Material Cost Estimation

Car bodies are made from a few hundreds metal parts. In the production process, these three-dimensional parts are cut from two-dimensional sheet metal before they are press-formed and (spot- or laser) welded together by robots. The two-dimensional sheet metal is available as long rolls, better known as ‘coils’, which can have different widths, numerous material properties and variable prices and nowadays can even have different thickness along the roll. Taking the full part geometry as a starting point, the application can quickly develop the flattened blank outline and determine the optimal nesting layout in the coil corresponding to the lowest material cost. The following describes in few sentences the general workflow and available functionalities to effectively perform the job-to-be-done.

Part Geometry Definition

The part can be imported as a surface or solid model. Dedicated functionality for extracting the top and bottom surface of the solid model, as well as generation of the mid-surface are available in order to calculate correctly the flattening of the part geometry at the neutral fiber. The selected part can be assigned with required material and thickness information.

Blank Outline Definition

The bidding solution is based on ESI GROUP’s best-in-class one-step solver. In the shortest possible time it determines accurately the flattened blank outline (even if undercut areas exist), based on the full 3-D part model and few process parameters like binder force, material definition and thickness. In addition to the developed blank outline, part feasibility can also be directly and thoroughly analyzed through various contours like thinning, thickness and forming limit diagram (FLD). Direct import of a blank outline is supported as well.

Nesting

The developed blank outline can be used in the nesting process. The outline can be smoothened and can be applied with or without addendum region generation through constant offset of the outline. Multiple nesting layouts are supported like “One up”, “Two up”, “Mirror” and “Transfer Die” for optimal material utilization calculation.

Automatic Reporting

The solution includes a fast and automated report generator for quotation of the part material. This functionality includes export of material utilization, fall off, pitch, coil width, blank area and pictures of the nesting sequence and developed blank outline.