Menuiserie Générale Bitsch is a small company that concentrates on interior and exterior carpentry and layouts. Based in Alsace in France, the company has a workforce of 15 people. Bitsch works for individuals, builders, government, etc. – essentially a local customer base. The company mainly focuses on made-to-measure projects and takes care of the manufacturing through to the installation of these projects. Between 2005 and 2006, Bitsch modernised itself with the purchase of TopSolid’Wood software and a numerically controlled machine. Since then, the company has made significant time savings.
From 2D to 3D
Bitsch started the move from 2D to 3D in 2002 with a simple drawing software solution. In the years following, Bitsch decided to equip itself with a numerically controlled machine to meet the requirements of an ever more demanding market. In 2005, following a visit to the factory of the manufacturer of CMS machines, Bitsch equipped itself with a 5-axis CMS machine. Since the drawing software purchased in 2002 was not able to pilot a numerically controlled machine, the company hence looked for a new CAD/CAM software package. The choice of software proved relatively simple and it took just one week to make the decision to purchase TopSolid’Wood. According to Mr. Bitsch, CEO of the company "We had already heard of TopSolid’Wood. A Missler Software team came to our premises to give a demonstration. We were seduced by the powerful functions of the software, and above all by the fact that we could manage CAD and CAM with just the one package. In short, TopSolid was the only software that could meet all of our needs." In 2006, Bitsch acquired 2 TopSolid’Wood and TopSolid’WoodCam workstations.
TopSolid user Michel Klinger
New horizons
It could be said that Bitsch changed activity with the arrival of the CMS machine and TopSolid’Wood. The company abandoned the drawing board for CAD software. This allowed the company to expand its library of components, doubling its size. With TopSolid’Wood users benefit from standard component libraries and also have the possibility of creating their own libraries to safeguard their know-how. The generation of technical documentation with cuts, dimensions, perspective, etc. is also a vital help for the company, and facilitates downstream manufacturing.
Regarding machining, Bitsch uses TopSolid’Wood to simultaneously pilot the manufacturing of multi-parts and short-run storage cabinets (made-to-measure). The possibility of managing both long and short production runs is an important asset for a small company like Bitsch, which must be able to do both. Currently, TopSolid’WoodCam pilots 5 axis positioned machining for Bitsch and also, in the near future, continuous 5-axis machining.
The manufacturing time for this handrail was cut in two with TopSolid’Wood and the 5-axis CMS machine
