PRODUCT REVIEWS
Integration-ready component chain
After 45 years of nesting algorithms innovation, Alma is expanding its landmark Almacam Nesting Component( formerly known as Powernest) into a complete, modular software components’ ecosystem— contributing to how the industry builds, integrates and scales quotation and production applications.
A software component is a modular, selfcontained functional engine that performs a specific task within a larger application. Concretely, components are sets of advanced algorithms packaged as software libraries. They are designed to be integrated by a user’ s IT or R & D teams directly into their own applications. These algorithms can be deployed as libraries or accessed as web services via APIs, making integration flexible and straightforward.
“ Users can rediscover nesting not as a standalone optimisation software component but as the heart of a broader, integrated ecosystem. From there, they can build outward— with geometry preparation, nesting optimisation and toolpath generation, transforming an isolated capability into a complete digital chain,” explained Alma.
Almacam Components
“ The sheet metal and multi-material cutting industry has never stood still. From manual programming to fully automated cutting machines, each decade has brought a new layer of complexity— and a new demand for smarter, faster and more integrated software. Today, that demand reaches a tipping point,” Alma told ISMR.
“ Software is no longer a support function: it is a strategic differentiator. The companies that compete most effectively are those whose digital tools are the most tightly integrated, the most precisely optimised and the most readily adaptable. This is exactly
Almacam Components can be deployed individually or combined progressively to build a complete digital chain.
the challenge that we set out to address when we launched Almacam Components,” it continued.
The premise of Almacam Components is simple: rather than forcing software publishers, machine builders, quotation web platforms or industrial companies and subcontractors to develop complex, cuttingspecific algorithms from scratch, Almacam Components provides them with industrialgrade, pre-built, ready-to-integrate functional engines.
“ Therefore, in addition to our core nesting component expertise, we have added new components which are each full of expertise and innovation,” outlined Alma, highlighting the new components below.
■ The Almacam Import Component handles both 2D( DXF / DWG) and 3D( STEP) files, importing and preparing parts by cleaning geometry, recognizing bends and generating unfolded shapes. It is designed as the natural entry point of the component chain.
■ The Almacam Nesting Component, Alma’ s flagship technology, is a powerful, true-shape 2D nesting library designed to optimise part placement to significantly reduce material waste. It supports a wide range of materials— sheet metal; wood; composites; foam; cardboard and more.
■ The Almacam Cutting Component completes the process by automatically generating optimised toolpaths from nesting layouts. According to Alma, it“ ensures full compliance with production constraints and can produce machine-ready code compatible with multiple cutting machines via dedicated post-processors.”
Each step is powered by a dedicated, independently licensable component available as a library or web service.
“ The Almacam Components can be deployed individually— for example, a company that simply needs best-in-class nesting inside an existing application— or combined progressively to build a complete digital chain. The architecture is explicitly modular: no forced bundling and no unnecessary overhead,” added Alma.
Postprocessing & machine execution
Toolpath generation
CAD Import
Components embedded into clients’ solutions
Geometry preparation
Nesting optimisation
52 | ismr. net | ISMR May 2026