GRIDMATE™

Grid Calculation for any Window Style

Expediting the manufacturing of grids assures window and insulating glass manufacturers reduced operating costs and increased profits.  Processing grids quickly and accurately and getting them to the assembly area in a manner that streamlines IG unit assembly is what GRIDMATE™ accomplishes.  It expedites any design of grid fabrication for both internal and external grids.

GRIDMATET, from PMC Software Inc., handles the difficult job of grid length and notch location calculation for any style window system.  It interfaces with several manufacturers of positioners, saw stops, and grid notchers for the fabrication of grids. 

Using an extremely flexible formula-based configurator, GRIDMATE™ allows users to define the formulas needed to build grids and provide notching locations.  The formulas also take into consideration vertical and/or horizontal offset requirements, spacer insets, and muntin widths as well as providing incremental or absolute coordinate computations to determine notching locations.

GRIDMATE™ eliminates the need for manual data entry.  An ASCII bridge file, transferred from your business system provides the interface to the equipment.  The file is generated in schedule sequence so that grids reach IG assembly in the same sequence as their corresponding lites coming from the cutting workcenter.  This speeds up processing and eliminates the downtime experienced when operators must search for the correct grids to match up with lites.  If desired, grid requirements, such as opening dimensions, grid style and color, may be entered manually.

Information appears on-screen at the grid fabrication workcenter or can be printed via GRIDMATE™'s Grid Report.  Both outputs provide detail such as grid style, cut length, number of horizontal and vertical bars, notching locations, and schedule, rack and slot information for the matching lites of glass.  The Grid Report also includes a simple diagram of each grid layout, which is proportionate to the actual grids being assembled.   This visual aid helps operators assemble grids correctly.

GRIDMATE™ is configurable based on your plant's unique operations.  Grids can be cut and notched as a unit or grouped by type, processing all horizontal bars and then all vertical bars.  Further configuration includes the ability to process a schedule either forwards or backwards, depending upon the way in which your facility loads grids for processing at IG assembly.

The system also includes an inventory module for defining the inventory used in the breakdown configurator and a test module for validating grid configurations before releasing them to production.