Tag Archives: Siemens

Gisma Steckverbinder GmbH: Well-Connected

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, Drive Technologies, Gisma, Gisma Steckverbinder GmbH, Motion Control, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, Sinumerik, SINUMERIK 840D sl, Sinumerik Safety Integrated, Spinner, TC77 universal turning machine, Tim Daro No Comments

A variety of complex underwater electrical connector casings are made by Gisma, using Siemens Sinumerik CNC-controlled Spinner lathe technology.

Gisma specializes in the production of underwater connectors typically used in offshore energy generation. Siemens Sinumerik-controlled Spinner CNC machine tools contribute significantly to the success of the company.

Special connectors are required to safely and reliably connect electrical and fiber-optic cables deep underwater. With maintenance more difficult, all of the parts must meet the most rigorous technical requirements in terms of reliability and service life. Products from Neumünster, Germany-based Gisma Steckverbinder GmbH are designed to be fail-safe and to withstand maximum pressure loads, while still operating on the basic “push and pull” principle. In addition to shipyards, the offshore oil and gas industry, and the military, Gisma is now receiving an increasing number of orders from offshore energy companies. Gisma works closely with its customers on all of its developments – most recently on a single-pole, wet-mateable power connector for use in offshore underwater turbines, which was designed to handle operating voltages of 12 kV at 400 A and is guaranteed to be fail-safe for 25 years.

Manufacturing repeatability to the nearest micron

To meet the high standards required in underwater technology, manufacturing accuracy to the nearest micron is required, especially for fiber-optic connectors. In addition, the materials must all be corrosion-resistant. The highest levels of functional safety  are also required to enable the machining of seawater-resistant bronze and stainless steels, along with more sophisticated materials such as duplex and super-duplex steels, titanium and high-performance plastics. The demands placed on the cutting machines and controllers used in the production of these parts are correspondingly high. For many years, Gisma has relied on Spinner milling and turning centers equipped with Siemens Sinumerik CNCs. “The machines rarely fail, mostly because of the high-quality drive and control technology,” says production manager Michael Königsmann. He is particularly impressed by the TC77 universal turning machine from the 800 series, which will be used, among other purposes, to turn the casings for a new high- performance connector measuring up to 3000 mm long. The TC 77 is built on a rigid Meehanite cast iron base with large tempered steel guide rails, allowing a high cutting capacity, along with good damping and rigidity characteristics. It is equipped with a water-cooled motor spindle, which allows precision turning to within a few hundredths of a millimeter, shortly after switching on. The machine also has a counter spindle and features 12 tool stations with driven tools. “This lets us manufacture some workpieces in a single run, whereas previously it would have taken several,” explains the production manager. In accordance with VDI/DGQ 3441, the machine achieves repeat accuracy of 2 µm in the  x- and z-axes.

Consistent CNC strategy since 2000

The sophisticated Sinumerik 840D sl CNC plays an equally important role in reducing manufacturing time. Since the year 2000, Gisma has used only Siemens controllers in its production facility. “By standardizing the controller, we have created an environment where we can deploy our employees flexibly all over the shop floor and operator error  has become a thing of the past,” explains Tobias Frerck, Gisma’s managing director. “We have always had great results with Sinumerik controllers and knew we could rely on our competent regional service partners on those rare occasions when something went wrong.” For newly developed products, production manager Königsmann and his staff usually create the CNC programs on external PCs in DIN ISO and then send them over the network to the most suitable machine. If there is a need to manufacture new connectors based upon an existing family of parts, the required CNC programs can usually be adjusted directly on the machine itself. And, just  as during initial setup, the Sinumerik 840D sl’s fully integrated and user-friendly ShopTurn software comes into its own here. The animated graphical user interface is completely intuitive, meaning that it can be easily picked up even by temporary staff. The Sinumerik Safety Integrated software package provides additional safety when working in setup mode, allowing operators to monitor the production process with the machine door open. Safety mode allows speeds of up to 2 m/min, and the software ensures that the drives stop quickly after a maximum of 1 to 2 mm, should any problems arise. If anything is unclear when an operator is entering data, he or she can push a single button on the operator console to bring up a help menu. Switching to a text-based DIN interface is just as straightforward, for example, when an experienced programmer feels that he or she can more quickly and easily describe a complex contour using a DIN statement. As always, the main focus remains on achieving the highest possible standards in terms of both the manufacturing and the finished product.

For more information on this article, please contact:

SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.
DRIVE TECHNOLOGIES
MOTION CONTROL
MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
390 Kent Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: 847-640-1595
Fax: 847-437-0784
Web: www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
Email: SiemensMTBUMarCom.sea@siemens.com
Attention: John Meyer, Manager, Marketing Communication

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The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/drivetechnologies.

Retrofitting for Success

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, Cincinnati U5 Gantry, Major Tool & Machine, MTM, Siemens, Siemens 840D, Siemens CNC platform, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, Siemens Tool Management, Sinumerik 840D, SINUMERIK 840D sl, Sinumerik CNC, Sinumerik Operate, Tim Daro No Comments

With the right CNC platform, this large, state-of-the-art job shop has discovered “anything is possible”…

CNC upgrade enhances performance and precision

Major Tool & Machine (MTM) is a large job shop, producing precision milled and turned hardware throughout the company’s 500,000 square foot Indiana facility. Performance is essential, because MTM contracts with aerospace, energy, nuclear and defense companies on many mission-critical, one-off projects. Owner and CEO Steve Weyreter will tell you openly, MTM is more competitive by way of a significant CNC technology change, starting with an aggressive retrofit strategy.

Major Tool & Machine, Inc. retrofitted two of their machining centers in 2010 changing to a CNC technology platform that was completely new to the company. Ten more such large-scale retrofits have followed, bringing increased enthusiasm, momentum and productivity.

Günther Zimmermann, CNC Controls Engineer at MTM, says the company’s retrofit program and the decision to change to the Siemens SINUMERIK CNC platform have brought a new enthusiasm and momentum to the company. Over the last two years the change has also brought significant time and cost reductions, especially in the areas of programming, maintenance engineering, and machine operations.

“The initial goal in early 2010 was to retrofit two Cincinnati U5 Gantry machines,” Zimmermann recounts. “We evaluated two CNC technology platforms and after considerable analysis our CEO Steve Weyreter announced that Siemens would best support the company’s future.”

The decision to reduce costs by moving to a single CNC platform was the least difficult decision for the company to make, Zimmermann explains. The larger challenge for MTM was the integration of a new CNC technology platform that was new to the company.

Bill Henderson, MTM’s manager of large machining and maintenance, agrees that the decision to change to a Siemens CNC platform integrated with advanced part and tool probing was critical, because the shop manages constant changeovers from one complex job to the next, making setup times a critical time/cost constraint for the company. Another big advantage is the increased flexibility by only having to train machinists and maintenance personnel on one type of control.

Henderson went on to say “the decision to change to a new control has signaled higher expectations for the company, along with new challenges for those who program, operate and maintain the company’s big machines.

Naturally, there’s a resistance to change,” Henderson says. “People are comfortable with what they normally run, but after our discussions with the people on the plant floor, they understood the overall objective. Our retrofit program is not finished, yet it’s already showing tremendous benefits.”

