FANUC was named a GM Innovation Award winner during General Motors 24th annual Supplier of the Year awards ceremony held on Thursday, March 10th at COBO Center in Detroit, Mich.

GM debuted its Innovation Award to recognize five suppliers among thousands globally who brought new innovations to the company that benefit customers. FANUC was named a first-ever Innovation award winner for its Zero Down Time (ZDT) Application, which analyzes data from GM’s robots throughout its factories to detect potential problems that could lead to a failure. If a potential failure is identified, ZDT notifies GM and FANUC’s Service Center, so parts and support can be delivered to address the issue before any downtime occurs. FANUC America has released a YouTube video regarding the GM Innovation Award and FANUC Zero Down Time

“We partnered with Cisco to create highly secure connections from our robotic equipment in GM’s factories to Cisco’s Cloud Data Center where FANUC is able to perform analytics on how the robots are performing,” said Rick Schneider, Chairman and CEO, FANUC America. “The ability to collect data from our robots and analyze it in the cloud, to predict potential equipment issues before downtime, occurs allows us to proactively address our customer’s needs. With ZDT, we can also take advantage of the data collected from our robots to optimize GM’s manufacturing systems by reducing energy consumption, extending equipment life, improving cycle time and quality. Reducing downtime through ZDT has proven to have a direct and positive impact on GM’s plant’s performance.”

“With the FANUC ZDT solution, the robot is connected through a network and a Cisco data collector in the plant through to the Cisco cloud – all resulting in a sound and highly-secure solution end to end. By transferring the equipment data through a secure platform to the Cisco Cloud, Cisco and FANUC are building the manufacturing data highway, which will allow GM to collaborate with their large ecosystem of equipment suppliers and more easily perform preventive analytics and optimization with their equipment,” said Bryan Tantzen, Sr. Director, Cisco IoT Vertical.

Currently, FANUC has applied ZDT to thousands of robots in 27 GM factories in 5 countries. In addition to monitoring the robots for potential problems, ZDT keeps track of robot usage and sends reminders at appropriate intervals to ensure important maintenance activities are completed on time.

“We’re honored to receive GM’s prestigious Innovation Award,” said Schneider. “FANUC is committed to developing innovative, world-class products that provide manufacturers the ability to keep their production lines running uninterrupted.”

As a manufacturing equipment supplier, FANUC was the only indirect supplier (non-vehicle component supplier) to win the esteemed Innovation Award for the Zero Down Time solution.

During the event, GM also recognized 110 of its best suppliers from 17 countries who have consistently exceeded GM’s expectations, created outstanding value, or introduced new innovations to the company. FANUC was also selected as a GM Supplier of the year for the 11th year in a row.

GM recognized the most suppliers since debuting the Supplier of the Year event in 1992, representing a nearly 40 percent increase compared to 79 recipients in 2014. More than half are repeat Supplier of the Year winners from 2014.

“We are focused on building positive supplier relationships, bringing new, customer-centric innovations to GM, and being the OEM of choice among suppliers,” said Steve Kiefer, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “The companies we recognize tonight not only have brought innovation, they delivered it with the quality our customers deserve.”

Renishaw, the global metrology specialist, earlier this year received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2015 in the Innovation category for its world-leading RESOLUTE absolute position encoder system. This prestigious award follows a rigorous and highly competitive entry process and is awarded only to top UK businesses.

How is the RESOLUTE absolute encoder innovative?

Renishaw’s RESOLUTE encoder system won the award by demonstrating a uniquely innovative design with outstanding commercial success over the last 5 years. RESOLUTE is the world’s first single track fine-pitch optical absolute encoder and is recognised as leading technology in the absolute encoder market. The readhead captures a near instantaneous image of a coded measuring scale, which comprises a single data track with a non-repeating barcode-like strip of 15 µm wide light and dark lines. Unlike other products in the marketplace, complicated guiding arrangements are not needed to maintain alignment between the readhead and scale, eliminating mechanical hysteresis and measurement errors.

Four of the most innovative features of RESOLUTE’s design and production process include:

First is a new imaging based system, rather than a traditional interference-based optical technology, comprising a lens system for the best stability and accuracy of metrology. The readhead uses specially designed custom components including a high reliability point source LED, an imaging lens, a beam splitter and custom 320-pixel linear image sensor capable of 150,000 frames per second. Advantages of this system include rapid position acquisition on demand, exceptional dirt immunity as a result of significant absolute scale code redundancy, low Sub-Divisional Error (SDE) of ±40 nm and low jitter (noise) of 10 nm RMS.

Secondly, novel and fast algorithms for increased safety and position reliability. Two independent algorithms operate within the readhead to compute its position with respect to the scale, giving maximum confidence that the declared position will be correct at all times.

Thirdly, development of new scale manufacturing techniques to allow the production of a single barcode-like pattern on both linear and rotary scales – allowing, for the first time, scale manufacturing capability beyond an accuracy of 1 µm for linear scale and below an arc-second for rotary scale.

Fourthly, exceptional dynamic performance that matches the performance benefits of current incremental systems, using only a single absolute track, and breaks the speed / resolution trade-off which plagues traditional encoders.

Other award winning added benefits of RESOLUTE include the removal of homing operations, large installation tolerances, high-speed traversing rates and flexible readhead and scale options.

