Learning to make smarter

At the end of March, the manufacturing industry gathered in Brussels Expo over an area of 15,000 m². During Machineering, design and manufacturing in Belgium of tomorrow were mapped out. Not only the latest production technology, 3D printing and reverse engineering were discussed, the more than 5,000 visitors and more than 1,000 technology students were shown the way in the smart, automated and connected manufacturing company of the future. This was the signal for Metaalvak to ask some exhibitors about the ins and outs of the metal industry of today and tomorrow.

It was only the first time Machineering had operated under this banner. Organizer Invent Media brought machines and engineering together to show that making is more than ever a clever interplay of factors. With the attendance of 5,478 professional visitors and 1,218 technology students, Machineering proved to be highly relevant in a country that only has a potential of barely 7,000 manufacturing companies and machine builders. This is thanks to the 151 exhibitors who helped create the ten technology routes. Machineering will henceforth become a biennial technology event for manufacturing and engineering teams from the manufacturing, mechanical engineering and industrial supply industries. The next edition will take place in March 2021. But the market does not have to wait that long. On February 5 and 6, 2020, the Prototyping and Machineering Network Event trade fair combo is scheduled to take place in Kortrijk Xpo. Prototyping-MNE will be the New Year's event for everyone professionally involved in designing, engineering, transforming and assembling industrial components.

Digitizing is the new automation

But back to 2019 now. That the path to automation is increasingly going hand in hand with digitization was an undeniable trend in the IPOs. Ronny Maes of Siemens showed what that could mean for metalworkers. "Industrial software is gradually becoming commonplace for designing products, generating offline programs and even performing simulations to check manufacturability in advance. But visitors' eyes opened a bit more when they saw what information we can extract from running production machines via the MindSphere operating system and how we can visualize it to oversee production at a glance. That's where the opportunities lie to identify bottlenecks and optimize production in the short and long term." Administrative processes also benefit from digitization. Therefore, with its own roots in the manufacturing industry, Trivest Software Group could not miss out. Sara Claeys and Wouter Fonteyn see that the threshold for investing in ERP software is becoming lower after all. "On the one hand, with Ridder iQ Slim, we ourselves have developed a slimmed-down package for companies with fewer than twenty employees. On the other hand, you see that the need to avoid mistakes, to have efficient inventory management, to not lose time flipping through folders is growing. Making tomorrow requires equally streamlined and efficient operations, and that's what an ERP package stands for."

No time to lose

Less usual suspects, such as machine manufacturers, are also investing heavily in software today. Bystronic is a good example of this. Belgian representative Peter Buggenhout sees that software has become crucial in optimizing processes. "No matter which branch of the manufacturing industry you are in, everyone has to contend with decreasing series sizes and a greater variety of products. The less time you spend switching between series and the associated set-up times, the more profit you can count out. That's what we bet on. If the software itself can largely generate its sorting program instead of having to program each piece into the nesting, you win big." That flexibility is also key in product development at Schunk. Denis Lebeau explains, "Customers don't want to spend time on set-up for a new production batch.

What used to take minutes can now be done in seconds with our quick-change clamping systems. That's where the real profit lies. How do we know that? In our own production we deal with exactly the same requirements as metalworkers. Our R&D therefore knows perfectly well what will be needed in the coming years. But in any new development, safety will remain paramount anyway. What has to be clamped, will be clamped. On that front, we will never compromise." Safety has also become an important issue at Hoffmann Group. "Two years ago we started building a collection of personal protective equipment," Kristof Dierckx points out. "On the shop floor, unfortunately not every risk can be eliminated. Personal protective equipment helps contain or even eliminate those risks and has thus become indispensable. But safe does not have to be synonymous with obstructive. Ergonomics and comfort are today crucial elements in the development of new products."

Towards more five-axle machines and automation on the shop floor

In machining, developments are moving more and more towards five-axis machining. Richard Hermans of Promas also sees this: "The more operations can be done in one and the same fixture, the less time is lost and the less chance of errors. Of course, plenty of three-axis machines will still be sold in the coming years, which also has to do with the difference in price tag, but the extra possibilities given by a five-axis machine allows metalworkers to push their boundaries. That's a brand like Hedelius all over with its focus on stability, accuracy and efficiency." Yamazaki Mazak is also noticing this trend. Jean-Pierre Opdebeeck adds that automation has also become a permanent component in most projects. "There will always be stand-alone machines, but even small SMEs are now seeing the benefits of how they can add eight hours in a day for a relatively low investment. That's the power of automation. As Mazak, we try to tailor it to everyone's needs and budget." Whoever says automation says robots, and whoever says robots quickly came to the striking FANUC yellow at Machineering. There it was mainly the cobots that stole the show. Annelies Vanderhulst: "Cobot technology continues its advance. The signal for FANUC to work on the widest range of cobots on the market. At Machineering, the latest addition was presented: CR15. It has a lifting load of 15 kg and a reach of 1,441 mm."

Improve blast quality

Last but not least, sheet metal working was of course also represented at the fair. Here, too, automation and robotization set the tone. Kurt Decroix of Amada. "Bending is an operation that is somewhat more difficult to automate. Yet this year a remarkable number of companies have taken the step to robotic bending with the investment in a bending cell. It shows that if Western Europe is to remain competitive in the coming years, this is clearly the way to go. Laser cutting is already further along in that regard. Developments there have mainly to do with optimizing the cutting quality of the fiber laser source. The new Ensis that we are officially presenting in Belgium later this year has taken another huge leap in that regard." Same story at VAC Machines where Luc Declerck guides us past the booth. "This year we may not present any major revolutions, but they are all interesting and relevant features that improve quality, productivity, efficiency and ergonomics. To give two examples, with the BrightLine nozzle, the cut will be a little wider and we will be able to cut thicker materials nicer. And the TruBend 7036 that was on the booth has all the possible tools to quickly develop bending programs, work safely and ergonomically and quickly set tools.

Service as a distinguishing criterion

The last word is for Toni Marques of Promatt who has a high-quality product with Behringer's sawing machines. Yet he would also like to highlight the people behind the machine. "Production downtime is out of the question in any production environment. So kudos to our service organization, which is always committed to answering customers' technical questions as quickly and as well as possible. Service will increasingly become a distinguishing criterion in negotiations. Thanks to the experience and enthusiasm of our technical team, we as Promatt are certainly armed for this."