Heads-up interchangeability

An advantage MTM gained by its retrofit strategy has been the ability to interchange heads and rotary tables from machine to machine. Easy-to-use head storage and tool management programming provided by the Siemens CNC platform support the new interchange capability.

Retrofitter Doug Huber says having Siemens as a new CNC technology partner has made a difference for Major Tool & Machine, but it’s also been an evolutionary uplift for his own retrofitting company, Indiana Automation.

“Indiana Automation has increasingly retrofit using Siemens controls in recent years, Huber explains. “On a retrofit, we always try to exceed what the original machine could do, and that’s just kind of inherent when you put on a Siemens 840D. Major Tool’s first retrofits were the Cincinnati U5 machines, a bridge model and two gantry models. These are five-axis machines and five-axis is the 840D’s forte. The processing power of the control is so much better, that it just whips through the blocks faster. So right off, cycle time is a major performance enhancement.”

Huber says something else happened this time. As his firm finished retrofitting the first three giant machines with Siemens five-axis controls, drives and motors, the reaction within the company was not just that the machines were now predictably more efficient, but that they performed as very different machines. A new advantage is the ability to interchange machining heads from machine-to-machine, and all driven by the Siemens CNC platform.

“On many of the U5 machines, the axes come off with the heads,” Huber explains, “and we rebuilt these machines to accept any one of three different heads. That’s one of Major Tool’s key strategies. They insist on having flexible machine capabilities, so that they can run all kinds of different parts. They have straight heads for serious metal cutting, contour heads for five-axis work and finesse work. They have 90-degree heads for more flexibility than a straight head, but it’s also not as fragile as the contour head. And they wanted to interchange all of these heads to automatically go pick up a head out of the shuttle and, on the fly, reconfigure the axes and the zero positions. To do this, the compensation tables all had to be updated. Everything needed to be done with the macro program so that each head came on ready to run.”

The interchangeable head strategy was a challenge, Huber says, because the machines were not originally capable of sharing heads. But with support from Siemens, the strategy has worked, including the ability to interchange rotary tables as well as heads. “Each head or rotary table has a configuration file that has all the settings and compensations and travels with it from machine to machine. So now when you mount that head the control just runs the configuration file that goes with it and its all set up for you. We also incorporated Siemens Tool Management for each machine’s 60-pocket tool chain. We used the feature on these machines to manage all the different tooling MTM uses, both in the automatic tool changer as well as the ones manually loaded.”

Huber says, “MTM’s ability to smoothly transition to more advanced CNC is largely due to the HMI’s ease of use. The Operate interface is a huge help to us and to Major Tool. The HMI helps make better parts. And it didn’t take very long for the operators to fall in love with it.”

Leveraging the machinist’s skills

Central to MTM’s retrofit program has been the Siemens SINUMERIK 840D sl control, which features the SINUMERIK Operate interface. The highly intuitive interface enables both programmers and operators to easily capitalize on the broad capabilities of the control.

“I had never used a Siemens control before,” admits MTM machinist Mike Burthay. “I have extensive knowledge of G-code and CNC controls and I would say the Siemens 840D sl with the Operate interface is the easiest one I’ve ever run. It’s user friendly, that’s exactly the words for it.”

Burthay reports several ways in which the Siemens SINUMERIK Operate interface has made his life easier. “There’s not as much G-code,” he says. “The control does it all for you as long as you put in the parameters as to size, length, width. Then once you’re in Job Mode, there’s a screen where you can tool change or jog the machine around to certain positions, or turn the spindle on, turn the coolant on, anything that traditionally required G-code. So now you can push a cycle stop button to pause the machine, enter a change such as turning coolant on, then restart the program.

Programming as easy as 1-2-3: Using the SINUMERIK Operate interface, a machinist can turn on coolant flow by 1) pressing Cycle Stop to stop the machine, 2) Coolant On, and 3) Restart.

“Another function I love is Block Search, which allows me to start or restart right in the middle of a program. Say you’re finishing a pocket and you have to run the tool two or three times to get a tight tolerance, I can enter in a line number and hit Block Search, the control picks up every line before that, restarts the spindle and everything for you.”

Burthay says the Siemens control also enables him to program parts right on the machine whenever necessary, using a simple yet robust program called ShopMill. “I can go into ShopMill, type in some parameters and it will kick out that G-code program for me automatically. Say I want to drill a hole two inches deep. I open ShopMill, pick my tool, tell it the depth and these steps are all interactive on the screen. It even shows me 3D motion images of the tool path, confirms the drill going down as expected into the part. So I hit go and it puts a drill cycle into the program for me.”

Programmed for collaborative growth

Lead Programmer, Tim Hayden, has from the beginning conducted all processor setups for the newly retrofitted machines. Hayden says integrating the Siemens CNC platform has been an empowering experience he had not expected, given the fact that he had never before set up a post processor to run a Siemens control, nor had he ever before operated a Siemens control.

“Now, when I look at the Siemens control, I think man, it would have been so much better to have had it all along,” Hayden says, “because the other control I’ve been using is just a lot more cryptic. The Siemens control with the SINUMERIK Operate interface is more powerful for writing macros and the language seems modern, whereas the other control seems like it is still based on an old FORTRAN type language.”

Work offsets for compound angles can be scaled and rotated using the Frames function of the Siemens SINUMERIK Operate interface. Many advanced machining operations can be managed simply, without the use of time-intensive manual G-code programming.

Hayden points to the Frames coordinate and offset programming function of the Siemens interface as an example of improved programming convenience.

“We do a lot of work on compound angles,” Hayden explains, “and with the Siemens Frames function, you can scale and rotate your coordinate system on the control, just plug it in with your work offsets. Whereas, on the other control you will see a G54 request, you’ve got to enter G-code. You can’t just plug it into your work offsets like you can with the Siemens control.”

Hayden says the SINUMERIK Operate interface brings greater programming flexibility. The HMI enables him to enter G-code using a comparatively more advanced manual data entry (MDI) function; however the HMI has all but eliminated the need for G-code entry by way of its intuitive design and evolved capabilities.

Another example of such HMI evolution is in the area of data management.

“When we post a program, we no longer have to use a G-code based MDI,” Hayden explains. “We no longer need to type in T= and enter a nine digit number and then enter M6 to make a tool change. With the Operate HMI, you pick your tool off a screen and hit cycle start. It’s just as easy to program going to a position. Instead of doing things the old way by typing G0X0Y0Z0 into the MDI, you open the Operate interface, click position, then click how you want to wrap it and then you just type the numbers into those fields. So it’s a lot more user friendly.”

Hayden says the Siemens CNC platform has supported greater collaboration at MTM between him and the machinists, and this is helping the company find ways to increase performance and efficiency. He agrees with his coworkers’ assessments that shorter setup times and greater operator freedom are making a significant difference.

“One of our production bottlenecks has been programming,” Hayden says. “The machinists that run our machines are professionals, they’re not button pushers, and with the SINUMERIK Operate interface, we can now rely on them to control and program certain parts right on their machines, while we programmers work on the more complex projects.”

“Siemens was the best fit for all of us,” Hayden concludes. “Siemens CNC is set up as an open control, and with that kind of flexibility, it seems anything is possible.”

