“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.”
This popular quote is often brought up when speaking about today’s fast-paced technological development. Industry 4.0 is paving the way for manufacturing transformation with ground-breaking innovations, which in turn bring opportunities to develop workshops and aim for higher revenues. However, investing in new technology is not the only way to optimise a machine tool setup. In the first of a new article series from Sandvik Coromant, Blasius Reschreiter, global manager of machine tool solutions at the metal cutting organisation, explains how tool shop owners can make the most out of their machines through improved equipment utilisation, quick change tooling, and modular solutions.

In light of recent technological advances, investing in forefront technologies can at first hand appear like a given strategy to conduct a successful business. However, markets are fluctuating. To continually strive for the latest, most high-tech solutions might not be the natural way to go forward in uncertain times. The ability to adapt production to current and future demands in a flexible way is crucial for surviving in today’s economy. Here, we take a closer look at flexible approaches to workshop machinery.

Make the most out of your machine tool set-up Machine tool and cutting tool development is rapidly progressing. However, this can involve considerable investments, requiring time, capital and somewhat secure predictions for future demands. If the market situation and business forecasts are unsure, major investments might not be an option.

When your primary goal is to stay in cost reduction mode and to handle a temporary market downturn, a key consideration should be to investigate your current workshop, to make use of existing machines and existing capacity and, preferably, without dramatically increasing overhead costs.

Another consideration is productivity. Often, we put our focus on achieving maximum metal cutting efficiency. Metal removal rate is one way of measuring efficiency when producing parts. However, what can be an even more important aspect to consider is machine utilization. In an average machine shop, only 50% of a machine’s in-use time is used for machining. Breakdowns, changeovers and maintenance consume the remaining 50%.

Machine utilisation in focus
Increasing machine utilisation is a cost-effective way to boost productivity and make use of the capacity already available. This should be measured as a percentage of the time that the machine is actually producing components. Pushing up active machining time by only a few percentage points makes a big difference.

Increased machine utilisation can be attained by working actively with typical time killers often appearing in a common workshop related to these areas: batch set-up, measuring the component in the machine, tool setting, coolant pipe setting, changing worn tools, chip removal around tools and workpieces or blocked conveyors and component change-over.

Two key approaches to overcome this type of challenge are to work with quick-change tooling and modular systems. By applying quick change and modular solutions, machine utilisation can be greatly increased

Quick change tooling solutions

A quick-change solution can reduce time spent on measuring, set-up and tool change, allowing for drastically improved machine utilization. Through coolant delivery helps to further maximize productivity. There are several benefits with quick change that support keeping the green light on, including reducing batch change-over time. Changing time from one style of tool to another is dramatically reduced using quick change. Up to ten minutes can be saved in one typical turning operation.

Increase the number of tool positions with double tool holders can also help. Turning centres with driven tool holders often have limited space. Using double clamping units allows either sister tooling or an increased variety of tools, thereby reducing the tool change requirement for a wider range of components. Double clamping units can be used when the machine has Y-axis, half turret or sub-spindle.

There’s also potential to reduce downtime when changing worn-out tools. Every time a solid carbide tool with a driven tool holder is changed the tool offset needs to be re-calibrated. With indexable mills and drills, multiple inserts need to be changed. Using sister tool and changing the cutter outside the machine is much quicker. For static tool holders, being able to remove the tool ensures improved maintenance of the tool, correct mounting and no unexpected stops due to needs for spare part purchases.

Eliminating coolant pipe setting can also prove to be a time-saving exercise. When operators are setting the coolant pipe direction, it normally takes two to three attempts to get it right. Poor chip control often then knocks the pipe which means that setting is quite a regular occurrence.

Lastly is improving the speed of production start-up. By eliminating the “first-test component” or “measuring cuts”, scrap is reduced and the production rate increases. Over the course of a year, the use of quick change will result in significantly higher component production and reduced scrap.

Besides from a significant increase in machine utilization, quick change also brings many benefits for the operator, such as user-friendliness and a more ergonomic working environment. For example, changing tools outside the machine reduces accidents, errors and searching for dropped parts.

