Materials and metals cutting software provider, Delcam, has had its position as the world's leading specialist supplier of CAM software confirmed by CIMdata

Delcam has scored a double first in the latest NC Software and Related Services Market Assessment from renowned US consulting and market research firm, CIMdata. The report has confirmed the company's position as the world's leading specialist supplier of cam software and also ranks it as the worldwide leader in supplying cam systems to the mould, tool and die sector.

Delcam's managing director, Hugh Humphreys, was delighted with the results and claimed that they represented a clear validation of the company's aggressive growth strategy.

'For several years, we have aimed to build our company's sales by diversifying outside our traditional market in the mould, tool and die sector and increasing our business in other areas, in particular in the automotive and aerospace sectors,' he commented.

'During the last year, we have both consolidated our position as the world's leading supplier of CAM software and services to our core market, and have also moved up the list of suppliers to the automotive and aerospace industries.' The increased popularity of Delcam software in both industries has resulted from the new emphasis on efficiency and productivity in the sectors according to Humphreys.

'Traditionally, both automotive and aerospace companies have simply used the cam system that came with their choice of CAD software,' he claimed.

'With the level of global competition now increasing, those companies are looking at their choice of CAM system much more carefully.

This closer examination often shows that Delcam's software can give significant savings, both in programming times and in machining times, as well as improving the quality of machining.' Humphreys also emphasised the breadth of the Delcam software range as a key part of the company's success.

'Together, our complete set of CAM programs, PowerMILL, FeatureCAM, PartMaker and ArtCAM, comprises the world's most comprehensive collection of machining software, giving us an unrivalled ability to provide solutions to all of a company's programming needs,' he claimed.

'This benefits larger companies, which can meet all of their CAM needs from a single supplier.

At the same time, smaller companies can choose exactly the system they need for their particular combination of products and machine tools, rather than having to accept a compromise solution from a CAM supplier with a more limited range of software.

For the past several years there has been something of an on-going competition occurring in the metalcutting automation arena as high-volume systems are giving way, in some cases, to more flexible systems, and then the high-volume lines regain ground (or, more specifically, plant floor space). Because Lamb Technicon Machining Systems (Warren, MI), a UNOVA company, provides both types of systems, we decided to ask its Mark Tomlinson, vice president of Technology Integration, to provide some suggestions as to what people ought to take into account when assessing the right automation for their application.

Process Commonality

The first thing that Tomlinson recommends be kept in mind when high-volume line Although this is a high-volume line for producing V8 cylinder heads—built for DaimlerChrysler's New Mack Engine Plant—its architecture is clearly more modular than high-volume transfer lines of the past. (Photo: Lamb Technicon). considering flexible and high-volume systems is that when it

comes to a given part, the processes will essentially be the same for both
types of systems. That is, if a hole needs to be drilled, then that's the case regardless of the volume of parts to be produced. In conjunction with this is the fact that there is likely to be commonality with regard to the tooling—though, as we shall see, there are some differences.

Hold It
flexible system Here's a flexible system for machining auto cylinder blocks. It consists of a series of CNC machiing modules and head changer machines. Note the blocks are not palletized. The robots are rail-mounted and used for load/unload operations. (Photo: Lamb Technicon).
Moving to the fixturing and transporting of the workpiece, we arrive at a point where there are clear system differences. For example, in a high-volume setup, where, generally, a single operation is performed at each station, the forces involved are often considerably different than those in a flexible system, where a multitude of cutting operations will be performed at a station (or, more accurately, within a CNC machine). Consider face milling. In a high-volume system, it is probably going to be done in one pass. In a flexible system, there are probably going to be multiple passes. Consequently, there is a difference in the clamping pressures for each type of system, which means there are fixturing differences. And because a flexible system is one in which there are multiple operations performed on a part in a setup, there are accessibility issues that have to be taken into account (e.g., there may be milling on one face and drilling on another, so there must be an open area where the drill can reach its intended target).

Move It

With regard to part transfer, Tomlinson points out that in the case of high-volume systems, there is a new architecture emerging: "The historic drive at the end of the machine is giving way to modular drives and transfer bars." This is providing the means by which there can be new functions added to an existing line by dropping in machine modules. (This modular approach also facilitates building and testing the line in the first place: since the individual pieces have their full mechanical functionality, there is the ability to assure that everything is as it should be far earlier than if it is necessary to wait for the entire line to be built and the drive at the end of the line engaged.)

