Miller-Picking,
HVAC
(Note: SYNTHESIS technology is a pre-cursor to OfficeCAD)

Parametrics Boost Productivity for HVAC Sheet Metal Design/Drafting

Miller-Picking is a large heating ventilating and air conditioning manufacturer located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Our company designs and manufactures custom heating and air conditioning equipment which is used on office buildings and in large installations.

Miller-Picking has been using AutoCAD since 1987. At first, it was only used to create unit layout drawings and electrical and piping schematics. This was used by two draftsmen who created the submittals. Then, in 1992, York International purchased our company and the drafting department was updated. This meant that all future drawings were to be created only in AutoCAD.

Initially, production drawings were not created in AutoCAD. Since these designs were not to scale, they were then re-drawn to scale and sent to the Numerical Control department to create accurate sheet metal parts to be used for this design. The DXF format drawing files were then tooled and fed into the punching machine to create the sheet metal parts which were then bent as desired.

The sheet metal drawings needed for just one unit require up to 180 separate CAD drawings per unit. With AutoCAD, our drafting department calculated that we could create 180 new A-sized sheet metal drawings on an average of 15 minutes per drawing. This took a total of 45 hours per unit design.

For our project, we needed to output scale DXF files for sheet metal parts while maintaining a Bill of Materials for all of the pieces used in a job. Not only that, but the automation process needed a jump start. As our drafting department noted, it became necessary to produce an incredible amount of scale drawings in a small amount of time. As a result, productivity was suffering. We needed our drafting department to have the tools necessary to be able to produce drawings faster than our assembly line could build the units.

Initially, we started to look into AutoCAD-compatible parametric programs to help speed up the automation process. We reviewed software such as Auto-Parametrics, SUPER MENU, and IDEAS. Finally, we came across a parametric software which received a "highly recommended" review from CADalyst, the SYNTHESIS R-12 produced by The SYNTHESIS Company of Bellingham, Washington.

One of the major obstacles that I encountered was that I had to start at ground zero. I didn't have any AutoCAD experience and had absolutely no knowledge of how to work the SYNTHESIS R-12 program. I enrolled in a 3-day training session held at SYNTHESIS in Bellingham and found it to be very beneficial. I went through the manual page by page prior to attending a class and found that to really make a difference.

Recently, I sat down and roughly estimated the time savings with SYNTHESIS. I knew that the figures would be improved, but I honestly did not know by how much. To say the least, I was surprised and some others were amazed. Before implementing SYNTHESIS R-12, it would take a draftsman 45 hours, to produce the 180 drawings needed for just one design unit. This same draftsman under the SYNTHESIS project can now accurately create all of the 180 drawings for NC use in only 4 hours. This is a 90% reduction in time to create the scale drawings! Keep in mind that this is only for the creation of the scale drawings and does not consider the layouts, internal walls, or some other custom parts.

With the implementation of the SYNTHESIS R-12 software, our procedures have only gotten better. Now, the draftsman doesn't even have to start AutoCAD to create drawings. We have a program group in Windows with all of the different parametric designs in it and all that is needed to create drawings is to select the icon and answer the questions to imput the variables. With each design produced, all of the scale DXF files are automatically tooled, then fed to a CNC turret punch and folding machine. The Bill of Materials is imported into LOTUS, sorted, and used to nest parts of similar material for use with the turret punch.

The best thing about the software was that it was easy to learn the basics and see the results, although this project was rather complex. Speaking from a beginner's standpoint, the training program offered is incredibly helpful, and Bellingham is a great place to go for it. The scenery is beautiful and the atmosphere is relaxed. All of the training and the on-going consulting work and technical support is handled mainly by one person, Tim Paxton. This is an important aspect of my relationship with The SYNTHESIS Company. Tim knows who I am and what is happening with our project at Miller-Picking first hand. He is flexible, open minded, and he seems genuinely concerned about the success of the project. Along with the SYNTHESIS program meeting our project needs, it's an added bonus that I know that I'm not just a number to the person on the other end of the line.

The worst thing about the software was that I would have liked to see more examples in the manual. In those examples it would have been beneficial to see exactly the command used in each cell, rather than the output from the command. Recently I have found out that SYNTHESIS is responding to this by updating their tutorial manuals.

Our first SYNTHESIS project has been a huge success. The drafting department can now output scale drawings faster than ever before, decreasing the time needed between engineering design and unit construction.

Some of our future endeavors will be to help initiate the unit layout process with SYNTHESIS and to try and incorporate SYNTHESIS in as many designs as we can, in both drafting and engineering. We are currently joining some of our AutoCAD LISP routines with SYNTHESIS. The LISP routines use dialogue boxes to get the information from the user, outputs the information to a file, and outputs a visually correct drawing with dimensions for the shop. Next, SYNTHESIS takes over and outputs scaled drawings for the CNC machines. It's great!

SYNTHESIS is an essential tool for drafting.

Co-written by Chris Cummings from Miller Picking Inc. and Michelle Greening The SYNTHESIS Company

A one page version of this article appeared in Machine Design Magazine.

For more information please contact us at:

Back to Top
 

All products and names are trademarks of their respective owners.