Turn flexible, go modular
Another strategy for keeping your machines running is modular solutions. A modular system offers a large variety of tool assemblies with different characteristics, decreasing the need for costly, customised tools with long delivery times. Modular tooling helps to avoid spending on separate tools for each machine,
component and feature.

The benefits that modular tooling systems bring are flexibility, reduced tool inventory and multiple tooling combinations, all contributing to increased machine utilization. The ability to maintain continuous production for a long period provides the flexibility needed to make your workshop better equipped to handle changing market conditions.

Four applications where modularity has proven to be extra valuable include reaching difficult to access features, stability in vibration prone operations, small or varying production and extra clearance when machining large components.

While it is certainly true that the “pace of change has never been this fast”, various strategic approaches emerge to ensure adaptability and bolster financial gains in a continuously evolving market landscape. Enhancing machine utilisation, reducing changeover time and investigation into modular systems all contribute significantly to increasing the flexibility of machine shops. In our upcoming article, we will thoroughly explore the effects of investing in new technologies. This will help shed light on how these investments can improve efficiency and open up new opportunities for workshops. Stay tuned!

Industry 4.0 is also defined as the “fourth industrial revolution”. What is true in this definition or, to say it better, what is the real meaning of revolution in this case?

One of the most revolutionary aspects of Industry 4.0 is, first of all, the impact it had on the Italian “economic” stage. In a very short time, this new approach allowed to bring the manufacturing industry back to the centre of attention of Italian institutions and economic players with an explosive effect, to say the least.

In this framework, the Government’s action played a crucial role, by giving our country a plan of industrial policy conceived to support and encourage the investments in technology and innovation: these investments are essential for ensuring the enterprises’ competitiveness maintenance.

As far as the definition is concerned, many people consider Industry 4.0 as a real revolution; others see it as an evolution in the way of manufacturing.

In my opinion, Industry 4.0 combines technological innovation – which materializes in the spread of IoT technologies within factories – with a deep organisation change. In other words, the real revolution is primarily cultural: processes, tasks, professional profiles are changing and so are the required skills.

Therefore, professional training is fundamental …

Of course, it is. Professional training has always been an essential asset and Italy has excellent universities. The “Politecnico di Milano”, which I am honoured to be part of, is a shining example of excellence. However, there are other very good universities capable of offering an appropriate training to young people, enabling them to enter the work market and become real resources for enterprises. In any case, technological training is made not only in polytechnic universities and other kinds of universities. It is important that even technical institutes should work on programmes, so that they may be as close as possible to the requirements of the industry world. Industry is dramatically accelerating its development through digitalisation.

Let’s come back to technologies and to the impact of Industry 4.0 on the Italian industry.

Italy is the second manufacturing country in Europe. To maintain and, if possible, even to improve this position, it is necessary not only to pass through a generic traditional innovation, but, on the contrary, there must be a process of factory digitalisation. The aim is to facilitate and support the spread of the enterprises’ connectivity. In practise, this means the creation of “smart products”, i.e. the production of products and services with the support of Information technologies, i.e. “smart manufacturing”, the creation of new business models. This is an intense programme, which can however definitely be sustained by the Italian enterprises, provided that in the approach to this issue our peculiarities are respected.

Could you explain better?

The Italian manufacturing industry is recognised worldwide for its quality and strong customisation of product offering. On the contrary, in the German model, the part characterising the “Made in Italy” is missing and we must enhance the importance of this part. As a country we can work towards a digitalised manufacturing industry for an advanced design, where the leading role is played by the person, who must adequately be trained and updated.  We must concentrate on this aspect. On the other hand, in some sectors, for example that of machinery and production systems, there is already a lot of innovative technology related to Industry 4.0, at least partially. The challenge is to increase the connectivity level, for example that of machines, so that they can more and more collect, treat, process and allow data sharing even remotely.

Are enterprises able to do this by themselves?

Starting from the assumption that the innovation level is not homogeneous, it is reasonable to suppose that some companies need assistance. For this purpose, universities, professional associations, territorial and extra-territorial institutions have already taken active steps to provide “information” in a wider sense.  Particular attention is given to the SMEs’ world.

What are the real opportunities for the SMEs to get informed?