In flexible systems, Tomlinson says that the trend is away from automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) and pallets fitted with fixtures. Tomlinson explains that the reason is the need to minimize the "streams of variation" that such devices can contribute to. That is, in the case of pallets, there are benefits realized from clamping once (e.g., in terms of consistent part location and management of cutting forces), but there can be difficulties related to maintaining and monitoring the traceability and repeatability of each palletized fixture, of which there are many in a flexible system running at production volumes. "Managing pallets is more difficult than managing parts on skids," Tomlinson notes. So a trend in flexible systems is to maintain the fixturing in the CNC machine tool and loading, unloading, and transferring parts in the free state.

Optimized Vs. Versatile

Another difference between the flexible and high-volume systems related to the physical characteristics of the tooling and fixturing is that in a high-volume system, a particular station is engineered to do one thing while the flexible system is fundamentally engineered to provide the opportunity to do plenty of things. So, for a high-volume system, the fixture, spindle and tooling are optimized at each station for a particular part. But consider just the spindle in a flexible system: it isn't sized for one specific part or operation; it must be capable of handling a variety. Consequently, there are likely to be tradeoffs, which can lead to processing and/or tooling issues.

Think about, Tomlinson suggests, valve seat and guide machining. In a high-volume system, there is a fixed tool that has the valve seat angles in place and a drawbar is used to put out a reamer to machine the guide. With a single-spindle machine this task can be exceedingly more complicated from the tooling point of view (e.g., a tool that has the seat configuration designed in and a reamer that pops out as a result of centrifugal force). The high-volume approach is simpler.

Controlled

In the area of controls for the equipment, there are big differences. Here the advantage is, in Tomlinson's estimation, with the flexible system because there are "standard" CNC controls. The consideration is wholly on the part programming logic. For the high-volume systems, on the other hand, the control architecture isn't as standardized—improved, yes, but standardized, no. Consequently, there is a need to work on both the machine logic and the part processing.

People Needs

There are workforce considerations, too, from the standpoints of required skills and number of people required to staff the systems. In the case of a high-volume system, the required personnel are generally limited to a loader, unloader and maintenance crew (that is either assigned to the line or central to plant operations). A flexible system needs more people. For one thing, the part transport is unlikely to be fully automated, so a number of part handling people may be needed to man the line (robotic handling is certainly a viable option). There must be a maintenance crew (who can be deployed as in the case of a high-volume system). But a big difference that Tomlinson points to is the need to have decision makers who will be able to decide what to do in the event that a cell within the system goes down. A high-volume system is either running or it is down. A flexible system based on work cells can continue to run, but the part flow must be determined. So there is a need for planners, schedulers and supervisors.

Downtime Data

Tomlinson explains that the flexible system introduces some uncertainty—at this point in time, anyway—when it comes to a part flow strategy. There is an abundance of data existing that describes the downtime for high-volume systems; after all, they've been used for decades. This data can be used to determine the number of parts that should be kept in a bank to handle the average downtime. But in flexible systems, this data isn't nearly as deep. What's more, there are many more problems that can arise.

For example, on flexible systems, one of the approaches to minimize downtime related to toolchange time is to have redundant tools in the toolchange mechanism, in addition to the variety of types of tools that are in place to perform the multiple operations. All of which means plenty of toolchanges per hour. But how many times can a toolchanger change before it fails? (And take into account the fact that in a given cell there are multiple machines, each of which has a toolchanger, each of which is changing tools on an on-going basis, so if one toolchanger goes, how long before the others follow?) There is a move toward using more high-speed machining spindles in flexible sys-tems. There are some concerns with the reliability of these spindles in production applications; downtime may be greater. And although CNC controls may be standard, there is still some question about control reliability. With time, these reliability issues will be worked out, just as they have been for the elements of high-volume machines; the high-volume machines simply have the advantage of having been around a lot longer.

Economic Advantage?

This time factor has also resulted in the development of a depreciation philosophy that tends to favor the high-volume approach. Tomlinson posits a situation where there need to be one million parts produced. A high-volume machine can handle it. A flexible system can be engineered to do it—but it may cost three times what the high-volume system does. When it comes to a five-year depreciation, the high-volume system provides what he describes as an "attractive return on capital." But the flexible system won't make the cut—under that metric.

