Optimising cutting plans online, coding parts across processes and monitoring production remotely from anywhere—these sound like a futuristic world, but in fact this is becoming increasingly possible with the advancement in technology in recent years. Networked production, as it is called, is the future of technology and it offers new opportunities for managing manufacturing processes digitally and making them even more efficient.

The Smart Factory concept involves a manufacturing plant that is flexible enough to cover a wide range of ever-changing product variations as cost-effectively as with mass production. Networked production meets the needs of this concept.

This results in a manufacturing process where machines and parts communicate in real time. As networked production increases, so does the user’s need to grasp and make good use of the resulting flood of data in order to monitor processes seamlessly from anywhere and make them even more efficient. It has hence important that manufacturers and industry professionals look for innovative solutions that can help them and their customers get closer to the vision of the Smart Factory.

Optimised Cutting Plans

One such way could be to optimise cutting plans. There are many products and programmes available today that can help manufacturers do just this, and minimise material waste. The ByOptimiser is one such example.

It is an online service that automatically creates optimised cutting plans, making lengthy programming and manual positioning of cutting parts on sheet metal redundant. Based on a revolutionary cluster technology that groups cut parts on the sheet as closely as possible, the service minimises any gaps between the parts to be cut and avoids material waste. The closely lying parts are then cut from the sheet using shorter cutting movements.

Products such as this should contain a bundle of expertise in taking all relevant factors into account: Are the cut parts ideally arranged on the sheet? Are the cutting paths and speed of the laser properly configured to eliminate all risk? Can unwanted heat in the material from the laser be reduced? How many punctures per contour are needed? Are micro joints required in order to hold cut parts in place on the residual sheet?

These questions should be addressed with such a product, thereby encompassing a wide range of parameters to provide all the necessary comprehensive information on ideal cutting processes and material behaviour.

Identified Cut And Bent Parts

Identifying parts to be cut and bent can also allow more efficient manufacture processing. This, known as Part ID, marks laser-cut parts with a unique identification code so users can track them easily throughout later processes such as bending.

There are existing software to date that can generate and laser these ID codes onto parts, which then when integrated with press brakes, will be recognised by a scanner so the desired bending program can be loaded immediately and without the need for manual assistance.

With the advantage of software like these, coded parts are clearly identifiable in even complex machining processes and can be processed without errors.

Mobile Remote Monitoring

Location-independent accessibility of manufacturing processes is becoming increasingly important for sheet metal processing companies. For many users, the need for integrated monitoring functions is growing.

As such, it would be ideal to have a camera-based remote monitoring system for all production processes on laser and waterjet cutting systems, especially since production facilities can sometimes be large and require men on the ground, but this system would eliminate the need for additional manpower.

With some monitoring systems, they are compatible with other types of sheet processing machines such as press brakes. These then let users conveniently keep track of all on-going production processes in the factory through their web-enabled devices such as notebooks, tablets and smartphones at all times. Orders can be calculated reliably and efficiently thanks to reduced unscheduled downtimes and fewer deviations from planned job time per part.

Data Collection

With smarter factories, it would also boost a production facility’s efficiency if data could be collected and used for monitoring. One way this can be done is through an interface, such as an OPC interface which is installed on the machine interface and collects information about the production process in laser and waterjet cutting systems.

The user can then forward this information to his or her own mobile devices for production monitoring purposes, or through the OPC interface, users can increase the level of automation and efficiency of their cutting machines significantly and conveniently.

Any orders made whilst not on the factory ground can be calculated reliably and efficiently from the linked mobile devices, and with the planned production capacity, machine downtimes and deviations can also be reduced and minimised respectively.

Planning And Monitoring Sheet Metal Processing

Besides collecting machine data, it is also possible to plan and monitor sheet metal processing with innovations in the market. One example is through the plant manager, a module within the BySoft 7 programme that ensures maximum transparency in sheet metal processing. With the Plant Manager, users can plan and monitor all laser and waterjet cutting processes.

It also provides all relevant machine and production data. This software module lets users deliver on time and on favourable terms, whether the job involves extensive series production with recurrent parts or flexible job order production with fluctuating batch sizes and highly variable parts.