In a situation of communication overload, it may become difficult to orient oneself, there’s no point denying it. However, I would stress that there are numerous opportunities to reasonably debate and closely verify the possible applications of the new Industry 4.0 approach also with regard to our industry. Relying on qualified people considerably simplifies the selection process, also because today everybody considers himself an expert in the field.

What are the opportunities to get information? Meetings, collection of annotated, specific information material, specific studies, but also demonstration events, which, to be more effective, – I underline once again – must be set in the context and thus studied according to the enterprises’ requirements.

Talking about specific studies, Professor, as you are part of the Manufacturing Group in the School of Management of the “Politecnico di Milano”, could you illustrate the topics to which you are presently committed and how you are working?

The Manufacturing Group is a work group composed of about 40 people dealing with the analysis of issues concerning planning and management of manufacturing systems and operations. A particular focus is on energy efficiency and sustainability in the manufacturing industry and in the industrial services, on product and asset life-cycle management.

Among demonstration events can we consider exhibitions or are they a mere commercial operation?

It must be clear: exhibitions are, first of all, events to do business, events that companies really need. If they are organised with particular attention and by qualified operators, exhibition events are real opportunities for updating, understanding and in-depth analysing topics that are not yet well-known. In Italy we have a lot of good trade shows, even regarding Industry 4.0. Among them, in my opinion, there is M&MT, whose philosophy is certainly innovative, because it combines the business aspect with specific thematic insight.

This concept, which distinguishes it from other events scheduled for 2017, convinced me to accept the appointment as leader of the Technical-Scientific Committee that will give valuable hints for the definition of side events to complete the exhibition with contents. The trade show is addressed both to those who work, plan and build within a factory, i.e. people with technical roles, and to those who manage it, i.e. entrepreneurs or managers.

A last question: what are your expectations?                                                                                                                      

I am very confident, because I see a harmonic teamwork between institutions, associations, the research world…  Now, the ball is passed to companies. The Industry 4.0 Plan is an excellent opportunity for the enterprises that will be able to take advantage of it, understanding that purchasing technology is not enough, but it is necessary to work on skills.

Future General Electric Co. customers will benefit from innovative and reliable products with reduced risk and unplanned downtime as never before thanks to a new agreement between the company and ANSYS.

The new agreement expands GE’s use of ANSYS engineering simulation solutions to accommodate its November 2015 acquisition of Alstom’s Power and Grid businesses. It enables GE to realize synergistic savings through tool consolidation, while still growing the number of ANSYS solutions used in product development and analysis, product quality, and testing. This use of Simulation Driven Product Development has already reduced cycle times by 33 percent, an even further reduction is expected as a result of this investment.

The deal also expands beyond product development into operations, a key element to GE’s Predix Industrial Internet platform. Predix is the world’s only industrial cloud offering designed specifically for industrial data and analytics across such industries as aviation, transportation, oil and gas, and healthcare. Organizations use this platform to create innovative Industrial Internet applications that turn real-time operational data into insights for better and faster decision making while maximizing machine efficiency.

ANSYS’ industry-leading portfolio of engineering simulation software will collaborate with GE Power Engineering to pilot “simulation as a service,” enabling companies to analyze the performance of smart machines in real-world operating conditions, then make confident predictions about future performance. Physics-based simulation with big data analytics and industrial devices augmented with embedded intelligence can reduce risk, avoid unplanned downtime and speed up new product development.

“By collaborating with ANSYS, we’re better able to deliver the world the most advanced products to power the world and support the GE Digital Thread strategy,” said John Lammas, vice president, gas power systems technology and chief technology officer of GE Power.

“The industry is in the midst of a revolution in manufacturing and product innovation,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, chief product officer at ANSYS. “With our new agreement in hand, GE and ANSYS will help to usher in this new age of Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, enabling organizations to innovate like never before while delivering on their promise to deliver the most robust and reliable products ever imagined.”