Tomlinson points out that the flexible system can be readily retooled so that it may be able to do three or more programs. He cites a flexible DaimlerChrysler manifold system that has been retooled some six times since Lamb installed it in the mid-1980s. So when it comes to lifecycle costs, the flexible system can clearly be more economic. But unless more than just the sticker price is taken into account, flexible systems may be economically unviable.

Model Zµ3500 uses temperature-controlled hydrostatic oil in hybrid spindle bearing, static pressure guides, and linear motor cooling system, virtually eliminating thermal distortion saturation time. At 25 hp, spindle reaches speeds of 30,000 rpm. Travels are 13.78 in X-axis and 11.8 in Y- and Z-axes. Positioning is accomplished with cooled scaled linear motors at 0.6 G in acceleration. Near absence of friction and vibration increases precision and reduces noise levels.
NOVI, MI - (May 1, 2006) A breakthrough in micro machining technology, NTC’s revolutionary Zµ3500 operates with zero metal contact, and achieves superior rigidity, accuracy and repeatability.
Traditional machining centers include calculated NC offset functions within the control to compensate for inherent inaccuracies due to backlash and other mechanical tolerance issues. However, functioning without linear guide ways, roller bearings or ball screws, the Zµ3500 overcomes the inertia of conventional technology, as well as the compromised tolerances required for that technology to function.
What’s more, when compared to other machines, where metal-to-metal contactproduces heat from friction, and creates thermal distortion, the Zµ3500’s zero metal contact design eliminates major sources of friction and related thermal distortion. The Zµ3500’s use of temperature-controlled hydrostatic oil in the hybrid spindle bearing, static pressure guides and the linear motor cooling system virtually eliminates thermal distortion saturation time. And, because traditional warm-up time is not required, productivity is enhanced substantially. The near-absence of friction (and therefore vibration) not only increases precision, but also extends tool life and reduces noise levels.
The Zµ3500’s spindle is the world’s first fluid hydro hybrid, incorporating hydrostatic and hydrodynamic technologies that virtually eliminate wear and run-out. At 25 HP, it reaches speeds of 30,000 RPM. The spindle utilizes HSK E32 tool holders. The 12-tool ATC is fully enclosed. Travels are 13.78″ in the X-axis and 11.8″ in the Y- and Z-axes. Positioning is accomplished with cooled scaled linear motors at 0.6G in acceleration.
The Zµ3500 is based on NTC’s extensive experience in building machining centers, grinders, and optics and semiconductor machines.

Metalworking is the craft and practice of working with metals to create structures or machine parts. The term covers a wide range of work-from large ships, bridges and oil refineries to delicate jewellery and instruments. Consequently, this craft covers a wide range of skills and entails the use of many types of tools.

History

Metalworking is a trade, art, hobby and industry that relates to metallurgy - a science, jewelery making - an art and craft, as a trade and an industry with ancient roots spanning all cultures and civilisations. Metalworking had its beginnings millennia in the past. Early humans, we speculate, realized different stones had different properties. These were freed metal ores on the earth's surfaces. We can further speculate that some indigenous groups attributed magical and spiritual significance to them. At some imprecise point humankind discovered that these lustrous rocks were meltable, and ductile and able to be formed into various articles for tools, adornment and practical uses. Humans over the millennia learned to work raw metals into objects of art, adornment, trade and practicality.

Through trial and error, and crude harnessing of the malleability of metals, inquisitions as to the sources of these elements probably began. By the historical periods of the Pharohs in Egypt, the Vedic Kings in India, and the Tribes of Israel, and Mayan Civilization in North America among other ancient populations, precious metals began to have value attached to them, and in some cases rules for ownership, distribution, and trade were created, enforced and agreed upon by respective peoples. By the above periods skills at creating objects of adornment, religious artifacts, and trade instruments of precious metals (non-ferrous), as well as implements of inhumanity, and other weaponry usually of ferrous metals and/or alloys were finely honed and flawlessly executed skills and techniques practised by artisans, blacksmiths, atharvavedic practitioners, alchemists, and other categories of metalworkers around the globe. For example, the ancient technique of granulation is found spontaneously around the world in numerous ancient cultures before the historic record shows people travelled seas or overland to far regions of the earth to share this process still being used, and attempted by metalsmiths today.

