Transforming glass-fiber infrastructure with connected design and manufacturing utilizing Vault for PowerMill

NOV FGS specialize in large installations, such as this fiberglass Aqueduct in Standedge, UK

Sometimes the best businesses, with excellent, highly skilled people and premium equipment, still struggle in customer delivery mediocrity because their workflow cannot match their design and manufacturing quality. This must stop if companies are to fulfil their potential.

And it has stopped for NOV Fiber Glass Systems (NOV FGS), a manufacturer of complex fiberglass and thermoplastic structures for the marine, offshore, oil & gas, and construction industries.

Multiple fiberglass components were produced using 5-axis CNC machining, programmed with PowerMill.

Frequently, the product is needed in very short order; sometimes, just two or three weeks for a large, multi-component structure. Designs are routinely changed at frequent intervals. Customer changes were challenging because the Design and Manufacturing teams were not seamlessly linked. Analog 2D drawings were sent to the shop floor as early as possible, often by email, but, if a design change was made, the change was not always picked up by Manufacturing, who had started to input the CAM pathways for the old design.

There was no smart technology to join the design and manufacturing software – in this case, Autodesk Inventor through to the CAM software – while making sure cutting paths were optimized to reduce material waste. The manufacturing team could not start their work until products were 100% signed off; they could not begin designing fixturing and selecting milling tools until late in the project, where a low fidelity design could allow them to start work.

This caused huge delays and long lead times, compounded by frequent, last minute design changes. The lengthy workflow meant that the Design team employed seven people, where fewer people would suffice if their engineering IT was fit for purpose. The company’s IT was stretched, often taking up to 40 minutes to boot up, open and save files to and from a central repository.

The Manufacturing team uses Autodesk PowerMill and a new tool, Vault for PowerMill, that allows the manufacturing engineers to put their CAM projects into Vault that allows traceability and relationships to be created between Inventor’s low fidelity models and PowerMill. Using a combination of automation and manual processes, the NOV FGS engineering team can nest the parts on the CNC machine bed to maximize material usage and minimize waste, which had been common, previously.

PowerMill is used to define the entire machining process using a digital twin of the CNC machine, to simulate the machining before work begins. Concurrently, Design uses Inventor to finesse the design, incorporating up-to-the-second client changes.

At this point, the high-fidelity designs are imported into Vault. Thanks to the traceability created between the Inventor and PowerMill files, Vault for PowerMill informs the engineering team of the update and helps to replace the low fidelity designs with high fidelity versions. PowerMill uses built-in automation – customized macros – to generate all the three- and five-axis machining toolpaths using “tried and tested” machining practices from years of previous NOV FGS toolpaths. By doing this, CAM programming time and the risk of human error are greatly reduced, and machining consistency is improved.

Extensive use of automation within PowerMill shortens CAM programming time, reduces error, and improves consistency.

Time-lapse video showing dual 5-axis CNC milling heads machining a polystyrene plug (video: 1:11 min.).

The entire machining process is simulated and validated to check for collisions, using digital twins of the machine. Once approved, the correct NC programs are exported to Vault and shared with the shopfloor team, allowing milling to start. This then completes the digital workflow from design to manufacturing to shop floor with all the data stored in a single repository, with full traceability. 

Another tool, “Vault for NC files” allows NOV’s machine tool operators to send the NC programs directly to the machine tool controllers, effectively connecting them direct to Vault. Any changes made to the NC files on the controllers can be synchronized back to Vault so that not only are the unproven NC files captured in Vault but also the proven ones. This means that any repeat work in the future can be sure to use the correct NC files for the job.

Having invested in these new, digitally connected workflows, the NOV FGS team continues to see success throughout the business. Ben Holmes recalls a case where a critical feature on a large CNC machined component did not match the paper drawing that was issued to accompany the works order. After an initial investigation, it was confirmed that the shop floor team were using an out-of-date 2D drawing printed shortly before a last-minute design change. The digital workflow had correctly captured and adapted to ensure the right feature had been machined – revealing the full value that it provided to the company.

The digital overhaul of NOV FGS’s engineering and manufacturing technology has helped save the company tens of thousands of pounds, in both time and hard cash, says Ben Holmes. The autonomous workflows are a joy. “No risks, no ambiguity, no emailing files – it's just beautiful,” he adds.

There is more to come, as the company is installing 4K TV sets in the factory to share the same screens as Design, supporting the move to a fully integrated, paperless business.

The NOV FGS team serves the needs of a wide variety of different engineering projects worldwide.