Sescoi Products Helps Tooling Company

By DE Editors

Sescoi’s WorkXPlore 3D CAD viewer and its MyWorkPLAN custom manufacturing system, have enabled Pentaxia Ltd. to produce accurate tooling quotations in less than 20 minutes, according to the company. The rapid response to inquiries is essential to its business as the company, located in Derby, UK, produces patterns and tooling used in the production of composite panels for Formula 1, aerospace and defense applications.

“Motorsport is an extremely fast moving environment with rapid design changes, so our ability to interpret designs, check material prices, and estimate machining times quickly enables us to offer competitive prices, ensure the job is profitable for us, and win more business,” says Stephen Ollier, managing director of Pentaxia. As well as providing a service to several leading F1 teams, the company has produced molds for a diverse range of parts including aerofoil shapes, bulletproof doors, components for Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, and for Roman Abramovich’s Mega-Yacht ‘Eclipse.’

The WorkXPlore 3D CAD viewer enables the company to read in and interrogate designs from a range of CAD software.

“I can examine the model data from many sources myself, without the need to use one of our CAD systems, which would otherwise interrupt our designers,” says Ollier. “I check draft angles, which helps in 5-axis CNC machining, and calculate block sizes in preparation for producing the quotation in MyWorkPLAN. The ability to load down a trial copy of WorkXPlore 3D was really helpful, making purchase of the software an easy decision.”

By adding MyWorkPLAN job shop software, Pentaxia was able to link the design interrogation into the quotation preparation process.

“Once we have established the block size in WorkXPlore 3D we can use the material prices and the machine rates stored in MyWorkPLAN to calculate the price,” Ollier says. “Previous quotations can be accessed so that historical information about similar parts can be used. This helps us determine realistic cycle times for each operation, ensuring that we are competitive and that every job produces a profit. Being able to produce these quotations on my own, without waiting for anyone else, is very important to us. We can respond to inquiries in 20 minutes or less and, in our business time is of the essence.”

For more information, please visit Sescoi.

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