• Siemens technology to support Local Motors’ leadership in 3D-printed cars
• Local Motors Labs program to leverage Siemens’ digital twin expertise
• Companies share vision of digitalization in product design and production

Siemens and Local Motors have formed a new partnership which is intended to help advance the future of manufacturing by optimizing the development and large-scale 3D printing of cars. The partnership combines the power of Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) software technology with Local Motors’ leadership in co-created and 3D-printed vehicles – a process called direct digital manufacturing (DDM). With a shared vision for the future of product development, Local Motors plans to enhance productivity in its innovative Local Motors (LM) Labs program by leveraging Siemens’ expertise in creating “digital twins”, while Siemens expects to further enhance its digital enterprise software suite to support the latest advances in additive manufacturing and 3D printing.

“We have been partners with Siemens since 2011, and today’s announcement takes that partnership to the next level by enabling our community of co-creators to innovate even faster,” said Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors. “We developed the world’s first co-created vehicle and 3D-printed car, and now our LM Labs program is providing the world’s makers with a way – both online and offline – to create new technologies to advance the future of transportation. Open to anyone, LM Labs helps brilliant minds create new technologies the world needs. While our primary focus is on developing vehicles, LM Labs is a place where the community can advance any technology.”

Siemens’ Solid Edge® software, a mainstream computer-aided design (CAD) application, has been in use at Local Motors for several years and has been crucial in facilitating its co-creation model. Using Siemens’ exclusive synchronous technology, Local Motors is able to seamlessly import into Solid Edge non-native CAD models from design collaborators around the world, and then use Solid Edge to easily edit these models.

This new partnership expands the use of Solid Edge and adds Siemens’ NX software and its Fibersim portfolio to all Local Motors facilities around the world. NX, a comprehensive computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering simulation (CAD/CAM/CAE) solution and Fibersim, a portfolio of software for composites engineering, are both leading solutions in the global manufacturing industry with a high concentration in the automotive sector. By expanding its use of Siemens’ digital enterprise software suite, Local Motors and its community of co-creators can leverage digital twins to increase productivity and quality in product design and DDM.

DDM and digital twins save time, reduce costs and increase quality by integrating and streamlining the design and production processes. The DDM process, which takes advantage of additive manufacturing technologies including 3D printing, produces parts directly from 3D models. DDM helps eliminate the need for tooling, removes time lag between design and production, and simplifies redesign. Siemens’ digital twin software technology links design and production by enabling the creation of virtual models that accurately represent the form, function and performance of a product and its production system. These high fidelity digital twins enable engineers to test the functionality of the products and manufacturing processes in the virtual world in order to predict and optimize performance in the physical world.

“By focusing on initiatives like Industrie 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things, big data analytics, cloud computing and much more, Siemens leads the way in advancing the future of manufacturing, said Dr. Helmuth Ludwig – Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, Siemens PLM Software. “As part of this leadership, we recognize the growing importance of additive manufacturing and 3D printing for the global manufacturing industry. That is why we are delighted to partner with innovative companies like Local Motors who are leading the way for large-scale 3D printing. By working closely together, we can help advance this technology so that all manufacturers can better realize innovation.”

Local Motors plans to open three new facilities this year, all of which will feature LM Labs. Siemens PLM Software plans to be a sponsor of all three LM Labs. A lab space plus a showroom and demonstration facility is scheduled to open near Washington DC in National Harbor, Maryland this summer. The National Harbor opening is slated to be followed by the debut of a lab facility in Berlin and a full-scale DDM microfactory in Knoxville, Tennessee later this year. The microfactory in Knoxville will serve as the main Local Motors facility for the development and construction of 3D-printed vehicles.

Local Motors is a technology company that designs, builds, and sells vehicles. From bytes-to-bits, the Local Motors platform combines global co-creation with local micro-manufacturing to bring hardware innovations, like the world’s first 3D-printed car, to market at unprecedented speed. Discover more at www.localmotors.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daioWlkH7ZI .

• Effective human-machine interaction in the manufacturing process
• APAS family production assistants for flexible production
• OPCON automation system for managing the entire production and logistics chain
• Bosch both a lead user and lead provider in Industry 4.0

Hannover – At the Hannover Trade Fair, Bosch is showcasing powerful concepts for a flexible and connected factory. This involves connecting software and hardware in an intelligent way so as to sustainably optimize the interplay of processes, machines, and people (Connected Shopfloor Solutions). It is an endeavor supported by mobile production assistants that work directly alongside people without the need for special safety guards. Modular automation systems make it possible to examine production processes in detail, visualize them, and so retain control at all times. Intelligent sensor systems join with innovative diagnostics solutions and operating concepts that draw on 3D visualization and augmented reality to help speed up reaction times and boost productivity.

