At the Fraisa location in Willich, Germany, 350,000 tools are reground every year. By applying grinding wheel data exchange between ANCA grinding machines and ZOLLER measuring machines, the company has reduced idle times by 20%.
In the production of new tools, as well as in regrinding, scrap and rework are major cost drivers. To avoid these issues, a grinding program together with valid information about grinding wheels and wheel packs can be a viable solution.
ANCA offers a standardized interface for this in the WheelEditor of ANCA's own ToolRoom grinding software, which enables 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, ANCA reported. 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.
FRAISA, a precision tool company based in Germany, 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.
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 ANCA machines on site.
"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," said Stefan Schaefers, Head of Technology at FRAISA. "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 and realized that we could save 20% in nonproductive time and reduce the rework rate by 10%."
FRAISA GmbH in Willich, Germany, is the main location for tool reconditioning at FRAISA. Around 350,000 tools are reground 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 CO2 emissions by 50%. This is possible, among other things, due to a high level of plant efficiency, which in turn is partly due to grinding wheel management.
"Our motto is 'first tool=good tool,'" said Schaefers. "This only works if we do our homework in terms of data storage, measurement, and handling. Due 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."
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. 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. We have to maximize the efficiency of our workflows, and we also have to ensure that we always have a duplicate wheel pack available when one is needed."
"That is a further important step towards the integrated manufacturing of tools," said Kluth, "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 standardization projects, such as the GDX interface or Umati.
For more information contact:
ANCA Inc.
31129 Century Drive
Wixom, MI 48393
248-926-4466
usainfo@anca.com
www.anca.com
ZOLLER Inc.
3900 Research Park Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
734-887-0479
sales@zoller-usa.com
www.zoller.info/us