The integration of appropriate manufacturing steps is easiest to do at the design stage of new production units.

Of course, when doing this it needs to be carefully weighed up between extending the machining time and the benefit of doing away with a separate machining step that would otherwise be required.
Our practical experience has shown: having as little part machining time as possible on the new manufacturing unit is not always the most optimum overall solution – even if this is understandably the goal of the system manufacturer to begin with.

For this reason, we recommend weighing up the overall approach of the relevant machining task and the different variants against each other:

• Only machining of the cutting tasks which are effectively required and relocating the required reworking to a separate process (manual or automatic using robots or a separate machine). The relevant investment costs and the manual effort (parts handling etc.) must be taken into consideration for an effective cost evaluation.
• Complete machining incl. additional operations such as deburring, part marking etc. on the manufacturing unit so that no other machining operation is required on the manufactured workpieces. Here it is a case of taking the additional investments for the relevant tools and the increase in machining time on the manufacturing unit into consideration.

A distinction can be made between the following tasks under this point:

1. Classic retrofitting of a manufacturing machine that is in production in order to relieve the operators of additional manual activities. This can take place for different reasons such as the basic increase in automation, the introduction of multiple machine operation, the reduction of noise and soiling in production etc. It may be a case of classic series part manufacturing or the machining of different series-produced components with or without an automatic workpiece changing system.
2. The conversion of a machine to the machining of a new series-produced component. In this situation, it is basically a case of weighing up the same points as under “Tool integration with turnkey systems”.

Major tool manufacturers who are commissioned by customers or machine manufacturers to deliver the entire tool package the corresponding projects for appropriate projects must also be assigned to this point.

Similarly to the above-mentioned point, the approach is to retrofit manufacturing machines already in operation with appropriate tools.

However, under the more overall approach of optimising production processes, the focus is not exclusively on the individual manufacturing machine.
It must also be noted: an economical, direct and clear amortisation calculation cannot be produced for every investment in production optimisation.

For example, the (concealed) benefit of relieving production employees by eliminating unpopular tasks in the long term can have a tremendous impact such as:

• A reduction in downtimes due to illness or accidents, caused by high-risk or activities which are latently hazardous to health
• Increasing the attractiveness of the workplace, whereby committed employees are retained so and new potential employees can be easier to acquire.

In this area, the main focus is on the deburring and reworking of series production components.

Despite mobility of the robot axes, which is often almost unlimited, the requirements for adequate machining tools considerable in some cases. Particularly when it is a case of evenly deburring or reworking parts with different dimensional or position differences (e.g. cast parts), i.e. the differences have to be compensated for automatically by the tool.

Previously, tools with compressed air-driven drive spindles were used for appropriate tasks.
The disadvantage: as well as the relatively high cost of maintenance, the energy costs are also extremely high because of the high air consumption that is required for operation.

As an alternative, we have been offering different tools with electrically operated high-frequency spindle motors for several years.
According to customer calculations, it is worth carrying out the conversion, since the somewhat higher procurement price pays for itself within just a few months because of the amount of energy.

The integration of individual, chipless part marking, such as the automated deburring of cast parts etc. in the cutting machine started with the introduction of our tool solutions in the year 2000.
In other words, it was not just about the introduction of new tools (with unfamiliar functionality) but a change to the production process.

Cooperation with innovative production planners, planning employees and relevant institutes is very important to us in connection with this.
When doing this, it is beneficial for us to be incorporated in a possible project as soon as possible.

Machining steps for which manual additional operations were originally planned have been able to be automated on several occasions in the past.