Experts set standards
elusoft GmbH is a subsidiary of elumatec AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of machines for precision processing of aluminium, steel and plastic profile. Among other things, the product range includes profile machining centres, saws, milling machines. crimping machines, stop plate and measurement systems, welding machines, plastering machines, bending units, tools and fabrication planning. The family company founded in 1928 with headquarters in the Swabian Mühlacker offers a global service. elumatec has subsidiaries and representatives in over 40 countries.
For powerful elumatec rod processing centres, processing programs are generated using the eluCad programming software. Among other things elusoft GmbH develops the eluCad programming software for elumatec rod processing centres.
elusoft headquarters in Dettenhausen, Germany, near Stuttgart
Software for elumatec machines
Users learn the flexible, field-tested eluCad software most quickly in seminars under professional guidance – elusoft offers just such seminars. So customers can use their new elumatec rod processing centre and eluCad programming software as well and reliably as possible, production oversight by elusoft application technicians at the customer’s facility has proven effective: The new machine operator always has a competent contact person who can help fast during the difficult familiarization phase. For the complicated, versatile tasks that elumatec rod processing centres are used for, questions just keep coming up – this is why support makes sense that can provide companies with quick help.
Support, production oversight, seminars, development – for these reasons and more, elumatec wanted a software department in 2001 that could handle these tasks competently. Together with Peter Fürle, a renowned industry expert who had already made a name for himself in this market segment with his own company CAMaeleon Produktionsautomatisierung GmbH, elumatec founded elusoft GmbH in 2001. Headquarters were in Dettenhausen near Stuttgart, the headquarters of CAMaeleon Produktionsautomatisierung GmbH. That company’s CEO Peter Fürle also took over active direction of elusoft GmbH. The purpose of elusoft GmbH was and is “to develop software related to elumatec machines”.
Pioneering role
In 2010, elusoft GmbH celebrated their 10th anniversary as a company. At the party, the new experimental workshop was christened, including an elumatec SBZ 122 rod processing centre. Here, elusoft programmers and application technicians can test newly developed programming software directly. The SBZ 122 is also used to hold seminars on the eluCad programming software in as realistic a situation as possible. In its modern seminar facilities, elusoft GmbH regularly carries out eluCad seminars that are visited by users who want to use their new elumatec rod processing centres.
“When we take a closer look at the software products of other manufacturers, we often see early versions of our eluCad programming software. Our presentation of processes in a tree structure, the 3D view of a profile with end cuts and processes that can be zoomed and rotated, have frequently been copied. Our NC-X format, a universal machine language for the control of profile processing centres, is well-know and can be read and written by many products. We’ve taken the lead in our market segment,” reminisced Peter Fürle at the anniversary celebration, looking back at the company’s product development history.
And elusoft intends to keep setting standards in the future. Fürle cited the 3D converter by elusoft as an example of how the programming of rod processing centres can be simplified: “A customer has a 6 m long profile with about 640 processing steps which were 100% detected by us using automatic feature recognition, and receives a working program in less than two and a half minutes. There’s nothing faster than that.” Feature recognition is the automatic detection of processing steps on the profile (a detailed description of the 3D converter can be found in the user reports in “Miracle at the click of a mouse”, for example).
Since 2011, Peter Fürle has concentrated on his work as the CEO of CAMaeleon again. Active management of elusoft GmbH was taken over by former service lead Gunnar Lange and Ralf Haspel, Sales Lead for Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein at elumatec.