Annedore Bose-Munde
High-precision tools have a key function in digital
production operations. Application-tailored integration into
the production sequences and purposeful processing of the
tool data are the basis for up-to-the-future Industry 4.0
solutions. The digitalisation of production processes plays
an important role for every company that wants to operate
successfully on the market. Since the tool with its specific
data is in metal-cutting machining a crucial constituent of
the process chain, it has to fit in with the digital
production environment. “All digital options have to be
rigorously implemented – from the tool itself, then the
tool-holder, including the clamping operation and balancing,
all the way through to tool presetting and deployment on the
machine,” is how Andreas Haimer, General Manager of Haimer
GmbH, Igenhausen, summarises the spectrum involved.
One important approach in this context is the provision of
digital services by tool manufacturers for their customers,
e.g. by ensuring that all tool data can be retrieved online.
According to Andreas Haimer, moreover, a tool management
solution that enables a digital workflow of the tool data is
crucial. This means: the software has to be able to
integrate the entire tool environment – shrink-fitting,
balancing, presetting – into the digital process and render
it automatable.
One thing is certain: digitalisation is transforming the
entire production sequence. With the aid of tool data stored
in memory, the entire manufacturing process can be simulated
and optimised in advance. Storage systems are often
connected, too, and the location of each individual tool can
be tracked. “The bottom line is that thanks to
digitalisation in their production operations companies save
time, money and resources,” says Bernd Schwennig, Technical
Sales Manager at E. Zoller GmbH & Co. KG, Pleidelsheim, a
member of the GTDE association (Graphical Tool Data Exchange
– Standard Open Base), which has taken on board the issue of
data exchange under the aegis of the VDMA’s Precision Tools
Association.
The foundation for every automation process is always the
tool data, which meanwhile subsume much more than merely the
geometrical data. Besides machine-specific data, these
include, for example, the remaining service lifetime
available, or the storage location or magazine space on the
machine. “These data are, of course, available worldwide, if
the company so desires,” adds Bernd Schwennig. It must,
moreover, be assumed that the data inside a company are
increasingly being exchanged beyond the boundaries of
individual facilities. “That a purchase order is triggered
at a tool vendor when stock levels in a production plant
fall below a minimum inventory is, of course, only a minor
aspect here, but one that’s already in actual use.
“In digital production operations, too, the metal-cutting
process as such is still crucially influenced by the tool in
terms of component quality and cost-efficiency. The tool
thus remains a crucial factor for success in metal-cutting
production operations,” adds Dr. Steffen Lang, who heads the
Service Division at Gühring KG in Albstadt.
The digital integration of metal-cutting machines enables
the performative capabilities and the current status of the
tool deployed in the machine to be acquired far more
precisely than hitherto. Thanks to the resultant
transparency, the entire logistics for tool supply to the
machine can be optimised.
Dr. Lang summarises the extent of
an automated tool provision feature:
“This begins with
presetting of the tools actually required at the machines,
which are mounted and adjusted in the optimal sequence. It
continues with consumption monitoring of the inventory
levels and acquisition of service lifetime changes and
factoring them directly into further tool planning. And
finally the consumption and performance data are forwarded
to the vendors, so as to optimise the tool’s performance and
supply.”
In this context, Gühring offers a machine interfacing
concept that enables the machine status and technological
process parameters like spindle speed and torque, plus
forces of the feed axes, to be acquired. Moreover, the
machine data can be acquired directly in the production
process, and on this basis the metal-cutting process can be
immediately optimised.
Solutions for digitalisation in the tool environment
In order to progress digitalisation, moreover, the company
has developed for its products a tool management software
package of its own that executes and organises the exchange
of setpoint and actual values, and other tool data, between
the individual stations in the tool room and the company’s
network. Haimer’s devices from the Industry 4.0 series,
moreover, can be automated using modern digital features and
interfaces.
For Zoller, the paramount focus is on holistic tool data
handling. The company’s setting and measuring devices
determine the requisite tool geometry data, and edit them so
that the machine tool can read them in. “Even for this step
of data transfer, we offer a wide range of highly disparate
solutions for every size of firm. The data can be both
entered manually and transmitted over a network or an RFID
chip,” reports Bernd Schwennig. The tool management
capability subsumes not only the organisation of tool
storage, but also evaluation options, e.g. for service
lifetime or costs of tool utilisation, broken down into a
specific order or even a specific component.
“Our goal is
always to generate maximised transparency in the entire tool
context, so as to optimise the production sequences involved
and render them faster and more cost-efficient,” says Bernd
Schwennig.
But users, too, have to engage with the issue of
digitalisation. For new investments, in particular,
companies should take care to ensure that every element in
the tool’s environment has Industry 4.0 capability and can
be integrated into the digital workflow. “A tool should, for
example, be unambiguously identifiable using RFID data chips
or using QR or data matrix codes, and through this detection
capability supply further tool data like Article Number or
3D models,” says Andreas Haimer, citing specific key data.
Bernd Schwenning adds:
“The most important factor for
optimal tool deployment is properly updated tool data.
Without tool data, the entire sequence is inconceivable:
neither digitally aided inventory management nor the
retrieval of metrological programs nor reading tool data
into the machine.” This first step, of course, he admits, is
tediously hard work, but it does offer the requisite
foundations for corporate survival in the future.
Online monitoring of the machine parameters determinant for
the metal-cutting process, like torque and power consumption
of the spindle, feed forces of the axes, etc. enables tool
utilisation to be optimised or the dimensioning of the tool
to be rendered more suitable for the machining job involved.
“Both provide the user with an option for raising his
productivity more selectively. It’s important for him to
know and exploit these advantages of machine interfacing, so
as to upgrade his competitiveness,” emphasises Dr. Steffen
Lang.
At the METAV, the exhibitors will in the context of tool
utilisation also be presenting disparate solutions in
digital production operations. For instance, Haimer will be
showcasing its concepts in regard to the digitalisation of
tool presetting, networking and concatenation of systems.
Moreover, the company will be presenting many new tools and
holders, and in its role as a complete-system vendor for
everything to do with machine tools be spotlighting at the
fair the very latest shrink-fit, balancing and presetting
devices.
Zoller will be showcasing solutions for measuring and
managing tools, and for tool data management. This involves
metrology, software and services that guarantee
complete-system solutions for adjusting, measuring, testing
and managing metal-cutting tools. In addition, the company
provides information on automation solutions that support
daily tool handling for enhanced process reliability.
On the Gühring company’s stand, the machine’s interfacing
with the tool management software and the evaluation of
machine data acquired will be on show live on the spot on a
CNC machine. Further exhibits from the Gühring company will
be new drills and metal-cutting concepts for the field of
e-mobility.
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METAV 2020 - 21st International Trade Fair for
Metalworking Technologies displays the full spectrum of
manufacturing technology. The focus is on machine tools,
manufacturing systems, precision tools, automated material
flows, computer technology, industrial electronics and
accessories. Added to this are new topics such as Moulding,
Medical, Additive Manufacturing and Quality. They are firmly
established in so-called Areas in the METAV exhibition
programme, each with its own nomenclature. The target group
of METAV visitors includes all branches of industry that
process metals, in particular mechanical and plant
engineering, the automotive and supply industry, the
aerospace sector, the electrical industry, energy and
medical technology, tool and mould making as well as
metalworking and trades. The VDMA Precision Tools
Association is the institutional patron of METAV and is
responsible for planning the tools exhibition area.
