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For more tahn 130 years, the French company Gruau has modified vehicles for professional applications. In the beginning carriages were produced, followed by buses in small series.

Today, Gruau manufactures, based on 34 car brands, in more than 20 product lines commercial vehicles for disabled people, transports of all kinds, towing services, police, rescue services and many other applications. More than 1,500 employees convert 54,000 vehicles a year to 20 industrial sites.

The required sheet metal parts are manufactured at the ST-BERTHEVIN site on automated punch and punch – laser machines. The NC programs are generated by WiCAM PN4000.

Mr Louis Renié reports how it all came about: ‘Ten years ago, we worked with Amada machines and the associated software. When the first trump machine was purchased, we had the requirement for a nesting software that supported all manufacturers. In addition, there was already an urgent need to manufacture PPS and CAD integrated, as the increasing individualization made the number of units smaller and delivery dates shorter. ‘

The WiCAM PN4000 was installed with CAD and PPS interface and just expanded with each new machine. Today PN4000 controls the machines TruPunch 3000, TruPunch 5000, TruMatic 6000 with FMC loading / unloading automation.

Later Gruau used the modules and functions for automatic NC generation also for far-reaching structural improvements. Today, without storage, Gruau always produces ‘just in time’ the parts that are currently needed – precise on time – and, if necessary, with all machines in three shifts.

Louis Renié: ‘Most nestings are created automatically according to PPS specifications with common cuts. The integrated revision control permanently checks the production data and ensures maximum transparency – and if there are any questions, we do have the complete parts history with a mouse click.’