Kevin Cunningham : Ply Cutter / AutoCAD (Scroll down for resume)
Email me at home: kevin@cunning.net
Assistant Engineer on the Ply Cutter- Assisting installing, Bringing online, Designing in AutoCAD, Efficiently laying out patterns in Optitex, Operating, Maintaining, Repairing, Handling composite material, Training, Working with Gerber Field Service.
Over 7 years Programming experience- AutoCAD, Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Web Design... and MORE.
And I come HIGHLY recommended. Click HERE to see my Performance Evaluations, Promotion Letters, Awards and a Letter of Commendation.
At Space Systems/Loral, I was on the implementation team assisting Field Service in installation of the Ply Cutter, defining the procedures in AutoCAD used to create, store and recall cut files as well as the procedures used for handling, cutting, storing and recording usage of composite material. I was also responsible for operating and performing routine maintenance of the Ply Cutter.
The AutoCAD programmed Ply Cutter...
The following article from the company newspaper featured the Ply Cutter which best describes its design/ working characteristics. In the pic, that's me on the left... pointing out the carriage options. In the background-right is the Digitizer. Used to digitize more complicated shapes for transfer to cutting.
The Loral materials/inventory manager estimated that the Ply Cutter and I gave Loral over a million dollars a year in composite material savings!
The Ply Cutter also reduces labor costs. Before Loral got the Ply Cutter, the Layup Technicians had to take the time to cut their own kits. With a Ply Cutter supplying the kits needed, it freed up the Techs to concentrate on their area of expertise- Laying up their parts. Also, laying up from only one design of kit ensured that all the parts were identically cut and layed up. That consistency helped ensure that different Techs laid up each part identically, leaving little to varying technician interpretations. And that consistency gave more quality parts.
The Optitex "nesting" program...
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The kit to the right being designed is called a Thruster Bracket. After taking a design of the 3-D Thruster Bracket tool into consideration, the pattern formed around the tool is then flattened for material cut out design. The shapes are nested efficiently in the Optitex program. In Optitex, shapes may be manipulated and moved for maximum material savings. The more simpler, rectangular shapes of the Thruster Bracket were easy to create using AutoCAD. However, the more complicated shapes needed to be digitized. The pieces are numbered to assist the Technician as to the order of lay up, thus minimizing mistakes. Optitex allows for trying different nesting permutations of any given set of parts until best efficiency is achieved. |
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A trained technician utilizing Optitex can get 85% to 95% efficiency! A technician hand cutting material may have more than 50% material waste. (Hey, they're only human ;-)
The CEI Base Cutting program...
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Once a kit is nested for best efficiency, it is transferred to the CEI Base program where the cutting parameters are created. CEI Base defines the order and direction in which lines are cut, along with the order in which lines or numbers are drawn in ink. This file is saved, identified by part number and is accessed by the Ply Cutting computer. Now that the kit has been created and stored, any time a Thruster Bracket needs to be made, the Ply Cutter can call up the file for immediate cutting. |
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My specialty at Loral was programming the Ply Cutting computer using the several drawing programs and operating the Ply Cutter to cut out pieces of composite pre-preg material to get made into a satellite. Ask me about how I worked for three days straight, creating a program and gave the company an immediate $10,000 savings!
The Ply Cutter (Full circle)...
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After calling the needed kit up on the computer, the material is laid out on the Ply Cutter. The blade height is set for the proper material width. This kit would take a technician over 5 hours to hand cut. The Ply Cutter can do it in less than 15 minutes! (The Ply Cutter also saves in enhancing safety! Visits to the hospital by technicians who cut themselves with razor blades while hand cutting their own kits were cut way back.)
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Used by the clothing industry and Aerospace, the Ply Cutter can not only cut cloth and pre-preg material, it can also cut paper, cardboard, plastic, rubber, even aluminum! (basically, anything flat that can be cut by a blade).
Finally, an overall shot of the ply-cutter
Hope you enjoyed your tour of the AutoCAD
programmed Ply Cutter! And if your company is in the market for an
Assistant Engineer/ AutoCAD Ply Cutter, see my resume below.
I come HIGHLY recommended. Click HERE to see my Performance Evaluations, Promotion Letters, Awards and a Letter of Commendation.
KEVIN CUNNINGHAM
1799 Diamond Springs Lane
Brentwood CA 94513
OBJECTIVE: To obtain a position as an Assistant Engineer/ AutoCAD Technician.
EXPERIENCE:
Production Technician
Oxford Instruments, Scotts Valley, CA 2004
Perform complicated operations in constructing X-ray tubes.
Utilize hand tools, production equipment and microscopes.
Build X-ray guns to spec within .001" tolerance accuracy.
Assisted company with achieving ISO 9001:2000 certificate.
Assistant Engineer / Ply Cutter
Space Systems/ Loral, Palo Alto, CA 1996-2003
Digitized and scanned complex patterns for transfer to computer.
Interpreted detailed schematics for programming in 2D AutoCAD design.
Utilized AutoCAD for DXF conversion and Gerber files
Worked independently creating, verifying and plotting drawings.
Transferred AutoCAD designs into CEI Base cutting files for the ply cutter.
Operate ply cutter and performed preventive and corrective maintenance.
Handled, inventoried and stored composite material.
Developed and wrote ply cutting training procedures, and trained employees.
Notable Engineer / Ply Cutter Accomplishments:
Letter of commendation from Manufacturing Engineering Manager.
Two company awards for Work Excellence / AutoCAD support .
Significantly reduced labor / materials cost.
AutoCAD 2002 Certificates: Community Center, Brentwood, CA
Previous experience as an Equipment Maintenance Technician,
Trainer/ Training Coordinator and McDonald's Manager.
SKILLS:
Mac and PC Computer skills:
AutoCAD, Cei Base, Gerber and DXF Files, Optitex, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Autosketch, Web Design and more.
EDUCATION:
Associate Arts Degree, West Valley College, Saratoga CA
LANGUAGES:
English, Conversational Spanish
