Aiming high to combine efficient tool production

AIMS (ANCA Integrated Manufacturing System) uses a combination of robotics, automated guided vehicles (AGV) and advanced software to add high levels of automation to the tool grinding factory floor.

In a global webinar, the Melbourne, Australia headquartered company demonstrated the system to potential customers and press.

“The purpose of AIMS is to integrate and connect all the different elements of the tool production system,” explains Duncan Thompson ANCA product manager. “In particular it can reduce machine idle time therefore gaining more production time. It also automates a lot of tasks that before now would have been done by operators. By automating these simple tasks, it means operators are free to carry out better value-added activities and this ultimately also reduces production costs.”

There are five elements or modules that make up the AIMS system. For manual handling ANCA has created AutoFetch which employs an autonomous mobile vehicle (AMR) mounted with a small industrial robot.

The AMR can navigate a factory floor without any guided pathway or track. Instead the unit maps out the factory and learns the routes to and from various production stations. It can also react to, and avoid, any non-permanent obstacles such as human operators it encounters as it makes its way between grinding machines, quality control/metrology processes and set-up stations.

The robot performs routine tasks such as loading and unloading of pallets or single tools to keep machines running – also enabling lights out operation. It works in tandem with AIMS AutoLine which is a system installed on an ANCA grinder that allows smooth loading of tools and tool pallets by the industrial robot into the processing area of the tool grinding/cutting machine.

“The key function of AutoFetch is pallet tending throughout the production cell,” says Sam Kirkpatrick, systems engineering technical manager at ANCA. “That means taking pallets of blanks and tending them to grinding machines as well as picking up pallets of completed cutting tools and moving them throughout the cell. In addition to that it has the capability to take a single tool from the grinding machine to a measurement and compensation station.”

Scaling-up

An advantage of a modern robotic system is that it can easily be added to if more production capability is required. This is all part of the modular approach ANCA has used when designing AIMS.

“It is easily scalable. Hardware such as gantry robots with an array of supporting equipment are much harder to upscale. With AMRs it’s quite straightforward. Another benefit is that it eliminates the possibility of human error when moving and loading tool blanks and pallets,” Mr Thompson says.

The AIMS system relies on radio frequency identification (RFID) tags embedded in the tool pallets to help monitor batch loads as they are transported from production station to production station. These tags also mean data linked to that batch such as grinding or measurement programmes is transmitted between machinery and elements of the production process such as manufacturing software, ERP or MES.

Another element to AIMS is AutoComp which ensures quality is maintained throughout production. In ANCA’s demonstration the AutoFetch robot transferred a single tool to a measuring machine (in this instance a Zoller genius 3 universal cutting tool inspection machine) to undergo a full inspection cycle.

The measurement results are then used to determine any compensation data that needs to be applied to the grinding programme before the tool is returned to its production batch. This system can either be used at the start of a production run or as part of a quality process systematically inspecting tools during a batch run.

Getting set

The next element of AIMS is the AutoSet station. This is the starting point of the tool production sequence using ANCA’s new system. It is the hub for tool pallet preparation and management; connecting factory IT systems and allowing operators to set pallets with tool blanks and the correct job data to ensure the right process is applied to tool blanks as they progress through the production cell.

It works via an operator scanning a barcode – probably a job card produced by a company’s ERP system or similar. That data, such as the size of the batch run, the grinding programme and the measurement and inspection processes required, is then transferred to the RFID chip in the pallet. That pallet can then be put in a mechanised queue ready for the AutoFetch robot to collect it.

“It’s at this point that the RFID chip gets the information about the production process that is going to be used for that pallet load of tools,” Mr Thompson comments. “Additionally, at the AutoSet workstation the operator has full visibility on screen of the entire production cell, so they can check on the different status of any of the machines in the cell and the progress of tools being manufactured.”

The final, and perhaps most important module of the whole AIMS concept is the AimsServer. This is really the intelligence behind the whole system. The server manages dataflows between the working elements of the AIMS, platforms like ERP and MES, as well as executing production tasks.

Furthermore, additional software modules are offered to manage machine programs, remotely display real-time machine activity and continuously gather production data to be shared via an open platform communication (OPC) compatible system.

Mr Kirkpatrick continues: “The server is what coordinates AutoFetch from all the parts and stations of your AIMS cell. It’s also what coordinates measuring results from AutoComp to your individual grinding machines.

“It handles all the data communications from the physical elements within the system collecting data via the RFID chips to track every pallet or tool in the system. It can provide detailed batch reports and live production data. It’s really the driver behind the integration of the whole AIMS process.”

Although developed before the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic has reinforced the benefits this level of automation can bring to a production environment. With workplaces now operating with socially distanced protocols, reducing the number of people on the shopfloor has obvious benefits.

ANCA says it has seen a rise in enquiries from customers about the system since the pandemic started, although many of the endemic problems found in manufacturing it is aimed to mitigate such as skills shortages, labour sourcing problems and reducing human error are the main reason for developing the system.

ANCA is also keen to promote the system’s modular structure, meaning customers can adopt as much or as little of the system that benefits them as required.

“You may choose not to have the AutoFetch module. You might just want to gain the advantages of having offline configuration of your pallets” Mr Kirkpatrick affirms. “You would still have the AutoSet module, with the tracking used with the RFID tag linked to your ERP system and still tend your machines manually.

“It still eliminates areas of human error by getting automatic programme recall on your machines and also takes away downtime involved in coming up with a new schedule or inputting data and setting up the machines.”

Broader connectivity

As well as linking to ANCA machines both up and down the tool production process, the company says it has designed the AIMS system so it can link to other machines and processes on a company’s shopfloor.

“The whole purpose of AIMS is to offer a solution that improves connectivity within a customer’s production environment,” Mr Thompson comments. “If we want AIMS to work in many of our customer’s sites, it is probable they will have other machines aside from ANCA’s, whether that’s other grinders or other machines upstream and downstream of the tool cutting process. The intent with AIMS is that it will be able to interface with other machines, so as we develop the AimsServer it will have a standardised interface that can be connected in some way to other machinery.”

Mr Thompson asserts that AIMS is part of a strategy by ANCA to broaden its offer away from just cutting tool processing machines. Ultimately using the company’s development expertise to offer an overarching integrated system for more efficient low manned or lights-out production.

“AIMS gives tangible benefits to your production cell. You will see better quality coming off your production line and that is down to reducing manual handling of the tool product itself as well as the data used in production, in terms of transferring data back and forth between various machines and processes. All in a way that can be adapted to grow with your factory environment,” he concludes.

ANCA https://machines.anca.com