Solutions that are benefiting Bosch today
Most of the solutions on display are already being put to good use within the Bosch Group, or else are currently undergoing testing. It is a testament to the international technology and service provider’s prominent dual role in Industry 4.0 as both a lead user and a lead provider. “At our booth, users can see for themselves how new solutions that focus on the user are making Industry 4.0 a reality,” says Volker Hartmann, Deputy Vice President Business Unit Assembly Systems and Special Machinery. “What’s been key is the overarching collaboration among various Bosch divisions. This is what allows us to develop the forward-looking solutions we use to improve efficiency in the production process. In so doing, we also lend our support to cross-sector trends such as individualization of products and shortened product lifecycles.”

APAS family: mobile production assistants for the factory of the future
A good example of this sort of solution is the APAS family of mobile production assistants, which Bosch developed specifically for Industry 4.0. All three of the production assistants on show in Hannover share a standardized operating concept and come with connectivity options that allow them to be employed anywhere, either on their own or in combination. What’s more, the new Remote Service Manager by Bosch Software Innovations will now allow APAS service technicians to complete installation, diagnostic, and maintenance work remotely – saving both time and money.

Integrated safety technology
APAS inspector is a mobile testing device for visual inspections equipped with a high-definition, high-speed camera and innovative 3D technology. Thanks to its exchangeable inspection modules, the APAS inspector can be used in all sorts of production scenarios, for instance highly delicate surface inspections or completeness checks. APAS flexpress is a mobile production assistant that allows for highly flexible and highly accurate assembly. Integrated safety technology ensures that human and machine work smoothly together. The same goes for the APAS assistant. It was the first assistance system certified by the German occupational health and safety agency and can work directly alongside people without the need for safety guards thanks to a special sensor skin interface. Visitors to the fair in Hannover will be able to see exactly how it works at the APAS coffee bar, where an APAS assistant will be preparing their coffee.

Intelligent sensor devices monitor critical processes in real time
People and machines will receive support across the entire production and logistics chain through the integration of Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions’ intelligent sensor devices. While the APAS assistant is placing the product with precision into the freight packaging designed for the purpose, a special app visualizes the motion and positioning on a monitor. Integrated sensors facilitate monitoring of the shipping process. Critical incidents such as unexpected opening of the package are registered by a light sensor and immediately reported to the person responsible, so they can undertake appropriate measures.

Comprehensive Shopfloor Management with the OPCON suite
The OPCON suite guarantees maximum transparency and flexibility across the entire value added chain with its IT Shopfloor Solutions. It is a modular, scalable automation system that allows you to manage production and quality data throughout, as well as logistics processes. “For over 15 years now, we’ve been steadily refining the OPCON system within the Bosch Group, and we use it to control hundreds of production plants worldwide,” says Hartmann. This year’s fair in Hannover will be the first time that OPCON will be showcased to members of the expert public and presented for use outside of the Bosch Group. The centerpiece is the Shopfloor Management module, which provides transparency across the entire value added chain via a broad range of software modules, allowing it to connect machines and analyze real-time production data. There are also intuitive graphical modeling tools from the Group’s own software and systems unit, Bosch Software Innovations, that enable specialist users to define rules without the need for programming knowledge. These rules allow critical system events to be identified automatically and suitable measures taken.

New user interfaces: 3D visualization and augmented reality
In connected manufacturing, specialists are supported by new visualization applications that give them a constant and comprehensive overview of all the production steps and processes. Once more, this is an area in which connectivity and intelligent interplay of hardware and software play a decisive role. Thanks to a collaboration with Fraunhofer IGD institute in Rostock, visitors in Hannover will be able to see a 3D visualization of a production process in its entirety – monitored and managed via a big touch screen. Changing the production sequence, for instance, is a simple case of swiping the screen.

