SolidCAM resellers from around the world gathered in Hannover, Germany in December 2013 to share information and catch up with the latest developments at the SolidCAM 2013 reseller conference. With six offices in Germany, offices in the USA, Canada, China, Japan, and India, and affiliate companies in the UK, France, Czech Republic and Australia, as well as 140 resellers in 50 countries, it was a popular and well attended event.

Dr Emil Somekh, CEO, took the opportunity to remind delegates about the company's success. "We have over 19,000 seats installed worldwide, we have been named fastest growing CAM vendor by CIMdata in 5 of the last 8 years, and we have been a SolidWorks Gold partner for more than 10 years." He also described the advantages and developments at the company's Technology Centers in Germany, USA, Czech Republic and Japan. At these centers, customers can experience live demonstrations of the 70% reduction in cycle time possible with SolidCAM's patented iMachining and learn how to maximize productivity from their machinery and tooling.

The Technology Centres have enabled SolidCAM to build relationships with machine tool manufactures, as well as tooling manufacturers such as Hoffmann, Guehring, Iscar, Sandvik and Kennametal. They are very keen to use the cycle time reductions and the increased tool life that SolidCAM can offer, to give their customers a further competitive advantage. In addition the centres have proved to be invaluable for training and cutting technology development and, through seminars, webinars and virtual demonstrations, a powerful sales tool.

The patented iMachining and its Technology Wizard were the key topics for SolidCAM representatives from all around the world. According to them, the performance of the unique iMachining has proved itself to be far in advance of anything else currently on the market. In SolidCAM 2013, even closer integration with SolidWorks makes the software even easier to use, while advances in 5-axis machining provide new blade and port machining capabilities. In addition, multi-core calculation, which makes full use of the latest computer technology, has speeded up calculation, greatly reducing programming times.

iMachining 3D sees addition of tool holder collision avoidance, enabling shorter tools to be used. For Mill-Turn applications, which can also benefit from iMachining, advances in balanced roughing, synchronization of turrets, support of sub-spindles and B-axis, makes this an extremely powerful module for multi-turret and multi-spindle CNC machines.

Introduced at the conference was the new Solid Probe module. The Solid Probe allows users to define the setup home position and perform part measurement cycles during machining, and is completely integrated with other SolidCAM operations. Additionally, it supports tool presetters and tool breakage detection. Machining operations and Probe operations are intermixed in the CAM manger, using the same geometry. Should the solid model change, both the machining and probe operations automatically synchronize to the alteration.

Emil Somekh emphasized the importance of customer service. "We have a competence training program for our reseller network which includes a reseller technical certification process to ensure that our customers, wherever they are in the world, are getting the best levels of support. Training is ongoing with 134 online webinars attended by resellers and customers. We also pride ourselves on the speed of response we offer."