MA Automotive Tool & Die Installs SMIRT DieBuild

As the largest die manufacturer in South Africa and part of the industrial group Gruppo CLN (Caselette, Italy), MA Automotive Tool & Die (Uitenhage, South Africa) produces dies for medium and large automotive stamping parts. They initially introduced visualization and toolpath programming solutions using SMIRT software from Vero Software (Cheltenham, England) into their operations in 2015 to improve their process efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs.

SMIRT supports the manufacturing of stamping dies and molds with 3D-based modules used for visualization, machining, cost estimation, planning and scheduling, with a great user friendliness for shop floor environment. All of these modules are perfectly integrated together to provide users with a system capable to improve their efficiency and throughput.

Following their initial successful experience, MA Automotive Tool & Die decided to further invest in the software and install the manufacturing planning module SMIRT DieBuild. With this planning module, they can now define detailed manufacturing processes for each die, integrated within the same files and the same software environment used for CNC programming and for design visualization. The software automatically computes the labor for each operation in the process, for very accurate process control. Workers on the shop floor now have access to the planning information directly from the same software environment they are using in production, with no need for bid sheets or for other documentation.

In July 2016, Alfred Petersen of SMIRT trained an MA Automotive Tool & Die team on the use of DieBuild. Under the supervision of plant manager Andrew Shubart, this team was formed by the responsible planning of project/technical manager Mike Wessels and included die engineer Morne Kleinhans, machining supervisor Louis Swanepoel, and IT professional Dave Munn.

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