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 Obtaining
the best from CAD/CAM :
Firstly, a project should
be defined that enables planning of the different
steps required for making a model. Lack of planning
often leads to full or partial remaking of the
model, because some production problems have
not been taken into account; for example, a
bracelet with a poorly limbering hinge, or a
clasp that does not stay closed, and other problems
that every goldsmith normally meets during his
everyday work.
Design requires a sequence of choices and brings
two different worlds into contact - the world
of creativity and the world of production.
These worlds should integrate to achieve a common
objective: aesthetic and technical high quality
of the end product. The problem is to get agreement
between the ideas of the designer and the rules
of the design. It requires overcoming distrust
and language, educational and cultural differences.
It should be realized that using a computer
doesn’t mean it will make the company’s
production dull or banal. The opposite is true:
where creative effort and care for high product
quality are more vigorous, there are more possibilities
to get the best results from these new technologies.
In addition, an analysis should be carried out
within the company aimed at evaluating the production
capability, problem areas and workforce skills.
It is important that any changes in company
organization and management arising from the
implementation of such new technology should
be fully explained. This, I believe is the biggest
concern for most of the Jewellery Houses today.
A big chunk of the industry has started to evaluate
the man to machine cost ratio, thus enabling
them to plan cost reductions and increase the
effective quality of their products.
CAD/CAM systems should be run by expert operators
who know the jewellery design and manufacturing
process very well as well as the utilization
of computers. For this reason, in recent years
new types of professional are emerging, “Jewellery
CAD/CAM operators”, who are able to introduce
the new technologies into the factory. In this
way, a company is not obliged to make large
investments to put together people and machines
able to carry out the production operations
described above.
Another problem of CAD/CAM design stems from
the fact that, in the past, the development
of these systems has always been bound to the
requirements of big companies. Consequently,
very sophisticated softwares have been developed
and put on the market. However, softwares like
Jewel Smith, from DELCAM, have solutions that
aim at meeting the needs of the average jewellery
producer, designers as well as the larger jewellery
houses, combined with effective CAM machines.
As a matter of fact, there are a few local jewelers
who find such solutions very handy to use and
yet compatible with their design and manufacturing
needs. You would be surprised to know that,
there has been successfully trials, by of one
of the well known jewelers from Pune, on something
as traditional and ethnical as ‘Meenakari
/ Champleve’ using DELCAMs’ Jewel
Smith CAD/CAM solution. This definitely earmarks
the growth of such solutions in our markets,
and gives us a clear picture of the future applications
of CAD/CAM in the Jewellery industry.
Today, no product is
produced, be it a car, an electrical household
appliance or a piece of furniture, that has
not been designed on a computer and scrutinized
in its aesthetic and technical aspects. In my
opinion, in the near future this will occur
more commonly in the field of jewellery, to
satisfy the quality standards the market has
required for some time thus making CAD/CAM an
inevitable technology for the ‘Jewellery
of Tomorrow.
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