Success Story
The National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA) is a leading organisation in the field of metrology, which is the science of measurement. Established under the Measurement Units and Measurement Standards Act 18 of 2006. NMISA is responsible for maintaining the national measurement standards and providing calibration and measurement services to industry, government, and the public.
Bhekinhlanhla Dlamini, a Toolmaker at NMISA, joined this dynamic institute at the end of 2021. NMISA was already involved in a project for a Food and Beverage company that specialises in creating standards for ingredients used in certain mixes of food. These standards are then used as reference material for various food manufacturers to produce their line of food products.
The scope of the project was to continue the design and production of a specialised hoist that would be used as a lifting tool in their reference material facility.
Design Challenge
NMISA’s software was limited to Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and the subscription had lapsed. When the cost to renew the existing licenses linked to their CNC machines was investigated, the feasibility to continue became a topic of conversation.
Furthermore, the hoist had been designed by an external design company and the design drawings were available in PDF format. NMISA needed the capability to not only communicate with the CNC machines but required a design function to tweak the designs as the project evolved.
Dlamini was tasked to investigate alternative options that would align with NMISA’s budgets as well as cater to the capabilities needed for this Hoist project, as well as offering accessible growth for future projects.
After much research, NMISA landed on Fusion 360 and the Fusion 360 Machining Extension. They were pleasantly surprised at the affordability of the software as well as its capabilities. Now it was time to put Fusion 360 to the test and see if it could deliver on their project needs.
The primary goal of this Hoist project was to get the product designed and manufactured in the least amount of time, aligning with NMISAs standards for quality and accuracy.
To achieve its goals, NMISA adopted Autodesk Fusion 360 and Fusion 360 Machining Extension in January 2022, as its primary design and manufacturing tools.
Bheki and Ruddy Maruping embarked on training on Fusion 360 with Baker Baynes’s Professional Services Team. “I could not believe how user-friendly Fusion 360 is. In the training, I discovered many other notable capabilities, like the 4-axis functionality within Fusion 360. This is often an extra add-on in other software or very difficult to grasp, but with Fusion 360, it is intuitive.”
Dlamini says that with a few extra videos on Fusion 360, they were able to not only easily recreate the designs of the Hoist in Fusion 360 but deliver an accurate Bill of Materials to their Procurement department. The 3D concept and prototyping capability allowed this team to easily amend designs that were optimal for production as well as communicate these changes with internal and external stakeholders.
The ability to save designs in the cloud created massive efficiencies in accessing the project remotely as and when required, as well as having the ability to share the designs with internal stakeholders, especially where the physical distance between the design office and the production floor is significant.
He goes on to say that he was given exceptional advice by the Baker Baynes Team, when looking for a solution on Post Processors. Through Baker Baynes’ expert advice, he discovered a vast library of Post Processors that required minor tweaks to seamlessly work with NMISA’s CNC and Lathe machines. This was a massive win for NMISA, as it meant that they were able to save both costs and time of bringing in a third party to facilitate special programming to achieve this.
The use of Fusion 360 and Fusion Machining has provided several benefits to NMISA.
The affordability of Fusion 360 as well as the advanced capabilities allowed NMISA to redirect budgets to investments in other tools and equipment for their workshop.
Dlamini reckons that significant time was saved on the Hoist project (it was completed in just 7 months, from design to installation), due to the ease of use of the software and ability to efficiently communicate with project stakeholders.
The ability to customise Fusion 360 to their needs with Post Processors and avoid costly development bills bode well with NMISA.
The 4-axis functionality included in Fusion 360 allows toolpaths to be wrapped around perfectly cylindrical geometry, advancing NMISA’s design capability to the next level.
By using these tools, NMISA's teams are able to design and manufacture equipment with high levels of accuracy and efficiency. This helps to improve the accuracy and reliability of the national measurement standards. Additionally, the use of Fusion 360 and Fusion Machining has enabled NMISA to improve its research and development capabilities, which will help to develop new measurement methods and techniques in the future.
From the user-friendly interface of Fusion 360, its advanced capabilities for an affordable price, and its ability to save designs to the cloud, NMISA could not have asked for a better tool to digitally transform its engineering and manufacturing team.
Whilst the software and industry continue to evolve, NMISA is confident that with the support of Baker Baynes and their armory of tools in Fusion 360, the sky is the limit!
Project summary
Duration & delivery
Autodesk solutions
Services provided
Customer industry
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