See Siemens CNC at Major Tool & Machine in action HERE!

For more information, contact:

SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.
MOTION CONTROL
MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
John Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications
Siemens Industry, Inc.
(800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications
www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com

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Siemens at PackExpo 2012

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, Drive Technologies, embedded ethernet ip connectivity, profibus, Profinet, Siemens, Siemens General Motion Control, Siemens Industry, Sinamics S drives, Sinamics S120 No Comments

Engineering TV is now featuring Siemens from PackExpo 2012!

Click here to check it out.

Lee Teschler of Machine Design talks to Bill Henderson, Business Development Manager at Siemens about industrial ethernet connectivity solutions and networks used in several manufacturing environments.

Hosted by: Lee Teschler Videography by: Terry Knight Edited by: Terry Knight

For specific product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com.

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Siemens to Demonstrate Kuka Robotics Integration for Workpiece Handling

By Bernard and Company Tags: Bernard & Company, CNC, IMTS, Siemens, Siemens CNC, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, SINUMERIK 840D sl No Comments

All motion controlled by mxAutomation directly through the Sinumerik CNC — simple to integrate, even easier to operate

CHICAGO — At this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Siemens will demonstrate its recent collaboration with KUKA Robotics. In the Siemens booth E-5010, a KUKA robot will be articulating parts, simulating the operation on a CNC machine tool. Key to this development is the machine builder’s ability to integrate mxAutomation from KUKA directly through the Siemens Sinumerik CNC platform, thereby allowing the operator of the machine to run both the machine tool and robot from the single control panel.

The motion sequence of the robot is entirely engineered within the Sinumerik 840D sl CNC, then transferred by the 840D sl’s PLC function to the mxAutomation interpreter on the KR C4. All program changes to a six-axis robot can easily be input on a second channel of the CNC and fully operated. This scenario provides the ability to not only run a machine tool’s automation sequence more efficiently, but also make more changes on-the-fly to minimize machine downtime, with no special knowledge of robot programming language.

During the operation of the machine tool, all changes made can be visualized directly on the CNC screen, further minimizing operator actions. Siemens is the first CNC supplier to show this capability for single-screen operation of the machine tool and robotic materials handling on the CNC. During the show, a Siemens Sinumerik 840D sl CNC will be programmed to allow the operator to jog the robot, command the gripper and otherwise simulate integrated actions with a machine tool.

In operation, the KRC4 integrator and mxAutomation convert the robot language into the same commands used for multi-axis machine tool functions. A single Profinet cable runs between the robot and the CNC. According to KUKA’s Andreas Schuhbauer, key technology manager for machine tool automation (Augsburg, Germany), “mxAutomation allows the machine tool builder a single I/O language for integrating robotics on the CNC, while the end user operator can run both the machine tool and the robot from a single screen on the control.” mxAutomation for Sinumerik CNC was a joint development between KUKA and Siemens. KUKA created plug-in function modules for the Siemens Step 7 PLC engineering software and provided its robot knowledge to Siemens for creation of the second channel logic on the CNC, Andreas Schuhbauer further noted. All safety functions and test functions for load / unload, brake test, gripper, robot communication and safe operation of the robot are provided through the Siemens Profinet and Profisafe platforms.

Future developments for mxAutomation are planned, including a wider application range for robots in the CNC machine tool environment. For more information about Siemens CNC solutions for the machine tool industry, visit our website: www.usa.siemens.com/cnc.

Join the user community by following us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC and talking to us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us. Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability.

For more information on this story, please contact
SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. DRIVE TECHNOLOGIES MOTION CONTROL MACHINE TOOL BUSINESS
390 Kent Avenue Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: 847-640-1595 Fax: 847-437-0784
Web: www.usa.siemens.com/cnc
Email: SiemensMTBUMarCom.sea@siemens.com
Attention: John Meyer, Manager, Marketing Communication
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SiemensCNC or Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_cnc_us.

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Siemens Industry Sector is the world’s leading supplier of innovative and environmentally friendly products, solutions and services for industrial customers. With end-to-end automation technology and industrial software, solid vertical-market expertise, and technology-based services, the sector enhances its customers’ productivity, efficiency and flexibility. With a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees, the Industry Sector comprises the Industry Automation, Drive Technologies and Customer Services Divisions as well as the Metals Technologies Business Unit. The Siemens Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of products, systems, applications, solutions and services for the entire drive train, with electrical and mechanical components. Drive Technologies serves all vertical markets in the production and process industries as well as the infrastructure/energy segment. With its products and solutions, the division enables its customers to achieve productivity, energy efficiency and reliability.

Spinner Machining Center with Siemens CNC Helping University Researchers See Into Space

By Bernard and Company Tags: 840D sl CNC, Ad agencies, Advanced Technology Research Center, BernardandCompany, IFA, Industrial, Machine tool, Maikalani Institute For Astronomy, Motion Control, Press Release, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Sinumerik, Sinumerik 840D, Spinner, Spinner MC650-5A, Tim Daro No Comments

Machining center used at University of Hawaii Institute For Astronomy to produce one-off diffraction gratings for remote sensing instruments used with telescopes and other research instrumentation

University of Hawaii Institute For Astronomy telescopes are able to see the solar system and into deep space with greater clarity than at any other location on the planet, according to Dr. Ritter.

When you enter the laboratories at the University of Hawaii’s Maikalani Institute For Astronomy (IFA) Advanced Technology Research Center on the island of Maui and hear talk of light years, dark energy and space telescopes, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not your typical machine shop. The machining for instrumentation developed here involves some of the most sophisticated techniques on Earth, which is a pun of cosmic irony, as the workpieces produced here are primarily used to help evaluate happenings in deep space.

The Maikalani facility provides laboratory workspace for Physicists and Astronomers performing advanced metrology and optical fabrication, novel optics design, optical/infrared sensor development and a creative workspace. Maikalani literally means, “knowledge we gain from the cosmos.” As the Lab Director, a world-class physicist, Dr. Joe Ritter explains, “At the IFA, our excellent staff and faculty invent, design and build novel instruments for use in state of the art telescopes. Among other technologies, we are working to develop a novel generalized conformal diffraction grating. Gratings are optical components used to split light into component colors for the study of the chemistry of stars.” Ritter and his assistant John Valliant are also the machinists. They exchange their hats from physicists to milling machine operators, using a Spinner MC650-5A, equipped with Sinumerik 840D solution line CNC, to produce parts from high-conductivity copper and aluminum 6061-T6 grades, among other alloys.

Since the Spinner is used at the IFA exclusively for precise one-off parts, the search for the right machine focused on equipment that had among the industry-highest standards of accuracy and precision. The novel conformal gratings under development at the lab are designed with variable pitch and spacing dimensions to correct optical aberrations and also focus and split infrared light for future deep space spectroscopy instrumentation.

