ModuleWorks – the components behind many CAM systems

ModuleWorks supplies the toolpath algorithms behind most CAM systems. Why comparing such systems adds little value and how users benefit from shared feedback.

ModuleWorks is one of the unsung heroes of the CAM world: few users have ever heard of the company, yet its software components power most CAM systems on the market. This look behind the scenes shows why that plays a decisive role when choosing a CAM system.

What is ModuleWorks?

ModuleWorks is a supplier of software components for the CAM industry. This covers many areas, such as algorithms for 2D, 3D and 5-axis milling. A CAM vendor licenses the relevant components and integrates them into its own product – much like a sub-assembly bought in for a machine. The component does its job in the background, often without the user ever noticing. Some CAM vendors do not even develop their own user interfaces for the corresponding dialogs and instead ship the ones supplied by ModuleWorks.

These components do their work in the CAM stage of the process chain:

Same recipe, same result

Most CAM systems currently on the market use ModuleWorks to calculate their toolpaths. Since all these systems cook from the same recipe, they all end up serving the same dish.

It therefore makes little sense to benchmark systems against each other in an evaluation when they all have ModuleWorks integrated. SolidCAM and Mastercam, for example, are both listed as partners. An evaluation of these two systems will reveal only marginal differences – in the look and feel of the software, say, but not in the quality of the toolpaths.

The shared feedback pool

In my opinion, the advantage of a system built on ModuleWorks is the volume of feedback that is passed on to ModuleWorks by the customers of all the different vendors. If a Mastercam customer discovers a bug in an algorithm, for example, every user of a ModuleWorks-based product ultimately benefits from the fix.

A vendor that develops its algorithms in-house only receives a fraction of that feedback. The probability of running into such a bug yourself as a user is correspondingly higher.

Partner list (as of June 2023)

The following list shows the manufacturers and products that were listed on the ModuleWorks partner page on June 19, 2023. It includes vendors with entire product families, such as Autodesk with Fusion 360, PowerMill, FeatureCAM, InventorCAM and HSMWorks.

Conclusion

In my opinion, it makes no sense to compare products against each other when they all use ModuleWorks: same input, same output. When evaluating, focusing on the investment costs is therefore far more promising.