More on RESOLUTE

RESOLUTE is available with both linear and rotary scale types and is compatible with a range of ‘open’ and ‘proprietary’ serial protocols including Siemens DRIVE CLIQ, BiSS®, FANUC, Mitsubishi and Panasonic for connection to a wide range of industry-standard motor drives and controllers.

In rotary (angle) configuration, RESOLUTE is capable of 32-bit resolution at 36 000 RPM or, in linear format, 1 nm at speeds of 100 m/s and lengths to 10 m. This results in better surface finish of CNC machined parts; better scanning and velocity control, and rock-solid servo stiffness on linear motors or rotary direct-drives when holding position. RESOLUTE is now also available in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and extended temperature range (ETR) compatible variants for advanced applications.

RESOLUTE has CE approval, RoHS compliance, and is manufactured by Renishaw under strict quality controls that are certified to ISO 9001:2008. RESOLUTE, like all Renishaw encoders, is backed by a truly responsive global sales and support network.

Doosan Infracore announced that it had received the winner award in the category of product design at the Red Dot Design Awards 2015 for its FM 200/5AX, a high-speed, high-precision machine tool series. The company has now won the Winner Award in Product Design at the Red Dot Design Award for a second consecutive year following its receipt of the award in 2014 for its PUMA SMX series.

The Red Dot Design Award is widely regarded as one of the top three design recognitions in the world along with the iF Design Awards and the IDEA Design Awards. For each award in three main categories – product, communication, and concept – candidate products/ideas are subjected to a comprehensive evaluation in terms of design, creativity, practicality and eco-friendliness.

Read More from previous year: Doosan’s PUMA SMX series received ‘the Red Dot Award’ for Product Design

The FM 200/5AX, this year’s recipient of the Winner Award, is the highest-speed 5-axis machining center on the market. Based on the concept of ‘hexagonal edges,’ the external design of the series is characterized by visual stability while symbolizing the robust performance of the machine tool. The design excellence of the machine tool series had already been recognized in Korea with its receipt of the Good Design Award 2014.

“The concept that is currently gaining considerable traction in the field of machine tool design is ‘sensitivity combined with robustness,’ which means that ergonomic designs are becoming increasingly important in the industry,” said an official of Doosan Infracore. “The company’s second consecutive Red Dot Winner Award attests to the fact that Doosan Infracore has succeeded in markedly boosting both the user-friendliness and the emotional quality of its machine tools.”

At the MecSpe Exhibition, held in Parma, Italy, 26-28 March, the Macchine Utensili magazine and the Senaf-Tecniche Nuove Group launched the first edition of the Innovation in Production Systems Award. The inaugural award for absolute innovation recognised Hexagon Metrology for its 360° SIMS (Smart Inline Measurement Solutions) system, a fully-automated solution for dimensional quality and process control particularly suited to car body manufacturing plants .

A typical 360° SIMS installation consists of white light photogrammetry sensors mounted on industrial robots installed along a car body assembly line. A calibration procedure performed with special gauges and references, together with repeatable car body location devices, give the system the necessary accuracy to perform dimensional inspections. The speed at which the robot and sensor combination carries out measuring operations is compatible with the typical assembly line times, allowing real-time process control of up to 100% of production.

The award was presented to Mr Bruno Rolle and Mr Levio Valetti, General Manager and Marketing Manager of Hexagon Metrology Commercial Operation Italy respectively.

Recognition demonstrates Kennametal’s commitment to ethical leadership

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) announced that the company has been named for the fourth consecutive year among the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes organizations that lead in the standards and practices of ethical business conduct by cultivating a culture of ethics and transparency at every level, and performing to the highest standards.

“This honor goes to the credit of Kennametal employees everywhere who uphold the highest standards of ethics and integrity, while also giving generously in the communities where we work and live,” said Kennametal President and CEO Don Nolan.

Kennametal is one of only four companies in the machine tools and accessories category honored by the Ethisphere Institute this year. Highlights of Kennametal’s recognition this year include:

• World-class ethics and compliance programs with universal employee engagement;
• Best-practice corporate governance;
• In-depth risk management across the supply chain;
• Consistent support for STEM education and communities by the Kennametal Foundation, with record contributions and volunteerism by Kennametal employees.

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership, and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning this recognition involves more than just an outward facing message,” said Ethisphere Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich. “It involves the collective action of a global workforce. We congratulate everyone at Kennametal for this extraordinary achievement.”

Grindmaster bagged the title, “SME of the Year” award at the emerging India award 2014 that was jointly organised by ICICI Bank and CNBC. The award was presented at a ceremony in Mumbai on December 13. Grindmaster also received the award for “Engineering and Capital Goods” vertical and was nominated for “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year”.

Grindmaster is one of the few companies in India competing on a global level with Japanese and German companies, supplying critical microfinishing machines to global automotive OEMs such as Shanghai General Motors, SAIC, Renault Nissan, Kirloskar Toyota, SGMW and Great Wall. With “widest range of metal finishing machinery in the world”, Grindmaster has developed home grown technology and know how. Mr Milind Kelkar, MD, Grindmaster Machines Pvt Ltd, said: “We are proud to build international standard products with blood, sweat and tears. This award is dedicated to what I believe is the finest machine building team in India.”

“2014 has been excellent year for expanding our business and technologies. With success such as the setup of Grindmaster China office, and technical collaboration with SAMP Italy, “SME of the Year” award is like an icing on the cake. With IMTEX 2015 around the corner and many new product launches, there is lot to look forward in 2015,” added Mr Kelkar.