As Ritter explains, “Accuracy is everything in optics. Most of the machining centers I evaluated were in the +/-25 micron (~0.001”) range for accuracy. We settled on a 3+2 axis machine with 100 nanometer precision scales with interferometric remapping on the 840D sl CNC. Because we do experimental fabrication work and optics typically need to be made to micron level tolerances, it was imperative to have a feedback control on the machine tool with a known accuracy and predictable degrees of variation.” As an example, though not suitable for visible light, the optics Ritter discussed required accuracies of a few microns-good enough for infrared optics. Other technologies being developed by Ritter at IFA include novel photonic meta-materials for future space telescopes intended for studying exoplanets and the evolution of our universe.

Dr. Ritter cited the age-old challenge for educational and research institutions, when searching for such precision machinery, namely, budget constraints. In this case, the lab was fortunate, according to Ritter, as they became aware of a demo machine from Spinner, available from Lois Hill and Robert “Mac” McPherson of MacHill Machinery in South Carolina. During the purchase and commissioning, Ritter emphatically noted, “The Spinner technician Herr Siegfried Jungk, who trained us, was exceptionally talented and particularly knowledgeable and helpful. Ritter also noted that the Siemens ShopMill software included with the CNC package, was “…an easy-to-use program for getting the multi-axis machining up and running for basic drilling and facing.”

Sample parts produced on Spinner machine, mostly copper and aluminum, include many that become diffraction gratings used on highly sensitive instruments for deep space exploration projects

While invariably the smart guys in any room, Dr. Joe and John Valliant are not machinists by trade, so they were using both Shopmill and CAD/CAM programs like Mastercam with the highly-specialized G-code generator and post-processor needed to create precision path cuts, then running them directly on the mill to quickly begin cutting, an absolute necessity in their one-off world of custom parts.

“For some optics, the millions of coordinates we use for every workpiece are pushing the control to the limit, but it responds well. Plus, the teach-in functionality of the Sinumerik 840D sl CNC and its software package keep us running very efficiently,” according to Valliant, who worked in the lab as a University of Hawaii-Maui college student and has learned CNC machining on the go. In an environment where 0.1 of a wavelength of light is the desired target for accuracy, this is no small achievement. Valliant adds, “Once you’re comfortable with this machine and the control, the process is very intuitive.”

Photo Credit: Rob Ratkowski

Dr. Ritter, who is constantly pushing the boundaries on novel orbital space telescope designs, notes that the state of Hawaii and the island of Maui in particular have some of the best conditions on Earth for nighttime telescopic observation, as well as the best in the world for daytime solar viewing. The National Science Foundation will soon build the world’s largest solar telescope on Maui. Maui is a little known hotbed of technology development. In addition to solar research and deep space observations, the Institute for Astronomy partners with many nations to push the boundaries of human knowledge, while training future scientists.

Currently, the Institute is engaged in developing technology to make other new scientific discoveries possible. They include the largest camera on earth, new high contrast off axis telescopes, instruments using electronic cameras and spectrographs for the telescopes on Mauna Kea, Haleakala and, in Chile, detectors such as ultra-sensitive mega-pixel infra-red CCD arrays, plus adaptive optics to help overcome the image blurring caused by Earth’s atmosphere. Knowledge gained from the cosmos depends on maintaining Hawaii’s dark skies. Another initiative by Ritter, who chairs the Maui County Outdoor Lighting Committee, includes the development of novel efficient low light pollution outdoor and street lighting to preserve endangered species sea turtles and migrating seabirds as well as to preserve dark skies for Astronomy (see www.EcoScienceLighting.com).

Mac McPherson, the Spinner machine dealer and importer for North America, adds, “We do considerable business with academics and it’s always challenging, owing to the unique nature of their machining needs. In this case, an optic grid pattern with high accuracy was the biggest hurdle. We were able to supply the Spinner demo machine within budget and with the proper tooling included. The lab actually built their own custom fixturing for their work and Siemens helped to develop a special post-processor program.”

“Na Kilo Hoku” means “the watchers of the stars” and the instrument components made here certainly help them do just that — and also gain knowledge from the cosmos for us all.

For more information on this story, please contact:

Joe Ritter, Ph.D
Physicist and Lab Director
University of Hawaii Institute For Astronomy
Maikalani Advanced Technology Research Center
34 Ohia Ku St.
Pukalani, HI 96768
Phone: 808-573-9521
Web: www.ifa.hawaii.edu

Robert McPherson
MacHill Machinery Solutions, LLC
(dealer for Spinner machines)
2245 C-132 Ashley Crossing Drive
Charleston, SC 29445
Phone: 843-873-6888
Web: www.machillmachinery.com

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Siemens to Present Innovations for Greater Machine Tool Productivity

By Bernard and Company Tags: 1PH8, Ad agencies, IMTS, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, Simatic PLC, Simotics 1FK7, Simotics 1FT7, Sinumerik 828D, Sinumerik 840D, Tim Daro No Comments

BOOTH E-5010

CHICAGO — At this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Siemens will introduce new solutions and services for machine tool manufacturers and end-users. Under the theme, “Productivity in Motion,” the presentation will focus on turnkey solutions for the job shop, aerospace, automotive, mold/die and medical part manufacturing industries.

For machine tool builders and end-users, Siemens will exhibit the newest innovations in CNC (Computer Numerical Control), motor and drive technology, as well as new value-adding services ranging from condition monitoring and manufacturing IT to innovative solutions for CNC training and machine tool retrofits.

Highlighting the booth for attendees will be a raffle to win a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, as well as the opportunity to register for a 60-day free trial license on Sinutrain, the full suite of Siemens CNC training modules.

NEW CNC SOLUTION FOR THE SHOPFLOOR

New at IMTS 2012, Siemens will introduce a shop floor CNC specifically designed and engineered for the 230V, three-phase) economy-priced market, with up to three-axis plus spindle control capability in milling or turning applications. Offered as a package with Siemens Sinamics drives and Simotics motor solutions, this new control will be demonstrated on a knee mill, during the show. This new CNC will be available for both OEM machine builds and in-the-field retrofit.

SOLUTIONS FOR THE JOB SHOP

Introduced at IMTS 2010 and already a world-class force in the mid-range machine tool market, the Sinumerik 828D will be running on various machines and simulators in the booth. New for IMTS 2012, the Sinumerik 828D BASIC T (turning) and BASIC M (milling) will also be on display, expanding this range of Siemens CNC to enhance job shop performance in all segments of this market.

The Sinumerik 828D BASIC T is designed to address the needs of shopfloor turning machines.
It combines CNC, PLC, operator panel and axis control for five axes/spindles, including live tooling. Milling and drilling operations on a turning machine, both for face and peripheral surfacing, are therefore possible. In tandem with the new Sinamics S120 Combi drives package, the 828D BASIC T represents a new level of efficiency and virtually maintenance-free operation, as the fans, hard disks and batteries of past CNC generations are eliminated.

Likewise, the new Sinumerik 828D BASIC M class features the same quality performance as the T class, for use on milling machines. Even in complex moldmaking operations, mirror-smooth surfacing and reduced machining times are enabled. Again, in tandem with Sinamics S120 Combi drives package and Simotics feed and spindle motors, the 828D BASIC T will operate a milling machine at the highest level of performance possible. Superior axis and spindle dynamics within a broad speed bandwith yield quality workpieces, every time.

All the other benefits of the Siemens CNC family, including the Sinumerik Operate graphical user interface platform as well as ShopMill and ShopTurn easy programming are offered in these new 828D CNCs.

