Christer Bäckdahl, chief technology officer at AP&T. Photo: AP&TAP&T, a global leader in providing complete production systems, automation equipment, presses, tools, and services for companies that produce pressed sheet metal parts, is taking a major step forward by introducing two new control systems — one for presses and one for automation and furnaces — with improved integration into its turnkey production lines.
With this advancement, AP&T says it is taking the lead in meeting tomorrow’s increasing demands for performance, safety and flexibility in the sheet metal forming industry. The previous control system, Siemens Simotion, has been in operation since 2006 and has undergone several updates to meet changing needs over the years. Now AP&T has decided to implement a completely new system with a modern and intelligently planned architecture.
Christer Bäckdahl, chief technology officer at AP&T, said: “It feels great to start fresh by laying down a new and carefully prepared basic structure before we start coding. The new systems will help our customers achieve improved performance and flexibility.”
AP&T's development of servo presses places high demands on precision throughout the forming process, while safety and responsiveness are crucial — especially for smaller presses, where the operator works in close proximity to the moving parts of the machine. To meet these requirements, the company is switching from Siemens Simotion to Beckhoff, enabling more precise control of force, speed and rev/min. Beckhoff technology means faster reaction times and improved accuracy for servo presses. Mr Bäckdahl said safety, price and performance are crucial to AP&T, so Beckhoff was the natural choice.
Advanced diagnosticsIn addition to improved control, the new system offers advanced diagnostics. The machine can identify where a breakdown occurred and why, reducing downtime and providing faster restarts. The new system is also more modular and flexible, making it easier to adapt to specific customer needs and different types of presses. AP&T has extensive experience with the Siemens platform, appreciated by many customers for its stability and performance. The company therefore chose to upgrade to Siemens Simatic TF-CPU — a solution that also optimises control in AP&T’s line integrations and complete production lines.
Development takes place through an agile working method, where the team works in sprints together with an agile coach. This has led to more reliable decisions, improved documentation, and a quality-assured end result. The result is a faster, simpler and more robust control system adapted to the needs of the future.
Both new control systems are future-proof in that they are already prepared for IoT and machine learning. It will allow for easy future integration of AI applications such as automated status monitoring, self-analysis and early anomaly detection. This will allow proactive measures to be taken well before any limit values are exceeded.
Customers who already have a machine or line from AP&T today receive regular upgrades to their control systems. However, to take advantage of the new systems, some hardware upgrades are required. For presses, this means a rebuild to integrate the new control system structure and ensure compatibility. For automation and furnaces, the upgrade primarily involves replacing CPUs, while the overall communication structure remains the same.
Mr Christer Bäckdahl concluded: “We at AP&T are committed to ensuring a seamless transition for our customers. These upgrades will put them in a better position to meet the demands of the future, with more flexible and efficient control systems.”
The new control systems are expected to be rolled out to AP&T's customers in 2026.