Bending machine fit for Industry 4.0
Ever more sophisticated processes and the
continuous trend for on-demand production
characterize the new tube bending
manufacturing – complex geometries of the
components, new materials and the call for
lower unit costs and the simultaneously rapidly
changing batch sizes set the tone. Production
planners must adapt to this situation, and
this ultimately increases the demands on the
machine operators. They must implement
changes reliably. Schwarze-Robitec reacts to
these developments with a new operating
concept and the integration of new functions
in its CNC-controlled bending systems. As a
further development of the high-performance
control system for bending machines NxG,
which was presented last year, SchwarzeRobitec now introduces the next evolutionary
step, the NxG 2.0. By simplifying and focusing
on the essentials of the operating concept
and new opportunities in the networking of
bending machines, the flexibility is greatly
increased in the production of bending
products.
TN MAY 2016
In order to make the bending technology fit for
Industry 4.0, basic modules were integrated into
the NxG 2.0 controller. Thus, in addition to the
standard statistics on bent components, process
data can be gathered and evaluated. Integrated
sensors provide information on wear values or, for
example, the consumption of lubricants and allow
to draw conclusions about the expected bending
result, the state of the bending tools or the need
for maintenance of the machine. This process
data of the bending machine are backed up on
the corporate network or in the cloud. The data is
collected at a central location and can always be
retrieved and analyzed in strict compliance with
data protection. Statistical information is viewed in
real time.
The state of the machine and the degree of wear
of the tools are permanently transparent. All of
the above contributes to the maintenance of
production capacity and increased flexibility
through transparent machine data.
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