The Sinumerik 828D is capable of full graphical, high-level language command and supports ISO programming that is customary in the United States. This control family is ideal for single-part and small-batch production. Programming time can be further reduced for small-batch production with the use of the ShopMill and ShopTurn graphical workstep programming system, while high-level language programming can be used in conjunction with programGuide to significantly reduce programming times for large-scale serial production.

Also included with this expansion of the Sinumerik 828D family of CNC, modern PC and mobile phone technology are also available to the mid-range machine tool. Extensive online help animations and a new type of input prompting system with moving picture sequences provide the basis for exceptional user convenience. USB, Compact Flash (CF) card and Ethernet ports enable high-speed data transfers onto storage media or integration of the control system into corporate networks.

Through the use of its Easy Message functionality, the Sinumerik 828D family offers production status monitoring by text messaging (SMS). Depending on the recipient’s profile settings, the machine tool can transmit information about workpiece machining status, report on the tool condition currently in use and send machine maintenance bulletins to a mobile phone, anytime and anywhere. These combined functions are designed to help keep machine downtime to a minimum.

STILL THE HIGHEST STANDARD IN CNC

Still the highest technology standard in the industry, the Sinumerik 840D sl CNC makes
another series of advancements, all being demonstrated at this year’s show. The system platform
offers a comprehensive range of functions for machine tools. This universal control covers wide-ranging machining technologies used in metalworking operations such as turning, drilling, milling, grinding, laser machining, nibbling and punching, plus it can be used in multi-tasking machines such as turn-mill or mill-turn centers. Whatever the application, Sinumerik 840D sl leads to maximum productivity for the job shop or industrial-scale production department, as well as optimum surface quality for all mold and tool building applications.

Sinumerik Operate

Sinumerik Operate is the graphical user interface that provides an integrated milling function for turning machines or integrated turning function for milling machines.

With the benefit of modern touchscreen operation, the new Sinumerik operator panel OP 019, now extended to include the new Power Control Unit (PCU) 50.5, allows high-speed key actuation at the large 19-inch glass front, which conforms to the IP66 protection rating. Another new feature of the OP 019 design is the wide LEDs, which allow the operator to clearly visualize every key actuation, no matter what the angle of vision, and an integrated key lock helps safeguard against operating errors. The new operator panel is able to provide a basic machine display with three or four channels showing up to 13 axes.

Sinumerik Ctrl-Energy

Sinumerik CTRL-E is the new green high achievement in CNC operation, designed for the strict requirements of the international energy efficiency standard EN16001. It provides a full assessment of the energy consumed by the machine tool in every cycle, on every part produced and throughout the machine’s life cycle. Specific power loads can be shut down automatically during downtimes, plus generated braking energy can be stored or fed back into the power grid. In this way, Siemens Sinamics drives package are achieving up to 99% energy efficiency, while Simotics motors are likewise running 90%+ levels, unprecedented in the machine tool market previously.

Sinumerik Integrate is an onboard CNC solution that allows machine tool data to be integrated quickly, simply and reliably into other company processes. This IT integration of production processes allows managers, machine operators, part programmers, maintenance engineers and machine tool builders to be inter-connected with each other and integrated into the overall system by means of defined processes. Sinumerik Integrate facilitates this network by concentrating IT-related functions into a single process suite, using six different available modules that cover every aspect of the machine tool integration process.

SOLUTIONS FOR AEROSPACE

For the aerospace market, the Sinumerik 840D sl is the latest in CNC technology that increases performance and user productivity. It is a universal and flexible CNC system featuring the innovative Sinamics S120 drives that can be used with up to 31 axes. It is a distributed, scalable, open and
inter-connecting system, offering a wide range of specialized functions for milling, drilling, turning, grinding and handling technologies, with full kinematic transformations for optimum machining and surface quality.

Sinumerik 840D

The Sinumerik 840D offers users innovative features that increase productivity on the manufacturing floor, especially the challenging segments of high-speed and five-axis
aerospace machining.

Connectivity is the watchword in aerospace at this year’s show. From a single solution provider, machine builders and end users alike can enjoy full and seamless connectivity of their CNC and PLC technologies, plantwide and worldwide among facilities, as Siemens provides its international network of support to all facilities, in all operating and conversational languages. Hardware and software solutions from a single source are available, to the scale and scope needed by any aerospace OEM or tier vendor.

SOLUTIONS FOR AUTOMOTIVE

In the automotive industry, Siemens continues to solidify its position with the Transline System Solution, the solution for automotive powertrain. This system integrates diverse metalcutting technologies such as milling, drilling, turning and grinding, and the assembly of powertrain parts, under a common system architecture. With the introduction of the Flexible Assembly Configuration System (FACS), Siemens has now also streamlined the line changeover world in dramatic fashion. What took weeks now takes hours.

Based on the new Sinumerik 840D sl, Simatic PLC and Simotics motor technologies, Transline solution line transforms the company’s concept of “productivity in motion” into a real-world application for total factory automation. By specifying Transline, machine tool users benefit from faster start-up times, better equipment serviceability and increased productivity. Operator cross-training and workcell operation are further enhanced.

SOLUTIONS FOR MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE

During the show, Siemens will also have displays of its Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) services, as well as Siemens Safety Integrated and other production network offerings. TIA Portal, enables the design and configuration of all process automation from a single computer screen, along the entire process supply chain. Siemens Safety Integrated for Factory Automation comprises advanced drive technologies, automation systems, operator control and machine monitoring, fail-safe communications and safe industrial control advancements.

SOLUTIONS FOR CNC TRAINING, CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND MOBILE APPS

SinuTrain, the Siemens package of CNC training software on CD-ROM, provides milling and turning machine operators with a high degree of practical hands-on experience, prior to using the CNCs on their actual machines. It is designed to run on Windows XP or Windows 7 operating systems and is the optimal solution for machine tool control-identical simulation training. It installs and operates with less memory, so other work can easily be accomplished during simulation of the machining.

With SinuTrain, actual NC programs are developed and simulated, using a direct connection to the company’s CAD systems to further speed the program generation protocol. In this way, machine tool operators not only learn the control language commands, but they also visualize part programs on a PC screen that are identical to the actual machine screen. As a further benefit, programs generated through SinuTrain on the PC software can then be used on the machines.

A FREE 60-DAY TRIAL LICENSE of Sinutrain will be available to all show attendees.

My Documentation Manager allows Siemens CNC users to customize online service and operations manuals to suit their specific machine tools.

New mobile apps for iOS and Android devices that are now available from Siemens will be demonstrated, including Easy CNC with G-code compatibility conversion, Motion World, the Siemens customer magazine for CNC automation and CNC4you.

Other exhibits on display in the Siemens booth include the new Simotics 1FK7 / 1FT7
high-inertia servomotors, the 1PH8 main spindle motor, linear motors and direct-drive torque motors that contribute to the increase in machine performance. The exhibition will also focus on machine tool retrofit, field service, customer service, spare parts and repair, all of which support the machine tool builder and end-user. Special displays will also feature Siemens solutions for medical part manufacturing and power generation.

