It is the same old story for tool manufacturers — and every day the pressure is constantly increasing — the first tool must be ‘in quality’, re-work must be avoided, and scrap must be minimised, as it is one of the main cost drivers. These rules apply to both the production of new tools and to the re-grinding process.
The best way to achieve this is with a perfect grinding programme as well as valid information about grinding wheels and wheel packs.
ANCA provides a standardised interface for this in the WheelEditor of its ToolRoom grinding software, which enables both the export of wheel information and the import of measurement results. These measurement results are the basis for all calculations that lead to a perfect tool in the first run.
It does not matter whether the wheel data is managed locally or across multiple machines using ANCA WheelServer. This interface can be used to exchange all wheel information, such as diameter, wheel radius, wheel angle, flange size and other relevant information. The interface also offers the option of exchanging only individual parameters, such as flange size or diameter, for wear control. In this case, only this data is transferred via the network and measured. The results are also provided and transferred via the network.
Pictured right: at the Fraisa location in Willich, Germany, around 350,000 tools are re-ground every yearFraisa, a precision tool company, uses the Zoller Venturion to measure its grinding wheel packages. The data is sent directly to the ANCA WheelServer, which assigns the actual data of the physical package to the virtual package and in turn provides this to the grinding machine.
Stefan Schaefers, head of technology at Fraisa, said: “The transfer of actual data from Zoller to the ANCA software is a game-changer for us. It saves us an enormous amount of time and effort.” Here, each package is measured before use, ensuring that only real data is used. Since its introduction in 2018, the system has been implemented on all Zoller devices and the 20 on-site ANCA machines.
Mr Schaefers explained: “We are talking about 10 grinding wheel packages per day that are dressed by our external partners and then measured directly by the machine operators in our company.”
The results are impressive: “Particularly with regard to machine availability, external measurement and automated data transfer have brought huge improvements. We were quite amazed ourselves when we did the first evaluations in this regard and realised that we could save 20% in non-productive time and reduce the rework rate by 10%.”
Plant efficiencyFraisa GmbH in Willich is the main location for tool reconditioning at Fraisa. Around 350,000 tools are re-ground here every year. The ReTool concept uses the latest production control and automation solutions to offer customers cost savings of up to 70% compared to new tools, while also reducing CO
2 emissions by 50%. This is possible, among other things, due to a very high level of plant efficiency, which in turn is partly due to grinding wheel management.
Mr Schaefers said: “Our motto is ‘first tool = good tool’. This only works if we do our homework in terms of data storage, measurement and handling. Thanks to the data transfer between Zoller and ANCA, we always have a ready-to-grind wheel package at hand. The error rate is practically zero due to the guaranteed repeatability and operator-independent measurement. If the wheel pack fits, the tool is as good as in the simulation after the first regrind.”
Pictured left: Stefan Schaefers, head of technology at Fraisa Steffen Kluth, product manager for digital manufacturing at ANCA, added: “The measurement on the Zoller and the data transfer to the ANCA machine can be carried out by the machine operators. These are value-adding tasks that have a significant influence on quality and thus also increase the value of daily work. In addition, data transfer eliminates the risk of typing errors.”
The ‘state of the art’ production methods and control at Fraisa are success factors for ReTool. Mr Schaefers sees this advantage and has already thought about further enhancements. “We are aware that the use of connectivity and automation must be continuously expanded. For example, we want to become even better at grinding wheel management. We have 250 different variants of grinding wheel packs in circulation. On the one hand, we have to maximise the efficiency of our workflows and, on the other, we have to ensure that we always have a duplicate wheel pack available when one is needed. That is another thing we are pushing.”
Mr Kluth concluded: “That is a further important step towards the integrated manufacturing of tools, because the data format used for the transfer is based on the widely known XML format.” This standard will also be incorporated into the future specification OPC UA for Cutting Tools, for example. Since the introduction of its own modular automation system AIMS 2022, ANCA has developed its own portfolio for digital, automated tool production further and is also contributing to various standardisation projects, such as the GDX interface or umati.