Industry 4.0 and increased efficiency are the key topics for machine tool manufacturers and their partners in the AMB year.
The machine tool industry is confronted with a large number of developments which are influencing investment decisions by its customers. In addition to the still dominant topics of Industry 4.0 and increased efficiency, other topics must be considered, i.e. hybridisation of machines, software and IT security, increasing intelligence of machine peripherals and simulation of complete machining processes. Answers to complex requirements will be provided at AMB, International Exhibition for Metal Working, which is being held in Stuttgart from 16th to 20th September 2014.
Industry 4.0: high complexity is both a challenge and an opportunity
The topic of Industry 4.0 is “varied and interdisciplinary“. This conclusion was drawn by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation (IPA) in the structural study entitled “Industry 4.0 for Baden-Württemberg“, which was conducted on behalf of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. Many of the statements probably apply in principle. In addition to mechanical engineering skills, for example, purely technical implementation of Industry 4.0 also calls for knowledge of electrical engineering, software and information and communication technology. Other areas such as work organisation must be included for the purpose of implementation at the organisational level. In order to successfully implement Industry 4.0, it is also necessary to include company-related services such as technology development, introduction, maintenance or service, as well as technology upgrading and non-technical areas such as general and advanced training.
This poses major challenges for companies both during introduction as a user and as a provider. The positive aspect: individual companies can hereby gain leading edges, for example through higher productivity or new unique characteristics by means of other accompanying services. Dr. Nils Schmid, deputy minister-president and minister of finance and economics of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, also regards Industry 4.0 as one of the mega-trends in production: “It involves intelligent cooperation between different industries which creates optimised value-added chains and leads to greater resource efficiency. The main topics here are new working environments, security, standardisation and development of new business models.”
Exhibitors at AMB concur with Dr. Schmid. Holger Langhans, director Walter Multiply at Walter in Tübingen, is therefore convinced: “Only those companies which help their production to think will be able to ensure the necessary quality, flexibility and availability to be globally competitive in future. We are therefore working on solutions which achieve precisely this objective.” Dr. Niklas Kramer, head of research and development at Komet Group, Besigheim, sees future tool management in the Cloud: “Digital and networked production provides ideal solution approaches. Crowd Intelligence creates new business models for tools and is a key factor for Germany as a production location.”
Energy efficiency: initial successes are just the beginning
The efforts to use energy more efficiently have certainly been successful for some time now. Experts from the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim reached this conclusion some years ago. During a study on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, they ascertained that energy efficiency worldwide had improved by 18% between 1995 and 2007. Improved technologies, in particular, had made an important contribution to this increase in most countries, including Germany. However, this actually only represented a kind of starting signal for the production researchers. Darmstadt Technical University has been examining the topic of energy efficiency for many years. Scientists there are now developing the “eta factory”, which is being financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics as part of the German Federal Government’s high-tech initiative regarding Industry 4.0. The overall structure of the “factory” is being optimised on an interdisciplinary basis. Buildings, the technical building infrastructure and production machines will be perfectly matched to one another. For example, the waste heat from the machines is thermally stored in order to reuse the energy in a different place and at a different time. The participants in the project include AMB exhibitors such as Bosch Rexroth, Grob-Werke & Co., Gebr. Heller Maschinenfabrik, MAG IAS and Siemens. The project director is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eberhard Abele from the Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) which will demonstrate the future of production at AMB 2014 with its “PTW Innovation tour of metal working – trends of tomorrow”.
Lightweight construction: also a trend topic in mechanical engineering
In addition to looking at the big picture, however, the potential also found in the details should not be ignored. For example, lightweight construction is not only making inroads into the mobility industry, but also to an increasing extent into mechanical engineering. And always in the case of highly dynamic processes in which large masses have to be accelerated as quickly as possible and then slowed down again. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) provides a good example of this. The wbk Institute for Production Engineering at KIT developed a new lightweight sledge made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). It is not only much lighter than its steel rivals, but can be changed primarily by adding mass in its vibration behaviour in order to influence the natural frequency behaviour and therefore improve the efficiency of the machine. “We therefore assume that corresponding components will be available on the market in around five years,” emphasised wbk director Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Fleischer.
