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CAM: Computer Aided Manufacturing

The field of computer-aided design has steadily advanced over the past four decades to the stage at which conceptual designs for new products can be made entirely within the framework of CAD software. From the development of the basic design to the Bill of Materials necessary to manufacture the product there is no requirement at any stage of the process to build physical prototypes.

Computer-Aided Manufacturing takes this one step further by bridging the gap between the conceptual design and the manufacturing of the finished product. Whereas in the past it would be necessary for a design developed using CAD software to be manually converted into a drafted paper drawing detailing instructions for its manufacture, Computer-Aided Manufacturing software allows data from CAD software to be converted directly into a set of manufacturing instructions.

CAM software converts 3D models generated in CAD into a set of basic operating instructions written in G-Code. G-code is a programming language that can be understood by numerically controlled machine tools – essentially industrial robots – and the G-code can instruct the machine tool to manufacture a large number of items with perfect precision and faith to the CAD design.

Modern numerically controlled machine tools can be linked into a ‘cell’, a collection of tools that each performs a specified task in the manufacture of a product. The product is passed along the cell in the manner of a production line, with each machine tool (i.e. welding and milling machines, drills, lathes etc.) performing a single step of the process.

The benefits are clear. In conjunction with computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing enables manufacturers to reduce the costs of producing goods by minimising the involvement of human operators. Also, by removing the need to translate CAD models into manufacturing instructions through paper drafts it enables manufactures to make quick alterations to the product design, feeding updated instructions to the machine tools and seeing instant results.

There are problems too. Setting up the infrastructure to begin with can be extremely expensive. Additionally, while all numerically controlled machine tools operate using G-code, there is no universally used standard for the code itself which means it can often be a challenge to transfer data from CAD to CAM software and then into whatever form of G-code the manufacturer employs.

Questions:

What has Computer Aided Design cut out the need to do?
Computer Aided Manufacturing bridges the gap between what two things?
Data from CAD software can be converted by Computer-Aided Manufacturing software into what?
What is G-code?
What do you understand under the word “cell” as referred to in the text?
What is the main benefit to manufacturers of Computer Aided Manufacturing?

Answers:

To build physical prototypes
Conceptual design/manufacture of finished product
Set of manufacturing instructions
A programming language
A collection of numerically controlled machine tools that each performs a specified task in the manufacture of a product.
Reduced manufacturing costs