In the booth’s theater area, educational seminars about CNC technology, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) developments, factory automation and more will be presented.

Finally, Siemens will have active participation in the Automation Pavilion being held at IMTS 2012, directly adjacent to the Siemens booth in the East Hall.

For more information about Siemens CNC solutions for the machine tool industry, visit our website: www.usa.siemens.com/cnc.

Please forward all inquiries to:

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Siemens Helps Detroit-Based Diesel Engine Manufacturer Reduce Energy Costs and Slash CO2 Emissions

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, CO2 Emissions, diesel engines, dynamometers, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, Sinamics S150, Tim Daro, variable frequency drive, VFD No Comments

Summary

A Detroit-based manufacturer of workhorse diesel engines for trucks that run millions of miles tests the durability and performance of each engine with dynamometers. This testing burns more than two million gallons of fuel each year and generates tremendous amounts of heat that is released through cooling towers in the roof. In a pilot project using Siemens Sinamics^® variable frequency AC drives to control two dynamometers, the company is capturing the wasted heat energy and returning it to the factory grid, saving about $150,000 a year in utility costs. Once deployed across all 30 test stands, this solution could save $2.2 million and reduce CO₂ emissions by 15 metric tons each year, making the operation more sustainable, more compliant and more profitable.

The Challenge

Burning more than two million gallons of diesel fuel a year should do more than simply heat the skies above Detroit, Michigan.

For years, though, that was all one leading manufacturer of diesel engines was getting from the heat produced during virtually non-stop operation of a diesel engine testing facility the size of a major league stadium. Then the company had a brilliant idea: Why not capture the energy generated by its testing and put it back into its own grid to lower its utility costs?

As part of one of the largest truck manufacturing companies in the world, the engine maker produces diesel engines for trucks, heavy equipment and other applications requiring lots of horsepower over long time periods. Its truck engines are the 600 horsepower workhorse engines that power big semi-trailer truckson the nation’s highways. They are designed to run millions of miles and non-stop testing helps ensure they can go the distance.

To test the durability and performance of these engines, its engineers use test stands in a huge, ventilated facility adjacent to its manufacturing plant. A test stand consists of a diesel engine coupled to a dynamometer that applies a load to the engine that is equivalent to pulling a 40-foot, fully loaded trailer weighing 20 tons or more.

Although there are different types of dynamometers, this diesel engine producer uses one with an eddy-current clutch, which puts an electrical flux around the rotor of a motor providing resistance to the engine. The test beds are cooled via a water-to-air cooling system that circulates cool water through the hot machinery. The rotational force generated by the engine is used to pump the heated water up to the cooling towers on the roof where it the cool Detroit air absorbs the heat. After the cooling towers, the water is ready to be used to cool the system again.

According to thefacilities manager in charge of the testing labs, the 30 test stands run constantly except when a new motor is being connected for testing. The lab’s testing procedures consume about 2.5 million gallons of fuel each year — the equivalent to what about 4,000 cars would burn a year.

In 2008, and the testing labs’ facilities manager and environmental engineering manager began discussing the possibility of recovering the energy produced by the engines and feeding it back into the facility’s own grid. They thought the electricity generated internally could help offset the 2.1 megawatts of electricity it buys each year from the local utility.

Siemens S150 variable frequency drives

The Solution

With the help of AEM, Inc., a long-time Siemens channel partner, the diesel engine producer developed a pilot solution based on recovering the wasted energy by replacing the eddy-current dynamometer of two test stands with an induction motor and four-quadrant Sinamics^® S150 variable frequency drive (VFD). The motor will be holding back against the customer’s test engine and thus generating energy. The S150 VFD has an “active front end” design that provides regeneration capability to recover the energy previously wasted as heat and return it to the company’s own power grid.

Planning and designing the solution using Siemens variable frequency drives began in 2008 and the deployment occurred in mid-2009.

The Results

While the pilot solution is a significant departure from the company’s existing test bed technology, the expected maintenance and environmental savings has the facilities team considering a full migration to the Siemens solution.

The two test stands using the Siemens solution are expected to save about $150,000 a year in utility costs, a payback of less than four yearsbased on energy savings alone. The payback is even faster once the costly maintenance of eddy-current clutches and the cost of cooling the water used to dissipate heat generated by the old eddy current clutches are eliminated.

Given economies of scale in converting the rest of the test stands, the recovered energy will make this Siemens customer more energy self-sufficient. And the energy cost-savings would add up to potentially an additional $2.1 million a year. The company would also prevent about 15 metric tons in CO₂ emissions each year.

For further tech detail on the Siemens S150 drives, please visit:

http://www.automation.siemens.com/mcms/large-drives/en/converters/low-voltage-converters/sinamics-s/sinamics-s150/Pages/sinamics-s150.aspx

For further information on this story, please contact:

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Rattunde Utilizes Precision Motion Control For Tube and Bar Production System; Up To 11,000 Parts Per Hour Reported with Zero Rejects

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, BernardandCompany, CNC, Cosmos, Industrial PR, Profibus modules, Rattunde, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Simatic S7 PLC, Simotics servomotor, Sinumerik 840D CNC, Tim Daro No Comments

Through the use of Siemens SINUMERIK CNC technology, plus PLC and HMI, on a combination servo-controlled cold saw cut-to-length and brush deburring system, Rattunde customer achieves triple the output on small engine exhaust components

Rattunde ACS + BDM tube and bar production system at Cosmos.

Rattunde Corporation of Grand Rapids, Michigan is the five-year-old subsidiary of Germany’s Rattunde & Co. GmbH, a machine tool builder of tube, pipe and bar processing equipment. The company is already making its mark in the American manufacturing industry, as demonstrated by a recent success it had at Cosmos Manufacturing of South Chicago Heights, Illinois, a major supplier of small engine exhaust tubes to the leading outdoor power equipment manufacturers in the country.

The Rattunde system, incorporating a servo-controlled cutoff saw and brush deburring mechanism, is consistently producing up to 11,000 parts per hour at Cosmos, according to Mike Jemilo, the end user’s general manager. “This number represents triple the output production for Cosmos.” He continues, “Better still, it’s been in operation more than a year and we have not reported a single reject, with only routine maintenance and zero downtime due to machine problems. This is truly a win-win scenario for the machine tool builder and us alike.”

At the heart of the Rattunde system, according to Richard Stadler, company president, is the computer numerical control (CNC) system used by this builder. It consists of a Sinumerik 840D CNC, Simatic S7 PLC with various analog and Profibus modules, plus numerous Simotics servomotors, motor protection devices, circuit breakers and other components supplied by Siemens.

Machine performs all servo-controlled saw cut-to-length, washdown, brush deburring and packing operations on a single line, controlled by Siemens CNC and HMI.

At Cosmos, this Rattunde system is used to process mill-length tubes to customer-specified dimensions, using a fully NC-controlled cold saw. Cut-to-length parts are then automatically measured for dimensional accuracy and brush deburred. Production of these parts runs up to 11,000 units per hour, according to Cosmos’ Mike Jemilo. Because of the overall improvements in automation, speed and parts handling, plus the precision of the Sinumerik CNC system, Cosmos is further experiencing significant reductions in parts handling, secondary operations and final assembly.

