Delcam will be hosting a presentation at AeroDef 2011 discussing some of the trends in Adaptive Machining and the traditional relationship between machining and inspection and how the industry can adapt both hardware and software to help manufacturing facilities better deal with the demands they are facing. The presentation will be conducted on Thursday April 7th at 10:30am a.m. by Brett Hopkins, Professional Service Group North America.

“The traditional relationship between machining and inspection is that machining is completed first and the component is then transferred to a dedicated piece of inspection equipment to be approved or rejected. However, as machining techniques become more sophisticated, and as components become larger and more complex, there are a growing number of cases where closer integration is required to give higher productivity and reduced wastage,” said Brett Hopkins, North America Manager of Professional Services. Hopkins will demonstrate how processes can be grouped under the heading of “adaptive machining”.

The programming of most machining operations is based around knowing three things that needs to be achieved at the end of the operation. Adaptive machining techniques allow successful machining when at least one of these elements is known; the position of the workpiece on the machine, the starting shape of the material to be machined, or the final shape.