Brunswick Boat Group
“SigmaNEST® delivers sustained improvement in terms of production efficiency, material variance, and quality.”
Alicia Harris
Engineering & Quality Manager
Brunswick Boat Group
To Brunswick Boat Group’s Sea Ray and Bayliner operation, receiving the J.D. Power & Associates award for Highest Customer Satisfaction has almost become a tradition. SigmaNEST® is proud to play a role in the company’s history of excellence and continuous process improvement efforts.
INDUSTRY
Marine Boats
PRODUCTION
Facility 300,000+ Square Feet
Routers: Accurouter and Heain
Fabric Cutters: Gerber and Lectra
CUTTING CABINETRY & UPHOLSTERY
Brunswick’s Knoxville, TN facility is the final step in the company’s production line for 24’ to 37’ Sea Ray and Bayliner boats. Here boats are fully assembled and tested before being sent to dealers around the world. SigmaNEST® software is driving the routers and fabric cutters used to help produce cabinetry, seating, and other interior components.
Because parts for the company’s line of boat models vary in terms of shape and design, cutting operations must be responsive to both demand and design changes. “There is a wide variety of geometry to the parts we cut – very few parts on a boat that are straight,” said Fabrication Supervisor, Donnie James. “SigmaNEST helps to get all of these various parts nested and integrated into our manufacturing process in the most efficient manner possible while ensuring maximum material yield.”
A NEED FOR AUTOMATION
Nesting in the past was time-consuming and manually intensive. A reliable and automated solution was needed. “In the past we digitized and nested parts by hand,” explained SigmaNEST Programmer Tim Huettel. “Needless to say the process was heavily manual intensive and time consuming. Even minor part changes required a complete nesting overhaul.”
After evaluating the alternatives, SigmaNEST CAD/CAM nesting software was selected to automate and streamline the nesting process. “SigmaNEST has helped transform what was a manually driven series of steps into an automated concurrent manufacturing process,” said Huettel. “Now in a manner of minutes we can nest a week’s worth of parts from five or six different model boats and cut them from a single sheet of material.”
SUSTAINED IMPROVEMENTS
The Brunswick Boat Group continues to meet the lofty expectations of its customers in terms of quality, reliability, and affordability. SigmaNEST is helping this boat manufacturer to boost productivity and control material costs by maximizing yield and machine run time. Brunswick’s Engineering & Quality Manager, Alicia Harris sums it up: “SigmaNEST delivers sustained improvements in terms of production efficiency, material variance, and quality.”
