INDUSTRY 4.0 & AUTOMATION PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Holroyd Precision is
adding intelligent
capabilities to its
machines, to improve
machine performance
and output
cylinder blocks has to be perfectly designed
to absorb as much engine oil as possible,
while maintaining the required friction
properties for ideal fuel combustion. This
partnership will enable greater precision in
manufacturing and open up new possibilities
for the use of new materials in future engine
designs.
Gehring (https://is.gd/oyexey) and Castrol
(https://is.gd/nonule) will be working together
on integrating SmartControl into Gehring’s
machines and their machine data platform
Gehring Core. This should enable greater
process stability, increased ef ciency in uid
use and machine operations, as well as
greater tool life and improved quality.
Combining Castrol’s stable and high
performing XBB uids with the real-time
condition monitoring technology will enable
the best performance on Gehring’s
machines, giving customers full control of
their machine operations.
Andreas Osbar, board member, BP Europa
SE and sales director for Lubricants
Industrial Europe, says: “This cooperation
marks an important milestone in our journey
to become the market leader in integrated
product and service solutions for the
manufacturing industry. Through digitalising
the cutting uid monitoring process, we will
remove manual workload, optimise coolant
consumption and improve the level of control
for our customers. I am also con dent that
having SmartControl inside of Gehring honing
machines will demonstrate the stability of
our XBB product range.”
Dr Sebastian Schöning, CEO of the
Gehring Group, adds: “This cooperation is a
perfect example of how digitalisation should
work: facilitating everyday production and
opening up new possibilities. Castrol’s
SmartControl together with our Core platform
give manufacturers straight advantages in
performance, quality and cost while they are
easily implemented.”
Another company involved in precision
machining is the UK’s Holroyd Precision
(https://is.gd/ocerim), a member of the
Precision Technologies Group. The company
has introduced a number of innovative
technologies to its rotor milling and grinding
machines that will bring even greater levels
of intelligence and ef ciency to its
customers’ manufacturing strategies.
Explains Holroyd regional sales director
Steven Benn: “Our goal has always been to
develop technologies that simplify the
manufacturing of even the most complex
helical components. The opportunity for
customers to specify our own HMI, for
example, and the introduction of the Holroyd
Pro le Management System software
program to assist with the entire helical
component manufacturing process, are
perfect examples. As is our ability to provide
rotor milling and grinding machines that
integrate seamlessly with individual Industry
4.0 strategies – and offer future-proofed
technologies.”
And now, advanced RFID scanning, as
developed for Holroyd’s Zenith 400 helical
pro le grinder, is now available with all
Holroyd EX Series rotor milling machines and
Holroyd TG Series rotor and screw grinding
machines. Said to be particularly valuable
where machines are integrated into
automated production cells, the RFID tagging
process offers a fool-proof solution to quality
control, ensuring that chuck, collet, cutter
and tailstock – in fact, virtually any
component or tooling item that needs to be
switched between manufacturing cycles –
is changed to the correct item for any
individual set-up.
In a world where information is king,
Holroyd is also working with leading
automation specialists to not only
incorporate IO-Link communication
technology into new machines, but also offer
it as an upgrade opportunity to deliver rapid,
‘single cable’ data transfer and performance
monitoring capability from older machine
tools.
Says Benn: “The opportunities that IO-Link
communication provides for process data
collection and analysis are immense. We
selected IO-Link for its ability to handle vast
amounts of data, its recognised capability in
providing powerful opportunities for industrial
automation and its capacity to communicate
at every level, right down to the simplest
automation.
“For Holroyd machine tool customers, the
real bene t will be the opportunity to learn
from incredible levels of rich, real-time, as
well as historic, production and performance
data – in order to make comparisons that
can bene t ef ciency, accuracy and quality,
and determine trends.
“For example: does a machine’s
workhead temperature alter signi cantly
during a particular process and, if so, what is
the cause? Do production rates and cycle
times vary by operator? Again, why? And
does a variation in a machine’s coolant
pressure or ow rate relate to expected tool
life? These are just hypothetical questions.
But with production and machine condition
data available immediately to desktop, tablet
and phone, we will provide customers with a
wealth of information to help drive
performance and advance the predictive
diagnostic capabilities of our PPM service
programs.”
Access to totally anonymised machine
performance data, collected – with consent –
from customers globally could also assist
Holroyd in further enhancing what it believes
to be class-leading customer care and
planned preventive maintenance (PPM)
packages, including scheduling maintenance
around production regimes. Such valuable
information will also help with Holroyd’s
continuous design improvement strategy,
maintaining its position as a manufacturer
and supplier of high quality, precision
machine tools.
“Knowing exactly how different machines
perform in quite different manufacturing
environments, even if – as anticipated – any
variation in performance is miniscule, will
enable us to deliver even higher standards of
support to all our customers,” concludes
Benn. “At the end of the day, our objective is
simple: to enable customers to answer what
we call the 100% rule. Is a given machine
running at 100% speed and achieving 100%
performance? Is it available for use 100% of
the time? And do its operators always
achieve 100% quality? With answers to these
questions, and our support, customers will
be able to realise levels of productivity and
ef ciency like never before.”
36 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets March 2020
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/ocerim)
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