German Plastics Manufacturer automates CNC component checks with Werk24's Feasibility Analysis solution

Challenge Accepted

The plastic manufacturing company presented Werk24 with an obvious challenge: how to automatically analyze critical information from customers’ technical drawings and compare specifications (e.g., tolerances, surfaces, etc.) to determine whether the CNC parts fit the criteria for plastics machining? 

Before Werk24, the company offered an entirely manual CNC machining service to its customers, who provided drawings and 3D models in order to process the parts according to their needs and standards. Originally, the customers provided their data via email which then initiated a completely manual process; (i) calculating the product measurements manually from given information via email, (ii) entering all in-coming data in various databases, (iii) explaining the metal and plastic parts’ differences to the customers in each failing process when metal part measurements don’t meet with the requirements of plastic part, and (iv) proposing a solution for the incompatible parts. The Plastics Manufacturer saw a clear optimization potential within these manual steps 

To accelerate the process, they created a CNC tool capable of rapidly calculating CNC manufactured parts. This tool calculates prices based on the 3D Model. But they wanted to push further and improve the business operation with advanced technology that checks and tells the problem to the customer automatically and faster. 

Therefore, the plastics manufacturing company sought an innovative solution and collaborated with Werk24. Werk24 was chosen as the company’s data extraction/analyzing service because of our ability to process the files automatically, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The challenge needs a service that finds critical information from drawings and compares them against the feasibility criteria, so making their customers’ lives easier. That's our specialty.

Challenge Completed

After Werk24 agreed to take on the challenge and was integrated into the flow of data between the plastic company and their customers, the company started using Werk24’s tool online. The process is simple: the user uploads a file, then Werk24’s AI reads the drawing, checks it against the feasibility criteria and notifies the user of any issues on their drawings in seconds. The user is even offered feasible alternatives that they can select and use to complete the order process. This way, users that would otherwise have been lost, or would have required the assistance of the sales team are able to complete their order independently within a few minutes.

In terms of the company's real effort, manual checking and clarification of infeasible drawings could take anywhere from several hours up to even days depending on customer availability, whereas automated checking and correction needs only up to 5 minutes with Werk24 on board.

Is Werk24 the solution for analyzing technical drawings, and comparing the manufacturing information against minimum and maximum values?

Exactly! Here, the plastics manufacturer benefits from Werk24’s ability to evaluate the drawing automatically and check if the CNC part meets the requirements for plastics machining, resulting in timesaving per drawing and business growth.