To pin down production errors quickly, new augmented reality tools have been introduced as a supplement to conventional user interfaces and diagnostics concepts. This involves affixing a QR code to the system in question, and then scanning the code to call up additional diagnostic and status information on tablet complete with spatial mapping. This capacity extends all the way to taking a look at the inside of a device without the need to open it.

Germany’s Industry 4.0 initiative aims to develop industrial machinery with built-in intelligence based on smart self-monitoring functions. Researchers have now come a step closer to the ideal of a self-maintaining machine. A technology developed as part of the iMAIN project provides real-time online monitoring of unprecedented quality.

Metal forming machines have to withstand considerable forces and yet remain in operation for a long time. When cold forming parts for automobiles, washing machines, refrigerators and the like, the exerted pressure can easily amount to several thousand metric tons. This operation has to be repeated hundreds of thousands of times in the complete lifetime of a machine. If the machine fails, it can cause substantial damage. Worse still, because the machine is usually integrated in a series of production steps, the failure can cause the entire production process to come to a stand-still. Depending on the extent of the damage, the repairs could take up to a month – accompanied by a loss of revenues in the six-digit region. If it were possible to predict such failures, either of the entire machine or a single component, companies would know precisely when they ought to maintain the machine or replace specific components, preferably in coordination with the production schedule.

Virtual sensors render real sensors almost obsolete

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz aim to change this situation. In the future, the machines themselves will be capable of detecting problems and predicting failures. As part of the EU-sponsored iMAIN project (www.imain-project.eu), the scientists have developed a prototype of an information-based predictive maintenance system that enables operators to determine when a component or entire plant is likely to fail. The distinctive feature of this technology is its use of virtual sensors. These receive input both from computer-simulated models of the machine and from real sensors that provide information on the strain occurring in individual components. “Using mathematical models and a minimum of actually installed, real sensors, it is possible to realistically simulate strain scenarios for the entire machine in real time. This in turn provides the basis for an entirely new and innovative approach to predictive maintenance,” says Markus Wabner of Fraunhofer IWU.

Until now, it has been customary to carry out plant maintenance according to a fixed schedule or on an ad-hoc basis in response to failures. Certain manufacturers already equip their machines with (real) sensors, but solutions that rely exclusively on these devices are not ideal: they are expensive and complicated to implement, require their own error monitoring system, and measure stress and strain only at the points where they are installed – and nowhere else. “In our option, the use of virtual sensors is the only conceivable and economical way to obtain a complete picture of the forces acting on the material,” says Wabner. While algorithms, simulations and mathematical models can often provide a reasonably good image of reality, even the most precise calculations are subject to errors. This is why the researchers constantly compare the virtual data with real measurements recorded while the machine is in operation. “If there is a wide discrepancy between them, we modify the model accordingly,” says Wabner.

A cloud site accessible to internal users via a wide range of interfaces – including smartphones, tablets and laptops – serves as storage of information on the stress history of different manufacturing plants. “The more data we collect, the easier it is to know the right time to implement preventive measures. We develop algorithms that enable machines to learn from experience, and decide on the right time to replace components or determine when they have reached their optimum stress loading. The real data are compared with a simulated model that can be used to calculate the breaking point of the material,” explains Wabner.

The EU-sponsored iMAIN project was launched in September 2012 and brings together manufacturers, industrial users, computer scientists and engineers in a concerted effort to develop new, advanced technologies for the maintenance of industrial machines. “The virtual sensors have long since passed the proof-of-concept stage and are already being successfully used in real-life applications. And the private cloud solution for data sharing has reached the test stage,” reports Wabner. A prototype version of the system is being used by a project partner in Slovenia – the Gorenje Group, which manufactures home appliances – for the condition monitoring of a universal press supplied by Litostroj Ravne, another project partner. This factory forms metal panels used in the construction of washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances. “Since this system was introduced, Gorenje has better information enabling it to predict possible outages in advance, and also facilitate and optimize press operations by monitoring the stress and strain on the machines. We regularly compare the recorded data with the results of tests conducted at our facility at Fraunhofer IWU,” says Wabner. The ultimate aim is to be able to produce a system capable of predicting the stress-related failure of components in practice by the time the project ends next summer.

Courtesy: Fraunhofer