Dominic Desalvo, CNC programmer at Arcamed, a surgical case and tray systems manufacturer in Indianapolis, IN, talks us through how they are putting CAM Assist into practice to accelerate production.
- Who are you and what do you do?
Arcamed is a contract medical manufacturing company that specializes in manufacturing cases and trays for surgical settings.
- Who are your customers, and what do you make for them?
Arcamed has a very big mix of customers in the medical industry, providing them with delivery systems to hold surgical instruments and implants for surgeries. We are specifically using CloudNC with our caddie manufacturing process.
- What challenges do you have in your business today?
The challenge that we face is that we are in a high mix, low volume market. Our parts are similar but never the same. This can lead to an abondance of new products to be programed in a short amount of time. Our quoting process is still very manual, so it takes time for a time-constrained resource to manually enter quoting data.
- How did you cope with these challenges before you started using CAM Assist?
Before CAM Assist, a lot more man power was required when a influx of new product came in. Our customers tend to order new systems around the same times. For the quoting process there were individuals dedicating extensive time to complete quotes for machined components.
- When did you start using CAM Assist, and why?
We started using Cloud NC in August of this year (2024). We started this as part of our company's new dedication to making strides with AI and other technology improvements company-wide.
- How do you use it? How does CAM Assist help you?
We use 5- axis and 3-axis mills to create plastic components that hold precision implants and screws safely during sterilization and into the surgery. We are also starting to use CloudNC to quote parts for the front end of our business.
- What difference has CAM Assist made to your business? What are the benefits?
The biggest benefit that CAM Assist gives us is time. While CAM Assist is able to create all the operations with the correct selected geometry people are able to complete other tasks while it is in progress. Including not having to manually make all the operations and select and chain the geometry.
- What is the impact of you using CAM Assist for your customers?
Decreasing overhead cost -which directly affects our customer's costs. Also, with more accurate quoting cycle times to have the most competitive prices. Decreasing operational expense, which directly lowers the cost for our customers, while achieving accurate cycle times for quoting purposes.
- How do you plan to use CAM Assist in the future?
As with most things right now we expect to see it get better over time, as it gets better we are hoping that it can get to 90-100% of the process complete, as it currently is completing 75% of the process. Since August we have seen a massive transformation of what CloudNC can do and how much more accurate and fast it is in just a few months.
- What do you think the impact of CAM Assist will be on manufacturing?
The impact that this could have on manufacturing could be transformational if we can get a 90-100% complete program in a matter of minutes while also reducing delays, human error, or loss in cycle time in the manufacturing of the part.