The primary products being produced on this equipment at Cosmos include mountings, connectors and sections for muffler tubes in dozens of lengths, typically in 3/8-inch, 7/16-inch, 12 millimeter and 1/2-inch sizes. Products are routinely run in mild steel, aluminized steel and stainless steel on the same Rattunde system, with offline pre-programming done by the Cosmos engineering team. The final products are sold by Cosmos to leading manufacturers of chain saws, leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small engine-powered equipment.

All machine functions and 13 axes of movement are affected by the Siemens CNC, which also provides remote monitoring capability for the builder Rattunde.

Jemilo concluded by citing the Rattunde service advantages. “From the initial contacts with their application engineering, through the build process, commissioning and on-site training, we’ve been extremely impressed with their work — very professional and responsive. Our previous system had nowhere near the production of the Rattunde solution and we are already working with this supplier on our next system.”

From the machine tool builder’s perspective, the same relationship is echoed about Siemens. Alec Banish, vice-president at Rattunde, commented, “We were asking Siemens to do some fairly complex operations in motion control, including 13 total axes with an articulating gearbox, plus the conveyor and part articulations, spindles and servomotors.” He further noted the scalloped motion of the ID/OD brushing with disc transfers all presented unique motion challenges for the control hardware and software alike. “The Siemens servo technology automated our entire process in a totally controlled, high-precision manner, allowing customers such as Cosmos to process a wide variety of materials, dimensions, shapes and lengths with easy-to-manage presets.” Banish concluded by saying, “The Siemens support is greatly enhanced by the remote monitoring capability of the Sinumerik CNC. About 70 percent of our issues are resolved remotely, working between us and Siemens or directly with the customer’s plant personnel.”

Prior to the implementation of the Rattunde system, all the piece part work done at Cosmos required two or three saws, with the attendant fixturing, parts handling, logistics and labor costs. These bottlenecks in production were eliminated by the fully automated and single operation processing of the tubes provided by the Rattunde system. Four tubes are processed per cycle, with servo control of the entire bundle, as it moves through the saw, brush and loading zones on this fully integrated machine line.

Rattunde builds various production systems for tube and bar product manufacturers.

From a factory utilization perspective, the prior system at Cosmos ran in three shifts for six days, each week. Today, with the Rattunde system on the floor, occupying a far smaller footprint, one shift per day working just five days produces the same output with far superior quality and virtually no rework, according to company sources.

Rattunde President Richard Stadler further comments on the power of the Siemens CNC and related motion control products. “We’re using all ten channels and pushing the axis capability to some extreme limits, but have seen absolutely no problems in signal degradation or processing speeds.” Stadler also observed the Sinumerik CNC program storage capabilities were quite impressive. “All the operator needs to do is provide a size range indication onscreen and all the relevant programs appear for easy selection. Repeatability is obviously critical for our customer, who often process dozens of shapes and sizes per shift.”

He recalled meeting the Cosmos team at FABTECH in 2009. “They approached us with their scenario and it was right in our wheelhouse. We did some test cuts and time/motion studies for them and the results were quite impressive, both to them and to us,” Stadler muses.

Rattunde operates facilities in Grand Rapids, Michigan as well as a service center in Burlington, Ontario to better serve their North American customer base.

Rattunde markets its tube and bar production systems to makers of precision parts. Currently selling 60 percent automotive, the company’s systems produce airbag canisters, cam shaft cylinders, steering components, rack mounts, driveshafts, frame components, seating parts, headrests, shock absorber parts, door impact devices, luggage racks and a variety of axles. In addition to the cut-off and brush deburring system detailed here, the company also supplies production systems to perform various types of secondary machining operations, including threading, facing, chamfering and ID turning.

For further information on this story, please contact:

RATTUNDE CORPORATION
4980 Kendrick St. SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
Phone: 616-940-3340
Web: www.rattunde-corp.com
Email: r.stadler@rattunde-corp.com
Attention: Richard Stadler, president or Alec Banish, vice-president

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EMAG Uses The Same CNC and Remote Monitoring On Various Machine Tools Sold to Major Agriculture Equipment Builder

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, BernardandCompany, CNC, emag, Industrial PR, Industrial press release, Machinery, remote monitoring, Siemens, Siemens Industry, Siemens Machine Tool Systems, Sinumerik 840D, Tim Daro No Comments

Siemens Sinumerik 840D is the control of choice on turning, grinding and turn/grind models, resulting in substantial savings for its customer and EMAG

VL Series vertical turning machine from EMAG, with short loading and cycle time

EMAG L.L.C. is the U.S. subsidiary of a major German machine tool builder who specializes in machine tools for the production of automotive, off-highway, agricultural and oil field components. The company’s equipment ranges from basic prismatic part turning centers to large workpiece, five-axis machining centers, gear hobbing machines and alternative cutting equipment such as lasers and electro-chemical machining centers. This wide variety of machine tools requires an assortment of control technologies to power and manage the motion. For one recent customer requirement, where a major agricultural equipment builder in Iowa needed grinding, turning and turn-grind machines, EMAG looked to its longtime partner Siemens for a standardized CNC solution.

CEO Peter Loetzner put it simply, “We needed to devise a control solution that would satisfy all the needs of the various machines we were supplying to this demanding customer, based on a common platform, to enable easier design, integration, start-up, commissioning on-site and training for our customer’s operations and maintenance personnel.” After reviewing the entire line of CNC offerings from various suppliers, the decision was made to use the Siemens Sinumerik 840D CNC for all of the grinding, turning and turn-grind machines to be supplied. Collaboration was a key element in the decision-making process, as Loetzner explains.

“The control we selected offered great flexibility in application, which was very important to us and our customer. They were seeking a scenario that would allow considerable cross-training of their operators, who might run a turning center one day, then a grinding or turn-grind center the next.” Loetzner further noted the control chosen offered his machine designers and the customer’s production management team an enhanced remote monitoring feature, so changes could be made on the fly with very little downtime. As a result, over 20 machines of various sizes and styles can be monitored over a wireless network, enabling process engineers to see what the operator sees on each machine.

Furthermore, owing to the global capabilities of Siemens, Loetzner commented on the control’s ability to function

Universal VLC machine does turning, milling, grinding and drilling

in U.S., German and even Asian factories with seamless data integration. Regardless of the machine tool’s location, EMAG and its customer are able to monitor the performance of any particular machine and even report comparative production data from one continent to another. Because it sells into every industrialized nation, EMAG “…works with its customers on every aspect of a job, from the order process to tooling usage, materials handling strategies to predictive maintenance. The cultural differences are substantial sometimes and the control must be programmed to adapt to such variations. We have been most satisfied with the help Siemens has provided to us, worldwide, in this area.”

Those differences, he continued, must nonetheless be based on a common technology to streamline the integration of the CNC on the machines under construction.

Loetzner cited specifics from the project referenced in this story. “We were looking at a fairly diverse group of machines being supplied to the customer. Frankly, many of their operators were more comfortable with a CNC that is very popular in the American job shop community. However, we were able to demonstrate the immediate advantages of the Siemens control to them and they accepted our recommendations.” This value proposition, he said, hinged on the greater capability of the Sinumerik 840D to run different machine types, which translated into considerable savings on the training and commissioning side of the equation. Coupled with the remote monitoring and programming aspects of the Siemens control solution, the customer was convinced.