A lightweight chuck from Emuge-Franken& Co. in Lauf an der Pegnitz is already being used. Friedrich Schmauss, head of design said: “Carbon and steel are used as a material mixture.” The weight was reduced in a specific application from 460 to 130 kg. Annual energy consumption was therefore reduced from 22,470 kWh to around 4,000 kWh. In addition, the maximum speed was almost tripled. Uwe Zoller, sales manager, said that his company was therefore complying with an increasingly more frequent request from customers for lightweight components: “The inquiries which we receive often contain weight stipulations or customers ask us what a chucking tool for a specific task weighs.” However, Markus Michelberger, sales manager, chucking systems at Schunk & Co., Mengen, is sceptical as regards carbon. To date, he has regarded composites at least for lathe chucks as not stable enough to “absorb the high static and dynamic loads of conventional machining operations as efficiently as steel lathe chucks.” Nevertheless, Schunk is also making weight reductions. Michelberger stated: “Lightweight lathe chucks made of hardened steel minimise energy consumption and are also impressive in terms of their safety, accuracy and service life
Lightweight construction will also play an important role at AMB in the accompanying programme. For example, Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart (WRS) will devote several topics to composites and lightweight construction in its “Region Stuttgart Lounge“. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation (IPA) and Universität Stuttgart will also jointly talk about, for example, “machining in lightweight construction”. Other talks will be given by the Baden-Württemberg State Agency for Lightweight Construction and the Baden-Württemberg Alliance for Fibre-Based Materials (AFBW). The talks will start each day at 9.30AM from 17th to 19th September 2014.
“i-software“ makes operation easier
Machine tools are increasingly penetrating new areas. The Mühltal-based manufacturer Datron created the D5, a machine for use in dental laboratories, some years ago. Other machine tool manufactures are now following suit. One current example: GF Agie Charmilles with the Mikron HSM 200U, which is also aimed at the medical technology industry and generally at manufacturers of small precision tools like in the watch and jewellery industries. However, the question of user-friendliness is therefore being raised to a greater extent. Another aspect: Only in a few regions of the world can the highly export-oriented German and European machine tool industry expect to find workers who are as similarly well-trained as those here. Datron also went one step further: the D5 is operated via an Apple iPad and also uses its app-based operating philosophy. So called “i-software“ in the style of Apple is in vogue. DMG Mori then made its entrance a few months ago when it presented the new user interface “Celos“. However, DMG is going much further than Datron. The company promises nothing less than simplification and acceleration of the entire process “from the idea to the finished product”. The actual advantages come from different apps such as “job manager“ or “job assistant“ which help the machine operator in network-integrated planning, preparation, optimisation and systematic implementation of new production tasks. Christian Thönes, a member of the Board of Management with responsibility for product development, technology and internationalisation of the production plants of DMG Mori: “During AMB we will see Celos in several machines and with even more than the 12 apps which we demonstrated during the presentation of Celos.”
Hybridisation: combining the best of everything
Another trend is the combination and superimposition of different processes in a machine tool. One current example of this trend is the MT (Mill/Turn) Technology from Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle, Gosheim. In the new MT version the CNC 5-axis machining centres C 42 U dynamic and C 50 U dynamic have a fully integrated rotary table which can be used to perform complex lathe turning/milling processes in one clamping. Marketing Manager Udo Hipp: “The special aspect of the MT concept is that lathe turning can be carried out in any position between the 0° and 90° setting of the NC swivel rotary table with the result that very short turning tools can be used Hermle is going one step further by integrating the generative MPA process in a 5-axis machining centre. Thanks to the thermal injection process for metal powder, large-volume components can be produced generatively with almost any inner geometry. Hipp said: “Material coating and metal cutting are therefore carried with one clamping operation in one machine.”
Simulation increasingly more important
However, the demands on workers are also growing as “hybridisation” increases. Eberhard Beck, Head of Control Technology at Index-Werke GmbH & Co. KG, Esslingen, therefore warns that it is first necessary to find an answer as to “how users of these machine concepts can master this additional functionality so that it can be used economically and profitably.” Conventional planning methods and coating processes were no longer sufficient to cope with the substantial increase in the requirements for new machine concepts because planning and implementation of “multi-technological” metal cutting processes include machining sequence and tool planning, as well as extensive and experience-intensive programming in particular. This is almost impossible to attain manually on a competitive basis. Beck gives the following advice: “It is necessary to use 3-D machining simulation. which is absolutely authentic in its presentation and time sequence behaviour, and can be verified and validated with all program-related machine actions and order processes on the PC before the start of the order.” The company was therefore one of the first machine tool manufacturers to create a 1:1 image of its machines on a computer. Beck: “We will also systematically continue along the path of the virtual machine and our own CAD-CAM-CNC process chain at AMB 2014.”
More than 90,000 visitors and around 1,300 exhibitors are expected to attend AMB 2014 from 16 to 20 September 2014. Exhibitors will present innovations and further developments from the metal cutting and precision tool industry, as well as chucking tools, CAD, CAM, CAE, software, grinding machines, handling of workpieces and tools, and measuring systems on a gross exhibition area of more than 105,000 square metres. AMB 2014 is being supported by the promotional supporters VDMA Precision Tools Association, VDMA Software Association and the Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers (VDW).
