Basic HTML Version
12
WORLD FOOTWEAR | JULY/AUGUST 2012
A
N
N
I
V
E
R
S
A
R
Y
I
S
S
U
E
A
N
N
I
V
E
R
S
A
R
Y
I
S
S
U
E
relatively simple machines, and
perfectly adequate for the high
volume/low flexibility manufacturing
typical of that phase of footwear
manufacture.
Seeing how prototypes as well as
batches of lasts are produced today,
one would not believe that such an old
fashioned technological approach ever
existed. Nevertheless, pioneering
companies found it difficult to abandon
the old, purely mechanical, machines
as they tried to develop completely
new systems that took full advantage
of the most advanced technologies of
their time. Two of these were major
innovations, replacing the physical
wooden model with a digital one and
equipping the machines with the most
powerful electronic numerical controls
available, specifically designed to work
with them. After several unsuccessful
attempts, the first families of NC-
controlled last turning machines
appeared, together with the necessary
software tools to create the digital
models required.
Last makers all over the world can
now essentially handle all the phases
of the last making process digitally.
Digitisers are available to capture the
shape of the sample last (which is still
produced manually), software to edit
the geometry, grade the different sizes
and generate the tool paths the
machines must execute. NC machines
are available for both roughing and
finishing operations, combining speed,
accuracy and flexibility in a way that
was previously unthinkable.
The latest systems, launched only a
few years ago, saw another
innovation: the last located in the
machine at toe and heel is now
clamped on its top surface, thus
allowing NC milling of its entire
geometry, including the toe and heel.
The five revolutions