ENGINEERING STUDY / NESTINGJS—02
SolidWorks BOM to Round-Bar Planner Bridge
A SolidWorks VBA bridge that reads a drawing BOM, populates a round-bar nesting workbook, recalculates Excel, runs ProcessJob, and saves the result.
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ManufacturingcalculatorEngineering workflow
Round-Bar Nesting and Operator Cutlist
An Excel/VBA planning system that groups bar demand, compares stock plans, generates cutlists, and visualizes standard and optimized nests.
Open the working tool ↗
Change the inputs and explore the engineering results.
MY FOCUSBuilt the workbook workflow, optimizer logic, status controls, print outputs, and SolidWorks import integration.
ENGINEERING VALUE
Demonstrates an end-to-end engineering automation workflow from BOM ingestion to purchasing and shop-floor cut instructions.
PROJECT SCOPE
Excel/VBA planning workflow with a working browser counterpart
Explore the project checks ↗ENGINEERING STUDY / NESTINGJS—02
Engineering concept illustration.
01 / THE PROBLEM
The engineering challenge.
Bar purchasing and cutting need a traceable bridge from BOM rows to stock orders and operator-ready cutting instructions.
02 / CONSTRAINTS
What the solution must consider.
- Stock length, extra stock, end cleanup, remnants, material/profile isolation, and deterministic results must remain explicit.
03 / ENGINEERING APPROACH
Reasoning before geometry.
01
Engineering method
Normalize stock keys, expand quantities into pieces, solve standard and optimized bar assignments, and preserve traceability back to job/item/part identifiers.
02
Workflow features
14-sheet workflow; Named settings and structured input table; Standard and global optimized nests; Purchase plans; Operator cutlists and visual strips; PDF import/append and print outputs.
04 / DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
Connecting intent to execution.
The V04 workbook links grouped demand, stock planning, purchasing and operator cutlists. The browser counterpart adds editable finite inventory and downloadable cutting instructions.
- 14-sheet workflow
- Named settings and structured input table
- Standard and global optimized nests
- Purchase plans
- Operator cutlists and visual strips
- PDF import/append and print outputs
05 / VALIDATION
The checks behind the design.
Engineering workflow
Excel project validation recorded 129 valid pieces, zero quantity or length mismatches, repeatable optimized output and compile/import/print/export passes. End-to-end SolidWorks integration requires separate drawing-session testing. The browser planner passes 126 feasibility and demand-conservation scenarios covering inventory, material/profile groups, exact fits, kerf, trims, unmet demand and CSV output. Its documented saw model and heuristic planning do not establish a global optimum.
129
Validated pieces
Project validation report; measured.
0
Material/profile isolation violations
Project validation report; measured.
06 / OUTCOME
The value of the work.
Demonstrates an end-to-end engineering automation workflow from BOM ingestion to purchasing and shop-floor cut instructions.
THE ENGINEERING PRINCIPLE
Optimize the stock plan without losing the demand record.
A bar plan must preserve profile, material and quantity groups while accounting for stock length, kerf and usable remnants. An efficient nest becomes useful when the operator cutlist and purchase plan agree with the original demand.
A question for a technical conversation
How would you prove that a cutlist preserves every requested piece and never mixes incompatible material groups?
LET’S BUILD SOMETHING THAT WORKS
Good design belongs
on the shop floor.
Considering a role in mechanical design, manufacturing methods,
fixture design, or estimation? Let’s connect.