Autodesk Customer Success Story

The Company

RMDE specialises in tooling for vacuum

forming, working both directly and

indirectly with many of the UK’s leading

automotive manufacturers on projects to

supply prototype components, and low-

volume production and packaging

solutions.

The company also designs and

manufactures jigs for the production lines

within the automotive supply chain. More

recently, it has moved into making tooling

for the GRP and composites sectors.

Before founding his company in Banbury in

2012, Mr Many had been the Tooling

Manager for a vacuum forming

company. He started with just a single

CNC router for simpler jobs, mainly

operating as an agent, taking orders from

his customers and placing them with

machining companies.

Mr Many’s main advantage in the early

days was that he had worked with staff

from Jaguar-Land Rover in his earlier

positions and was able to win his first

contracts from these contacts. Business

Autodesk PowerMill CAM software

supports business growth

RM Design and Engineering boosts productivity

with PowerMill.

RM Design and Engineering

LOCATION

Southam, United Kingdom

SERVICES

Autodesk PowerMill

Autodesk PowerInspect

from other customers soon followed as Mr.

Many was able to establish RMDE’s

reputation for high quality and on-time

delivery.

The Challenge

After two years, RMDE moved to an industrial

unit at a business park outside Southam,

UK. Mr. Many continued to build his

business, adding more machines, including a

Rye five-axis router and Dugard Eagle 1000

milling machine, and expanding into

neighbouring units.

The Solution

The expansion also included the addition of

CAM programming with Autodesk

PowerMill. Mr. Many had used various CAM

systems earlier in his career but had always

been impressed with comments he had heard

from PowerMill users at other companies.

“Everyone I spoke to said that PowerMill was

the leading CAM software for toolmaking,” he

remembered. “Two comments kept being

repeated – that you could do anything you

wanted to with PowerMill and that the

Image courtesy of RM Design and Engineering.

Autodesk’s PowerMill CAM

software has supported steady

growth at tooling manufacturer,

RM Design and Engineering

(RMDE). Managing Director, Radj

Many, has expanded his company

from a “one-man band” with a

single router to one with six staff

and a range of equipment,

including a new high-speed, five-

axis machining centre.

Autodesk Customer Success Story

Autodesk, the Autodesk logo,PowerMill, and PowerInspect are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2014 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

support from the staff in Birmingham was

outstanding. In contrast, I had experienced

regular problems with the other software I

had tried so choosing PowerMill for my own

company was a no-brainer.”

Mr. Many now repeats the same comments he

heard before acquiring PowerMill. This

support is vital for RMDE, which places huge

value on its reputation for never letting its

customers down.

Boosting productivity by working

smarter

The latest addition to the equipment at RMDE

is a CMS Antares high-speed five-axis

machining centre, with a significantly larger

bed than the earlier machines. As well as

allowing the company to take on bigger

projects, the new machine gives a greater

ability to machine multiple parts in one

operation and so boost productivity.

PowerMill supports this way of operating by

allowing the toolpaths for the various

components to be combined into a single

project to give increased efficiency. The full five-axis capabilities of the new CMS are also

important in increasing productivity as many

of the tools made by RMDE include undercuts

that would previously require multiple set-

ups.

These capabilities form an important part of

Mr. Many’s strategy to broaden the services

offered by his company, in particular, to gain more work in the manufacture of tooling for

the composites industry. Indeed, one of the

first projects for the CMS was a composite tool for a customer from a Formula One team.

Simulation tools to help you sleep at

night

“This was a real challenge as I was learning

the five-axis options in PowerMill while I was

programming the job,” said Production

Manager, Marius Pantea. “The simulation and

verification tools were essential in locating

any problems and in helping me to come up

with programs to avoid them. They certainly

help you sleep at night!”

The simulation tools also help in planning

finishing operations. They provide an exact

image of a roughed part, showing where

material still needs to be removed, and so aid

the selection of the most suitable tooling and

strategies for the finishing cuts.

Autodesk allows the company to adapt

as they grow

Like many other suppliers, R M Design is

increasingly being asked to provide formal

reports to support its reputation for

quality. To meet this demand, the company

has just added an inspection arm with

Autodesk’s PowerInspect software.

“We are already seeing a positive response

from our clients,” reported Mr. Many. “I can

see these reports becoming an important

part of our regular communications with our

customers.”

As his company’s range of equipment has

grown, Mr. Many has expanded the breadth

of the services he can offer his

customers. Initially, the focus was on

providing different types of tooling for

clients in the vacuum forming industry,

including jigs and fixtures for checking,

bonding and assembling the vacuum-formed

parts.

The first router he purchased is now used

mainly for trimming parts made from the

company’s tooling. More recently, services

have been added for the manufacture of

patterns and direct moulds for GRP parts, and

for patterns for the production of composite

components.

This has lead to an increase in the variety of

materials being machined at RMDE, which

now includes steel, aluminium and plastic as

well as model board across the full range of densities, and so provides further evidence of

PowerMill’s ability to “do anything”.

“My customers know that we are not the

cheapest supplier but they are willing to pay extra for the quality we provide and our

ability to meet deadlines,” claimed Mr. Many. “I want to work with the best

suppliers, like Autodesk, that put the same

emphasis on service for their users that I put

on supporting my clients.”

"Even though I am sure that we

don’t use the full capabilities of

the software, we can complete

most projects quickly and

efficiently. Whenever we meet any

challenges, we contact the

support team at Autodesk and

they always come back with a

solution, usually within an hour."

—Radj Many, Managing Director, RM

Design and Engineering

The Rye Milling Machine that RMDE added as part of

the business expansion