Edumar Metalworking has been the pilot customer for BMO Automation's new Infinity Platform. In barely a year after the first pallet handling module was installed at the plant, a second CNC machine was connected and Edumar purchased the product handling expansion module. The Infinity Platform is a flexible automation platform that grows and moves with the machining company. Recently, the Infinity Platform was chosen as the winner of the Technishow Innovation Award.
Edumar Metalworking describes itself as a social company that does not just work for clients. The latter has a lot to do with the Philips background of both founders and owners, Eduard and Marius Wijlaars. "We advise our customers on how to make work pieces better by sharing our past experience," says Eduard Wijlaars. The first characterization -social- is a given for the two brothers from Someren. Many employees come from the Brabant village. Sixty percent of them were trained in the company. In the 29 years the two brothers have been in business, turnover is barely 15 men. "We try to do as much as possible for the community in Someren," he says. That ranges from offering internships, participating in a BBL training program where Edumar's experienced professionals teach weekly to providing lunch for employees. "We do the shopping for this at the community supermarket in Someren Eind, which is run by local residents."
Back in 2006, the two brothers bought the first robot. "For three weeks I was happy with that, then not anymore," says Eduard Wijlaars about the introduction to automatic loading of a CNC machine. The milling machine had finished the products on the twelve pallets within two hours. "I drove back from home to string up new pieces. Therefore, after those few weeks, I was no longer happy with it." Within a year, there was a robot with 30 pallet positions. And in 2012, Edumar purchased the first BMO robotic system. Today, several robot cells from BMO Automation are at Edumar. "We make the contract items on weekends and at night so they don't interfere with other orders. Our machines are always running at night and on weekends. More and more low volume, high mix. Years ago we didn't dare take on some items on such an automated machine, but now we do."
In early 2022, Edumar received a large order for milling aluminum tiles for a production hall in the semiconductor industry. It involved a lot of tiles, in a size of 600 mm plus square. That size and weight did not fit into BMO Automation's Titanium cell. The two brothers realized that automation was necessary for an order of this size. Eduard Wijlaars: "Frank Biemans promised to find a solution. However, we not only wanted to load the large tiles, but in the long run we also wanted to be able to mill smaller components unmanned in the new cell." A few months later, the supplier was a pilot customer for BMO Automation's new Infinity Platform, which was launched internationally at EMO 2023. A feature of the cell is its modular design. One can easily add additional storage modules. The height of the standardized carriers for products and even tooling such as machine clamps is adjustable. This dynamic storage is controlled with smart algorithms: in the Infinity storage modules, the height for the carriers can be adjusted every 5 cm which is done fully automatically based on the measured height during input by the operator. Thus, the storage modules dynamically adjust to the orders of that night or weekend. "We can thus even more easily make a large mix of products unmanned" summarizes Eduard Wijlaars the advantages.
Its modular design makes the Infinity platform a sustainable investment. Depending on a metal company's growth, multiple storage modules can be added. Or one starts with one variant and then expands to another. Edumar, for example, started with pallet loading only because they wanted the cell fast. The expansion to product handling has since been purchased. It is just as easy to add the next CNC machine to the platform. Initially at Edumar, the Infinity Platform was coupled with a 3-axis machining center Hedelius Forte 65. A few months after that, the 5-axis machining center Hedelius Acura 85 was added. "That's also where the need for product handling came from," explains Eduard Wijlaars. "We make a lot of products on the 5-axis." In the future, Edumar plans to expand the Inifinity cell with automatic loading by an AMR, an option that has already been prepared. Once the company starts using the new hall behind the existing building for the storage of materials and workpieces, space will be created in the production hall to start working with AMRs so that they can automate logistics even further and the CNC millers can occupy themselves with their real job.
BMO Automation controls production in the cell from its own Job Managament software. With the Tool Life Management option, the control automatically assesses, based on the consumed tool life, whether it is still sufficient for the planned production. If not, the operator is automatically alerted at setup time. The software also alerts if a specific machine clamp is missing. "As you mill smaller batches, this Tool Life Management software is more important" says Eduard Wijlaars. "People make mistakes, software doesn't. It helps prevent machine downtime. When the operators have ticked off the whole list, they can safely turn on the machines." Eduard Wijlaars still marvels at how easy the software is to operate. For him, though, this is a prerequisite. "For an operator it has to be simple. He doesn't want to program nine axes. Or programming a robot with a teach panel." In saying this, he certainly does not want to give the impression that operators are like button pushers. On the contrary: he and his brother constantly challenge their employees. They invest heavily in continuing education and training. They also all create their own programs with hyperiMill. Students at BBL level 3 are already learning to work with this CADCAM software. "If you make your own program, then you see what is wrong and learn from it. The boys are now thinking much more about how best to mill workpieces and how to set up production properly."
The Infinity Platform can easily be set up to operate more than two CNC machines. At Edumar, they deliberately leave it at two CNC machines, the Forte 65 and the Acura 85. Eduard Wijlaars thinks this is efficient enough. "Something can always go wrong at night and then four machines stand still if you make a line with four CNC machines. If you weigh the cost of the robot against that of one machine, a cell with two CNC machines is a good solution, especially soon with the AMR." Once the new hall is ready, there will be a large rack there for storage with a robot in front of it that will load the AMR to automatically feed the Infitiny cell with materials, workpieces and, soon, tools. This will make production even more flexible and, in principle, Edumar would have to keep less stock of the fast runners at repeat orders. Yet Eduard Wijlaars does not plan to do this. "In quiet weeks, we actually produce for stock. If demand picks up, you can deliver from this stock and keep more time for rush jobs. You are then more flexible."
For him, spindle efficiency is not leading, but BMO Automation's flexible automation solution does help keep spindle efficiency high. To illustrate this, he points to a specific order where the 3-axis machine is machining strips. "For this, we made a jig in which 12 strips fit. That is fixed at a position in the Infinity cell. If we have an hour to spare at night, we mill these twelve strips." With a solution like the Infinity Platform, automation is not rigid but enormously flexible. Exactly what manufacturing companies need to respond well to changing demand. "We don't motivate our employees to work harder but rather smarter. Ideally, I would like to have lazy people. Those let the machines and the robot work" laughs the Brabant-based metal entrepreneur. Lazy is definitely not his team of 40 employees when you see the constant growth of production. Smart is.