As time progressed metal objects became more common, and ever more complex. The need to further acquire and work metals grew in importance. Skills related to extracting metal ores from the earth began to evolve, and metalsmiths became more knowledgable. Metalsmiths became important members of society. Fates and economies of entire civilizations were greatly affected by the availability of metals and metalsmiths. Today modern mining practices are more efficient, and conversely more damaging to the earth, and the workers that are engaged in the industry. Those that finance the operations are driven by profits per ounce of extracted precious metals and today's gold market which as of the date of this editing, are at a 25 year high. The metalworker though depends on the extraction of precious metals to make jewelery, build more efficient electronics, and for industrial and technological applications from construction to shipping containers to rail, and air transport. Without metals, goods and services would cease to move around the globe on the scale we know today. More individuals then ever before are learning metalworking as a creative outlet in the forms of jewelery making, hobby restoration of aircraft and cars,blacksmithing, tinsmithing, tinkering, and in other art and craft pursuits. Trade schools continue to teach welding in all of its forms, and there is a proliferation of schools of Lapidary and Jewelers srts and sciences at this- the beginning of the 21st. Century a.c.e./a.d.

Processes

Shape modifying by material removal processes

Milling

Milling is the complex shaping of metal (or possibly other materials) parts, by removing unneeded material to form the final shape. It is generally done on a milling machine, a power-driven machine that in its basic form is comprised of a milling cutter that rotates about the spindle axis (like a drill), and a worktable that can move in multiple directions (usually three dimensions [x,y,z axis] relative to the workpiece, whereas a drill can only move in one dimension [z axis] while cutting). The motion across the surface of the workpiece is usually accomplished by moving the table on which the workpiece is mounted, in the x and y directions. Milling machines may be operated manually or under computer numerical control (CNC), and can perform a vast number of complex operations, such as slot cutting, planing, drilling and threading, rabbeting, routing, etc. Two common types of millers are the horizontal miller and vertical miller.

Turning

A lathe is a machine tool which spins a block of material so that when abrasive, cutting, or deformation tools are applied to the workpiece, it can be shaped to produce an object which has rotational symmetry about an axis of rotation, called Solids of Revolution. Examples of objects that can be produced on a lathe include candlestick holders, table legs, bowlss, baseball bats, crankshafts or camshafts.

The material may be held in place by a chuck or worked between one or two centers of which at least one can be moved horizontally to accommodate varying material lengths. In a metalworking lathe, metal is removed from the workpiece using a hardened cutting tool which is usually fixed to a solid moveable mounting called the "toolpost", this arrangement is then moved around the workpiece using handwheels and/or computer controlled motors. The main difference betwen the Milling Machine and the Lathe is that in the Milling Machine the tool is moving but in the Lathe, the work is moving.

Cutting
There are many technologies available to cut metal. Sawing, chisel, shearing, burning by Laser, gas jet and plasma, erosion by water jet or electric discharge, and good old fashioned hand cutting.

Drilling and threading

Drilling is the process of using a drill bit in a drill to produce holes. Under normal usage, swarf is carried up and away from the tip of the drill bit by the fluting. The continued production of chips from the cutting edges pushes the older chips outwards from the hole. This continues until the chips pack too tightly, either because of deeper than normal holes or insufficient backing off (removing the drill slightly [breaking the chip] or totally from the hole [clearing the bit] while drilling). Lubricants (or coolants) (i.e. cutting fluid) are sometimes used to ease this problem and to prolong the tool's life by cooling, lubricating the tip and improving chip flow.

Taps and dies are tools commonly used for the cutting of screw threads in metal parts. A tap is used to cut a female thread on the inside surface of a predrilled hole, while a die cuts a male thread on a preformed cylindrical rod.

Grinding

Grinding uses an abrasive process to remove material from the workpiece. A grinding machine is a machine tool used for producing very fine finishes or making very light cuts, using an abrasive wheel as the cutting device. This wheel can be made up of various sizes and types of stones, diamonds or of inorganic materials.

Shape modifying with material retention processes
These processes modify the shape of the object being formed, without removing any material.

