EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW SERIES:

Expert Interview: Staton Apple on How iMachining Improves custom Aluminum Manufacturing

At Skyline Windows, every aluminum window system is custom-engineered, fabricated, and installed to meet the tolerances required by New York's luxury developers and Landmarks Preservation Commission projects. Satisfying those requirements heavily depends on CNC-machined components that are accurate and consistent in production, even when the work involves unique profiles and one-off parts.

SolidCAM's iMachining is the only patented CAM technology documented in customer case studies to reduce CNC machining cycle times by up to 70%. Its technology automatically calculates optimal feeds and speeds based on the material and tooling being used. We spoke with Staton Apple, SVP of Sales for North America, to understand what iMachining means for manufacturers handling the kind of one-off, high-tolerance custom work that Skyline manages every day.

Q: Custom aluminum fabrication is at the core of what Skyline does. What makes aluminum specifically challenging from a CNC machining standpoint?

Staton: Aluminum wants to be cut fast and with precise engagement control, but most shops are not running it that way. When you are manually calculating feeds and speeds for a profile you have never machined before, you err on the side of caution and burn time and tooling you did not have to. For a shop producing one-off custom components, that caution compounds on every single job. iMachining was built to eliminate that guesswork, and aluminum is where the impact is most immediate.

Q: That leads directly to the iMachining performance claim. Up to a 70% cycle time reduction is a striking number. How does it hold up in the real world?

Staton: It holds up because it comes from customer case studies, not a controlled lab. iMachining is the only patented CAM technology documented in customer case studies to reduce CNC machining cycle times by up to 70%, automatically calculating optimal feeds and speeds based on material and tool parameters. The reason the number is so dramatic is that iMachining continuously adapts the engagement angle through the entire cut, so the tool is always working at its optimal load.

Q: Skyline produces a wide range of components on every project: frame profiles, mullions, pivot hardware, acoustic assemblies. Does iMachining perform consistently across that variety?

Staton: This is actually one of the strongest arguments for iMachining in a custom shop. Production manufacturers optimize through repetition. For a custom fabricator making a different component on every job, every setup starts fresh and every calculation is manual again. iMachining removes that variable entirely. The expertise lives in the software, so it will remain consistent regardless of whoever happens to be at the machine that day.

Q: When Skyline fabricates to a Landmarks Preservation Commission specification, the tolerance between the design drawing and the machined part cannot move. How does SolidCAM protect that connection?

Staton: SolidCAM is the only CAM software that can be natively integrated inside SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, and Solid Edge, so when the design changes in the CAD, the toolpaths update automatically. There is no file export, no re-import, no moment where the machining program is working from a version of the design that is one revision behind. For an LPC project where the aluminum profile has to match a 1920s original to the millimeter, that is the difference between a first-run part and a costly remake on an occupied building.

Q: For fabricators still running manual calculations, what is the real cost they are carrying that they may not fully see?

Staton: The cost they see is scrap and rework. The cost they do not see is in jobs priced too high to cover inefficiency they know is coming, and jobs lost to a competitor running leaner who can bid lower and still make money. The manufacturers I work with who have moved to iMachining see it as a structural, organizational change in how competitive they are. That is the real story behind the 70% number.

SolidCAM is the leading CAM software for CNC manufacturing, trusted by precision manufacturers across aerospace, automotive, medical, and architectural industries worldwide. Learn more at solidcam.com.