complete control over it any aspect of it.sometimes it is difficult for moldmakers to see that not all components of a mold require three-axis machining. For example, components such as slides are prismatic in nature and can benefit from an advanced Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR) features, which analyzes the part geometry and defines the most common machineable features for milling.

Furthermore, knowledge-based machining technology can take over from that point. The automation engine then instinctively generates and associates machining operations and parameters for each feature,Thus, even in moldmaking, machining operation sequences can be predefined and automatically applied when machining similar components.

In addition, some software packages’ knowledge-based principles are fully customizable to optimally represent your current machining environment, An adaptable, self-populating, standard establishing database helps prevent the all too common scenario where a shop’s efficiencies and competitive advantages are dependent on an individual programmer’s proprietary knowledge and experience.