Casting

* Sand casting
* Shell casting
* Investment casting (called Lost wax casting in art)
* Die casting

Plastic deforming

* Forging
* Rolling
* Extrusion
* Spinning

Powder Forming

* Sintering

Sheet Metal

* Bending: A calculated deformation of the metal from it original shape.
* Drawing
* Pressing
* Spinning
* Flow turning

Joining Processes

Welding

Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, but sometimes pressure is used in conjunction with heat, or by itself, to produce the weld. This is in contrast with soldering and brazing, which involve melting a lower-melting-point material between the workpieces to form a bond between them.

Many different energy sources can be used for welding, including a gas flame, an electric arc, a laser, an electron beam, friction, and ultrasound. While often an industrial process, welding can be done in many different environments, including open air, underwater and in space. Regardless of location, however, welding remains dangerous, and precautions must be taken to avoid burns, electric shock, poisonous fumes, and overexposure to ultraviolet light.

Hand fabrication

A wide variety of hand and small power tools are often used for metalworking, and an experienced machinist can fabricate almost any part using only hand tools, although it may require more time than with advanced machinery. Many types of hand tools are used, including cutting and scraping tools to remove metal, impact tools to reshape metal, and a wide variety of tools for marking, positioning, or otherwise assisting the fabrication process.

Preparation and validation

Marking out

Marking out (also known as layout) is the process of transferring a design or pattern to a workpiece and is the first step in the handcraft of metalworking. It is performed in many industries or hobbies, although in the repetition industries the need to mark out every individual piece is eliminated.

In the metal trades area, marking out consists of transferring the engineers plan to the workpiece in preparation for the next step, machining or manufacture.

For the past several years there has been something of an on-going competition occurring in the metalcutting automation arena as high-volume systems are giving way, in some cases, to more flexible systems, and then the high-volume lines regain ground (or, more specifically, plant floor space). Because Lamb Technicon Machining Systems (Warren, MI), a UNOVA company, provides both types of systems, we decided to ask its Mark Tomlinson, vice president of Technology Integration, to provide some suggestions as to what people ought to take into account when assessing the right automation for their application.

Process Commonality

The first thing that Tomlinson recommends be kept in mind when high-volume line Although this is a high-volume line for producing V8 cylinder heads—built for DaimlerChrysler's New Mack Engine Plant—its architecture is clearly more modular than high-volume transfer lines of the past. (Photo: Lamb Technicon). considering flexible and high-volume systems is that when it

comes to a given part, the processes will essentially be the same for both
types of systems. That is, if a hole needs to be drilled, then that's the case regardless of the volume of parts to be produced. In conjunction with this is the fact that there is likely to be commonality with regard to the tooling—though, as we shall see, there are some differences.

Hold It
flexible system Here's a flexible system for machining auto cylinder blocks. It consists of a series of CNC machiing modules and head changer machines. Note the blocks are not palletized. The robots are rail-mounted and used for load/unload operations. (Photo: Lamb Technicon).
Moving to the fixturing and transporting of the workpiece, we arrive at a point where there are clear system differences. For example, in a high-volume setup, where, generally, a single operation is performed at each station, the forces involved are often considerably different than those in a flexible system, where a multitude of cutting operations will be performed at a station (or, more accurately, within a CNC machine). Consider face milling. In a high-volume system, it is probably going to be done in one pass. In a flexible system, there are probably going to be multiple passes. Consequently, there is a difference in the clamping pressures for each type of system, which means there are fixturing differences. And because a flexible system is one in which there are multiple operations performed on a part in a setup, there are accessibility issues that have to be taken into account (e.g., there may be milling on one face and drilling on another, so there must be an open area where the drill can reach its intended target).

Move It

With regard to part transfer, Tomlinson points out that in the case of high-volume systems, there is a new architecture emerging: "The historic drive at the end of the machine is giving way to modular drives and transfer bars." This is providing the means by which there can be new functions added to an existing line by dropping in machine modules. (This modular approach also facilitates building and testing the line in the first place: since the individual pieces have their full mechanical functionality, there is the ability to assure that everything is as it should be far earlier than if it is necessary to wait for the entire line to be built and the drive at the end of the line engaged.)

