KCDw, a leading cabinet design software company and Thermwood, the leader in nested based CNC cabinet systems have announced that they have completed work on an interface that works at the “Job Level”.

One of the biggest benefits of a “Job Level” interface is that the entire job, everything….. cabinets, dovetail drawers, doors, moldings….. everything, is in a single file. The Thermwood “Next Generation” control has the ability to sort this all out, creating the nests and CNC programs automatically. Then it guides the operator through the job, step by step.

All other software except for KCDw and Thermwood’s eCabinet Systems currently works at the “part” level. This means that the nests and CNC programs are created in the software, not in the control. This also means you need a separate CNC program for each nested sheet, a separate CNC program for each flip operation, and a separate CNC program for any other parts you want to make. This can mean a 100 or more programs for a single job. And, each of these programs must be tailored for each machine they run on.

There are three fundamental benefits of working at the “job” level rather than the “part” level. First, it’s more productive. It’s a lot easier to load one program and follow instructions than to fumble with a 100 or more individual files. Remember, the machine is not running when you’re sorting files. In fact, a job level interface can be up to twice as productive as a part level interface and the possibility of making a mistake is much lower.

The second advantage of a “Job Level” interface is that it works on any machine. The machine’s control automatically takes into account table size, head configuration, available vacuum, tooling and a hundred other factors when it creates the CNC programs. When you work at the part level, you must take these all these factors into account when you create the programs and, the programs will only work for the one machine with that exact configuration. With a “Job Level” interface you can freely exchange programs between machines. With a “Part Level” interface you cannot.

This feature makes Thermwood’s Production Sharing program work. About a hundred shops currently machine parts for others in this program and their ability to efficiently do this is based on “Job Level” communications.

The third advantage to “Job Level” communications is that you can easily and efficiently incorporate partial sheets left form previous jobs into new jobs. Since nests are created within the control, it is easy to add partial sheets to a job right at the machine. In fact, the control prints a bar code label for the left-over sheets to make it even easier to input them into new jobs. While this ability theoretically exists at the part level, it is difficult and complex and few actually do it, instead simply scrapping anything left over. This feature can mean a lot of savings.

With this announcement, all the benefits of “Job Level” communications are now available to KCDw users. It also gives KCDw users the ability to tap into Thermwood’s Production Sharing program and it gives Production Sharing Members another major market for their services.

KCDw is the first of what Thermwood hopes will be a number of software companies that embrace “Job Level” communications. They are currently working with every major software vendor to develop “Job Level” links between their products and Thermwood machines. KCDw is the first to complete this development, including field tests and the new Job Level Interface is now available directly from KCDw (508-760-1140).