Delcam sees growing demand for its CAD/CAM solutions from Indian automakers

Delcam, the UK-based computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software solution provider for the manufacturing industry, says its business in India is seeing speedy growth as a result of the improving fortunes of the Indian auto industry.

The bulk of Delcam’s Indian business comes from the automotive sector albeit it also caters to other sectors like aerospace, electrical appliances, footwear, healthcare, motor packaging, toys, sports equipment, jewellery and signmaking.

Addressing the two-day Delcam Asian Technical Summit 2015 which opened yesterday in Bangalore, Vineeth Seth, managing director, South Asia and Middle East, Delcam, said the company began operations in India with three employees in 2000. A decade and a half later, it has grown to 120 engineers and 14 offices across the country. Currently, the company has around 3,500 customers using its software solutions in India. Delcam says it is adding around 500 customers every year.

Seth said more than 50 percent of its business in India comes directly or indirectly from the automotive industry as a sizeable amount of manufacturing activities are related to OEM and Tier 1s. “Most of our products have their roots in the automobile industry. Today Delcam is recognised as the largest CAM vendor in the country besides having a leadership position in automotive manufacturing applications,” he added.

According to Seth, “OEMs like Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra use software solutions like PowerMill and PowerInspect, provided by Delcam in India, in their manufacturing processes.”

Speaking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the summit, Seth said the automobile industry in India is moving towards its next level. Currently, only a few vehicle OEMs like Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India export cars in good numbers from India. However, Seth is of the opinion that vehicle exports will grow in the future, calling for increased R&D activities and implementation of the latest manufacturing technologies in vehicle and auto components production. This trend will in turn call for use of the latest software from companies like Delcam.

Making a presentation titled ‘The Future of Making Things: Manufacturing’, Pete Baxter, vice-president, Delcam, said, “The means of production are changing and product intelligence is increasing as customer demands are growing.”

Delcam, which has been acquired by Autodesk, supplies software and services that enable manufacturing companies to increase productivity, quality and reduce lead times. The company is the world’s largest specialist supplier of CAM software to program CNC machine tools, and also develops product design, tooling design, reverse engineering and inspection programs. The software is used in more than 90 countries by over 50,000 organisations.

Mark Dunne, an applications engineer from Delcam, made a detailed presentation about the implementation of the company’s PowerMill application in the automotive and other industrial sectors. Referring to PowerMill as a world-leading 2-, 3- and 5-axis software, Dunne said it is useful for high-speed machining with its innovative, leading-edge techniques. He said PowerMill offers a comprehensive range of high-speed and 5-axis machining strategies.

James Slater, a Delcam technologist, who spoke about the usage of PowerMill robot for manufacturing, said robotics usage in the industrial sector has been increasing, primarily in assembly lines including in the automobile industry.

Around 200,000 robots were sold globally in 2014, an increase of 24 percent compared to 2013.  Delcam’s solutions supporting the robots produced by companies like Hyundai Heavy Industries, ABB, Kuka, Nachi and Kawasaki Robot, Staubli, Universal Robots, Fanuc Robotics and Motoman.

Delcam says it devotes over 50 percent of its software royalties to further development of its software products. It also claims it is the only international CAD-CAM company that operates an in-house engineering workshop, allowing thorough validation of all software before its release.  This facility, coupled with close relationships with suppliers of machine tools and other related equipment, gives Delcam’s staff a unique knowledge of the problems faced by their customers and so allows the development of solutions that are both powerful and practical.