In flexible systems, Tomlinson says that the trend is away from automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) and pallets fitted with fixtures. Tomlinson explains that the reason is the need to minimize the "streams of variation" that such devices can contribute to. That is, in the case of pallets, there are benefits realized from clamping once (e.g., in terms of consistent part location and management of cutting forces), but there can be difficulties related to maintaining and monitoring the traceability and repeatability of each palletized fixture, of which there are many in a flexible system running at production volumes. "Managing pallets is more difficult than managing parts on skids," Tomlinson notes. So a trend in flexible systems is to maintain the fixturing in the CNC machine tool and loading, unloading, and transferring parts in the free state.

Optimized Vs. Versatile

Another difference between the flexible and high-volume systems related to the physical characteristics of the tooling and fixturing is that in a high-volume system, a particular station is engineered to do one thing while the flexible system is fundamentally engineered to provide the opportunity to do plenty of things. So, for a high-volume system, the fixture, spindle and tooling are optimized at each station for a particular part. But consider just the spindle in a flexible system: it isn't sized for one specific part or operation; it must be capable of handling a variety. Consequently, there are likely to be tradeoffs, which can lead to processing and/or tooling issues.

Think about, Tomlinson suggests, valve seat and guide machining. In a high-volume system, there is a fixed tool that has the valve seat angles in place and a drawbar is used to put out a reamer to machine the guide. With a single-spindle machine this task can be exceedingly more complicated from the tooling point of view (e.g., a tool that has the seat configuration designed in and a reamer that pops out as a result of centrifugal force). The high-volume approach is simpler.

Controlled

In the area of controls for the equipment, there are big differences. Here the advantage is, in Tomlinson's estimation, with the flexible system because there are "standard" CNC controls. The consideration is wholly on the part programming logic. For the high-volume systems, on the other hand, the control architecture isn't as standardized—improved, yes, but standardized, no. Consequently, there is a need to work on both the machine logic and the part processing.

People Needs

There are workforce considerations, too, from the standpoints of required skills and number of people required to staff the systems. In the case of a high-volume system, the required personnel are generally limited to a loader, unloader and maintenance crew (that is either assigned to the line or central to plant operations). A flexible system needs more people. For one thing, the part transport is unlikely to be fully automated, so a number of part handling people may be needed to man the line (robotic handling is certainly a viable option). There must be a maintenance crew (who can be deployed as in the case of a high-volume system). But a big difference that Tomlinson points to is the need to have decision makers who will be able to decide what to do in the event that a cell within the system goes down. A high-volume system is either running or it is down. A flexible system based on work cells can continue to run, but the part flow must be determined. So there is a need for planners, schedulers and supervisors.

Downtime Data

Tomlinson explains that the flexible system introduces some uncertainty—at this point in time, anyway—when it comes to a part flow strategy. There is an abundance of data existing that describes the downtime for high-volume systems; after all, they've been used for decades. This data can be used to determine the number of parts that should be kept in a bank to handle the average downtime. But in flexible systems, this data isn't nearly as deep. What's more, there are many more problems that can arise.

For example, on flexible systems, one of the approaches to minimize downtime related to toolchange time is to have redundant tools in the toolchange mechanism, in addition to the variety of types of tools that are in place to perform the multiple operations. All of which means plenty of toolchanges per hour. But how many times can a toolchanger change before it fails? (And take into account the fact that in a given cell there are multiple machines, each of which has a toolchanger, each of which is changing tools on an on-going basis, so if one toolchanger goes, how long before the others follow?) There is a move toward using more high-speed machining spindles in flexible sys-tems. There are some concerns with the reliability of these spindles in production applications; downtime may be greater. And although CNC controls may be standard, there is still some question about control reliability. With time, these reliability issues will be worked out, just as they have been for the elements of high-volume machines; the high-volume machines simply have the advantage of having been around a lot longer.

Economic Advantage?

This time factor has also resulted in the development of a depreciation philosophy that tends to favor the high-volume approach. Tomlinson posits a situation where there need to be one million parts produced. A high-volume machine can handle it. A flexible system can be engineered to do it—but it may cost three times what the high-volume system does. When it comes to a five-year depreciation, the high-volume system provides what he describes as an "attractive return on capital." But the flexible system won't make the cut—under that metric.

Tomlinson points out that the flexible system can be readily retooled so that it may be able to do three or more programs. He cites a flexible DaimlerChrysler manifold system that has been retooled some six times since Lamb installed it in the mid-1980s. So when it comes to lifecycle costs, the flexible system can clearly be more economic. But unless more than just the sticker price is taken into account, flexible systems may be economically unviable.