Production VSC from EMAG is a vertical pick-up turning center capable of milling, turning, grinding, drilling, even gear profiling and honing.

More than 75 percent of the EMAG machines at this particular customer are equipped with robotic devices, enabling a lights-out manufacturing scenario, another instance where the Siemens remote monitoring via Ethernet feature benefits both the machine tool builder and its customer alike. Loetzner explains, “Remote monitoring of the machine tools can be done directly through the Sinumerik CNC in a one-to-one exchange between our customer and us. Alternatively, we can communicate with Siemens and our customer in a three-way exchange of machine data and cycle information, all protected through a firewall for security and customer peace-of-mind. That’s important with all our major OEMs, of course.” Loetzner cited one customer in the agricultural machine building market, who’s used the remote monitoring capability of the Sinumerik CNC on a wide variety of EMAG machines for over three years currently, with all data communicated through a single information network, accessible by both EMAG and the control supplier. Significant reductions in downtime, service calls and troubleshooting identification time have been achieved, translating into documented savings for everyone.

Shaft machining is done on a VTC, with full 4-axis machining plus loading and unloading, all controlled by a Siemens CNC.

As a further advantage to the machine tool builder, the space reduction of more than 20 percent in the control, compared to competitive brands, meant a smaller footprint for the machine, further improving the workspace productivity of the EMAG machines for their customer. Especially in brownfield applications, where a limited space is being utilized to maximize production for an OEM, this physical space-savings combines with other advantages of the Siemens control, according to Peter Loetzner. These include reduced wiring and lower power consumption with the attendant lower operating temperatures, due to reduced ambient heat.

At this particular customer, the EMAG machines are used to produce gears, gear blanks, shafts and splines for

powertrain applications. Gear hobbing and synchronous support grinding are among the advanced machining technologies performed here. Heavy, hardened steels are the most often worked substrates.

The specific control used on these machines is the Siemens Sinumerik 840D solution line, a distributed, scalable and open control for up to 31 axes of motion, incorporating the CNC, HMI, PLC, closed loop control and communications functions into a single NC unit. Sinumerik Safety Integrated further provides a comprehensive, yet efficiently packaged suite of personnel and machine protection functions, fully compliant with internationally-accepted standards.

Commenting on the competing brands of CNC often found in job shops worldwide, Loetzner noted that the Siemens communication architecture easily accepts input from such devices, owing to its ability to capture, standardize and transmit all data in a seamless manner through its legacy tracking. “This service is another example of a forward-thinking supplier, such as Siemens, responding to brownfield conditions in the marketplace,” he noted.

Siemens Sinumerik 840D solution line CNC, shown with Sinamics drive package

EMAG machines are used by the majority of American companies for the production of such products in the Agriculture, Earthmoving, Motorcycle and Automotive and subsequent leading TIER1 suppliers. The machine builder has had a presence in the American market for over 20 years and, according to Peter Loetzner, “…we’ve received great support from Siemens, both in Germany and in the United States, for on-site service, application engineering, parts distribution, remote monitoring implementation and communications between our customers and us.”

For more information on this story, please contact:

EMAG L.L.C.
Peter Loetzner
CEO
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Phone: 248-477-7440
Fax: 248-477-7784
Web: www.emag.com
Email: info@emag.com

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Siemens Introduces New Simotion D Motion Controllers That Enhance User Productivity

By Bernard and Company Tags: Ad agencies, Industrial, Industrial PR, Machinery, Motion controllers, Siemens, Siemens General Motion Control, Siemens Industry, Simotion D, Simotion D445-2, Tim Daro No Comments

ATLANTA, Sept. 26, 2011 — Siemens Industry, Inc. announced today the extension of the upper performance range of its popular Simotion D motion controllers. The new generation of Simotion D445-2 multi-axis controllers has new features such as onboard Profinet interfaces, high-speed I/O, and with three times the performance, a single controller can support up to 128 axes of motion.

Simotion D motion control systems are the ideal solution for production machines covering all levels of performance — from simple single-axis positioning tasks to complex synchronous applications — with extremely short cycle times on a large numbers of axes. Thanks to its scalability, Simotion D offers users a high degree of flexibility for the ever-changing demands on machine automation. The Simotion D drive-based multi-axis control system not only offers PLC, motion control and advanced technology functions, but also an integrated drive control based upon Siemens Sinamics S120 drives.

Today, with the new Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN versions, the performance range has been extended even higher. Compared to the previous generation, the maximum quantity has been doubled to 128 axes and the memory capacity significantly expanded. This has increased the PLC and motion control performance by a factor of three. With Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN, the previously optional Profinet I/O interface has now been integrated on the modules as standard. This frees up the option slot for other expansion cards. The onboard interface is equipped with an integrated three-port switch and facilitates different network topologies such as line, star or tree structures, without the need for additional external switches. The interface not only supports real-time (RT), but also isochronous real-time (IRT) data exchange and can be operated as a controller and / or device of another controller.

In addition to the Profinet interface, Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN also have two Profibus and two Ethernet interfaces, as well as 28 digital I/Os, of which 16 can be used for technology tasks such as output cams and measuring inputs with micro-second resolution.

For more information about motion control solutions and services from Siemens, point your web browser to www.usa.siemens.com/motioncontrol. Join the community by following us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/siemens.dt.us and talking to us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemens_dt_us.

The new Simotion D motion controllers for production machines cover all levels of performance, from simple positioning tasks to demanding applications with extremely short cycle times or large numbers of axes, up to 128.

Please forward all inquiries to: Siemens Industry, Inc. Motion Control Business 390 Kent Avenue Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 Attn: Marketing Communications

For specific product information and inquiries, call (800) 879-8079 ext. Marketing Communications
or send an e-mail to: SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com

Siemens Industry

Siemens Industry, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Siemens’ global Industry Sector business—the world’s leading supplier of production, transportation and building technology solutions. The company’s integrated hardware and software technologies enable comprehensive industry-specific solutions for industrial and infrastructure providers to increase their productivity, sustainability and profitability. The Industry Sector includes six divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and Osram Sylvania. With nearly 204,000 Siemens Industry Sector employees worldwide, the Industry Sector posted a worldwide profit of $4.7 billion on revenues of $47.3 billion in fiscal 2010. www.usa.siemens.com/industry

Drive Technologies

A division of Siemens Industry, Inc., the Drive Technologies Division is the world’s leading supplier of electrical and mechanical products, applications and solutions that cover the entire drive train. Drive Technologies is the global leader in energy-efficient motors and drives, as well as products and services for production machinery and machine tools. Technologies include standard products, industry-specific control and drive solutions, as well as mechatronics support and online services for web-based fault management and preventive maintenance. Drive Technologies provides its customers with energy-efficiency, productivity and reliability in industries as diverse as clean and renewable energy, transportation, oil and gas, utilities, metals and mining, machinery manufacturing and machine tools. With nearly 36,000 employees worldwide, the Drive Technologies Division posted worldwide revenues of $9.5 billion in fiscal year 2010. www.usa.siemens.com/drives

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