26 INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS 2 , 3

F
ord's research staff benefit from advanced FORTRAN-based command-type system, specialised
CNC investment. systemfromtwo of Ford's established suppliers of controls
and a hybrid menu-language type program. These systems
worked reasonably well for flat surfaces but programming
of parts with complex contours was either impossible or
too difficult to attempt on company time. In contrast the
MasterCam system, was so easy to use that programming
could be done by people who had not even attended the
training class.
Lead Time and The Research Staff Machine Shop is responsible for
producing virtually any type of prototype part, although
Cost Reduction: the majority of its work involves engine components. The
shop is located inside Ford's primary research facility in
order to encourage close collaboration between the
A CNC Programming engineers and scientists who design the parts and the shop
personnel who program and machine them. Because of
System for Motor Vehicle the nature of their work, most of the people they deal
with have little machining experience. They know what
Prototypes they want but do not know how to get it, so they are
assisted by helping them select materials, tooling and
processes. Frequently a request is to take a rough concept
sketch and fine-tune the design as well as the
Jerry Fireman manufacturing process.

Traditionally, this work was performed on manual milling

machines, lathes and grinders. But, around 1986 the
Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 2 No. 3, 1991, pp. 26-28
© MCB University Press, 0957-6061 purchase was initiated of the machine shop's first CNC
machining centre. Since then, a wide variety of CNC
machining centres, lathes and wire EDM machines have
been installed. Each of the new machines was justified
The MasterCam CNC programming system* has allowed on its ability to produce a particular type of component.
Ford Motor Company Research Staff at Dearborn, With two of the CNC machines came programming
Michigan, to produce a wide variety of prototype parts systems which were specially designed to work with the
with complex contours on CNC machine tools rather than machine's controls. In addition, the company purchased
building patterns by hand and casting the parts. The a FORTRAN-based and a hybrid menu-language
advantages have been impressive: programming system. But none proved fully satisfactory.
(1) The need to build patterns by hand has been
eliminated, thus reducing the cost of the average All four of these systems were extremely difficult to use
prototype part by 75 per cent. whenever a complex contour was involved. For example,
(2) Lead time has been reduced from an average of with the hybrid system, they had to create the individual
three weeks for pattern making, mould making and points and lines one by one through a series of complex
casting to a typical 48 hours for programming and commands. The geometry was all created in two
CNC machining. dimensions. After the geometry wasfinished,it had to
be rotated into its proper three-dimensional position and
(3) Prototype quality has been greatly improved then posted before it could be viewed properly. Usually,
because the machined parts possess math- it was incorrect and they had to start the whole process
ematically sound contours rather than hand filed from the beginning. As a result, any difficult parts were
approximations. usually referred to the pattern shop where it could be
The key to these savings was the ease of creating complex approximated by hand. Another problem with this system
surfaces with the MasterCam programming system from was that only two people ever learned how to use it —
CNC Software of Tolland, Connecticut. Four different even for simpler parts.
programming tools had previously been tried including a
When Ford Motor Company Research purchased
*The MasterCam Programming System, CNC Software, Case MasterCam two years ago, after seeing it at a trade show,
Postale 249, 32 av. de la Gottaz,CH-1110Morges, Switzerland. there were dramatic improvements almost at once. They
 A CNC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM FOR MOTOR VEHICAL PROTOTYPE LEAD TIME REDUCTION 27

brought it in, set it up on the computer, and said "let's

use it". Amazingly enough, people did just that. Even the
ones who had never produced a single CNC program in
their lives. The program is very intuitive and uses the
same language used in the shop. But, perhaps the best
thing is how easy it is to create surfaces. This is started
by creating a wideframe model of the part just as with
a CAD system (see Plate 1). Then the most complex
surfaces can be defined simply by touching the borders
of the area to be surfaced with the mouse. As the surface
is created, it appears on the screen so it can instantly be
seen if a mistake has been made.

Early prototypes had

indicated problems which
needed to be
resolved a
Soon after MasterCam was installed, the machine shop He noted that these sections had originally been drawn
began to tackle parts that had previously been cast, such on a CAD system. The CAD geometry was transferred
as rocker arms and carburettors. One of the more to MasterCam but was discovered to be unusable due to
interesting examples cited is a flow duct used for the air noncontiguous and overlapping entities. This is a common
intake of a new model engine (see Plate 2). Early problem, particularly when a design is created in two
prototypes had indicated problems which needed to be dimensions. The ideal method of producing the geometry
resolved almost instantly to avoid delaying the "Job One" would have been to create a three-dimensional wireframe
introduction date. The Research Staff conceived the new without sections. Then the programming system could
design and provided sectional templates cut along the radial have been used to blend smoothly the ends of the part.
sections of the basically kidney-shaped part. One of the The reason why this part and most similar geometry is
machine shop's two most experienced programmers was created in template style is, of course, that designers are
assigned the programming role. still used to thinking in terms of patterns.

So, the programmer began by drawing half of each section

in the programming system and mirroring the geometry
to complete the wireframe (see Plate 3). From there he
proceeded to define the Coons patches required to surface
the part. This was easily accomplished with MasterCam's
Coons patch function which generates a surface mesh
based on either a three- or four-sided boundary. The
program prompted him for the number of patches in the
along direction — which was 8 — and the across direction
— which was 5. Then he proceeded to select the
boundaries of each Coons patch one by one in the order
they were to be machined. As each patch was selected
its colour changed so it was easy for the programmer to
keep his place.

In response to prompts, the programmer then entered

the tool offsets and tool path increment which is the length
of the tiny line segments from which the computer builds
the tool path. The next step was for him to provide a
number of machining parameters: size of cutter, spindle
28 INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS 2 , 3

checking with the designer to be sure the modification

was acceptable, the job was finished. The entire program
took under eight hours to produce. A program like this
would have been impossible to create on any of the four
programming systems that the machine shop used
previously.

Time savings have been great

even on parts that could
be programmed
The quality of the resulting machined part was far superior
to that which could have been achieved by casting. CNC
programming produces a mathematically precise part,
while a pattern is basically just something that looks similar
to what the designer had in mind. After the flow duct was
machined and tested, it was found it still did not conduct
enough air. Using the geometry provided by MasterCam,
the engineer was able easily to determine the volume of
the cavity. He then calculated the volume and dimensions
that were needed to achieve the desired performance. A
few alterations were made to the program to give him a
new part. The whole process took about a day. It would
speed, feed rate, rapid movements, number of roughing have easily taken a month if casting was involved.
and finishing passes, advance on each pass, use of coolant,
etc. The program generated the tool path required to Time savings have been great even on parts that could
machine the surface. The tool path was then displayed be programmed with one of the old systems. Programming
on the screen. times have been reduced by at least 50 per cent on every
part, and on many parts the savings have been far greater.
When the tool path was displayed, a problem was revealed. As a result, staff have been cut by 50 per cent in the past
The ball nose and mill used to machine the part was unable three years — through attrition and transfers — while still
to generate a sharp corner near the top without gouging. carrying the same workload. Finally, there has been expert
With the problem clearly displayed the programmer slightly and timely technical support for the program from the local
modified the part geometry to provide a solution. After distributor, CIM Solutions of Canton, Michigan.

Jerry Fireman is President of Jerry Fireman Inc., of Rochester, Michigan, USA.