Almacam worldwide Products Nesting & cutting optimization software

Nesting and cutting optimization software

30 years ago, Alma has developed the very first software designed for automatic nesting. Today, Alma markets both application software products (act/cube) and software components (Powernest, Opaline) that can be integrated into CAD/CAM software products developed by third-parties. In addition, act/cut software for 2D cutting and punching includes a powerful module for automatic and interactive nesting, which results in unique and unequalled performance in optimized nesting.

Complementary products

Software component for 2D-shape automatic nesting and metal sheet cutting

PowerNest is powerful and comprehensive library for automatic nesting. This library has been designed to develop optimization applications for 2D nesting or CAM cutting and can be used in a wide range of sectors: sheet metal working, packaging industry, shipbuilding, wood panel or plastic cutting.
As a pioneer since 30 years in the field of cutting optimization and automatic nesting of complex shapes for the cutting of materials in sheets, Alma provides CAD/CAM software developers with its unique experience through the PowerNest component.

Main advantages and benefits:

Unique and unequalled performance in nesting
Combination of numerous functions resulting in a complete interactive product (collision detection and anti-collision management, automatic nesting following a manually-initiated nesting)
Support of various industry requirements
Easy to integrate
Possibility to benefit from Alma support and expertise for the component integration

Main functions of the PowerNest component >

Try Alma’s automatic nesting with your own parts!

Software component for bar, rectangle and parallelepiped nesting

This software component ensures optimized nesting on bars (1D), plates (2D) or blocks (3D). Delivered through a DLL (Dynamic Link Library), Opaline is intended for software developers who need to integrate automatic cutting functions in their software products. With the ability to meet various specific industrial requirements, Opaline can be used for the cutting of a wide range of material (foam, wood, metal, stone, graphite, etc.).

Main advantages and benefits:

Optimized cutting resulting in material and time savings
True 3D nesting instead of a plain layer piling-up
Optimized use of material both in terms of filling of a single block and of selection of the best blocks
Integration of material constraints (fiber orientation, rotations, etc.) and cutting process requirements (machine limits, first cut orientation, etc.)
Optimized control of material costs, parts and offcuts
Easy to use

Functional description

Opaline is a software component for optimized bar (or beam), rectangle (or plate) and parallelepiped (or block) nesting. Opaline provides nesting algorithms in one, two or three dimensions.

With the ability to satisfy many machine constraints (guillotine cutting, complex cutting diagram, thickness of saw cuts, minimum distance between cutting lines, management of part matrixes, etc.), the Opaline component is perfectly adapted to flat or volume cutting of different materials (glass, wood, board, steel, plastic, foam, polyurethane, stone, marble, carbon, frozen products, etc.) but also to the filling of different volumes (containers, pallets, lorries, warehouses, etc.).

The component global optimization algorithms and ability to manage different kinds of situations (diagonal bars, optional parts, multi-container nesting, offcut and priority management, etc.) ensure exceptional nesting results and minimal material losses.

The Opaline component will easily integrate into your application software thanks to a C interface. It is also available in the form of .net and java components. Opaline is also embedded in our act/cube and act/cut software products, worldwide used today by hundreds of industrial companies.

3D nesting software for volume cutting (foam, stone, wood, etc.)

act/cube is a powerful 3D nesting software intended for professionals specialized in cutting materials such as foam, polystyrene, polyurethane, marble, wood but also deep-frozen food. From a set of raw-material blocks and a set of outputs to be produced, act/cube automatically calculates the 3D layout using a powerful optimization algorithm. This results in an optimized use of material, and therefore, significant material and time savings.

Main advantages and benefits:

Material and time savings: act/cube allows you to quickly create very compact 3D assemblies
True 3D nesting instead of a plain layer piling-up
Optimized use of material both in terms of filling of a single block and of selection of the best blocks
Management of cutting process requirements
Easy coupling with Production Management and ERP systems
Easy to use.

Main functions:

Production management and ERP interface
Management of minimum and maximum requests
Minimization of offcuts and generation of reusable offcuts
Priority re-use of offcuts
Multiple outputs management
Selection of the best material to use
Selection of optimization time
Cutting plans adapted to the functional characteristics of the machines (edge to edge cutting, etc.) and to the different cutting technologies (wire, blade, saw, etc.)

Possibles applications:

Cutting of foam blocks (mattresses, seats, cushions, etc.)
Cutting of marble, granite, limestone, dolomite blocks (gravestone, ashlars)
Cutting of fallen trees (beam, rafter, joist, timber, etc.)
Cutting of graphite sheets
Cutting of parallelepiped metal blocks (steel, copper, aluminum, cast-iron, etc.)
Cutting of polyester, polyethylene, polyurethane, polystyrene, PVC, rubber, etc.
Cutting of frozen food

CAM software

Nesting and cutting optimization software

Complementary products

Related articles

Main functions of the PowerNest component for automatic nesting

Try Alma’s automatic nesting with your own parts!

Related documents

Powernest - Software component for automatic nesting

Software component for 2D-shape automatic nesting and metal sheet cutting

Main advantages and benefits:

Main functions of the PowerNest component >

Try Alma’s automatic nesting with your own parts!

Complementary products

Software component for bar, rectangle and parallelepiped nesting

Main advantages and benefits:

Functional description

Related documents

act/cube for volume cutting

3D nesting software for volume cutting (foam, stone, wood, etc.)

Main advantages and benefits:

Main functions:

Possibles applications:

in one click