Lantek, a multi-national company in the ‘digital transformation of the industrial metal sector’, has designed new applications for Lantek Flex3d that provide easy solutions when ‘designing and machining complete or partial bevels anywhere in a tube’.
The new version, which also makes it possible to include ‘perforations’ of various types (such as round, rectangular and triangular), provides a comprehensive library of connections and intersections for the assembly of complete tube sets.
Aware of the need to offer solutions for a wide range of machines, with its Lantek Flex3d the company has developed a tool that can define a tailor-made cutting trajectory for any profile.
This includes a customised cutting sequence defined by both the OEM and the machine user to meet their particular production requirement and results in the building of a ‘knowledge database’ in which the OEM’s machine experience is combined with the end user’s cutting experience.
Lantek Flex3d has been configured to accommodate highly variable manufacturing requirements, so considers the type of tube to be manufactured and the type of cutting machine used.
For example, large tubes for structural applications, with sizable thickness and dimensions, are usually cut with plasma and ‘oxycut’ machines, whereas smaller tubes are generally cut with laser technology; and while the software fundamentals are the same for the tubes themselves, there is a significant difference in the control of the machine itself and its processes.
Lantek says the number of machine types for processing tube is increasing, as is the complexity of driving them, such is the variety of both fixed heads and moving heads — and combined machines for tube and 2-D cutting that meet the needs of sub-contractors that do not specialise in tube work.
Francisco Pérez, Lantek’s ‘OEM channel director’, said: “Lantek Flex3d has been designed to resolve these complexities and is fully integrated with the rest of Lantek’s planning (MES), management (ERP), analytics and monitoring solutions.
“Lantek Flex3d offers a specific software programme for manufacturing tubes and profiles that has a whole family of applications covering almost all scenarios encountered by clients.
“From the simple to the complex, it manages any type of machine or cutting technology, integrates with the most popular design programmes and provides a solution for all types of tube or assembly with the aim of providing software to meet the specific needs of each client.”