NUM Celebrates Golden Anniversary

By DE Editors

NUM is celebrating 50 years of work in the computed numerically controlled (CNC) space. NUM's mother company, Telemecanique, developed its first numerical controller in 1961. The first NUM-branded NC controller was launched in 1964. 

NUM has its roots in three companies: Swiss control systems developer Guettinger; Italian motors and drives developer Servomac; and the control systems vendor NUM SA, which was launched by Telemecanique as a product brand in 1964 and as a separate company in 1978. NUM says it released the world's first 16-bit CNC controller in 1983 and the first all-digital servo drive featuring digital current control in 1991, as well as the first support for rotation tool center point (RTCP) in 1986 and the NUMROTO tool grinding software package in 1987.

Current technical trends that NUM is focused on include an emphasis on energy efficiency, with more use of drive systems with a shared DC bus for recovery of power, and a trend toward more direct linkages between CAD and CNC.

For more information, visit NUM.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.