For Industry 4.0, the company offers its ‘bottom up’ vision that starts at the machine, from the machining processes, through digital workflows to integral networked digital factories. "One project after the other – and from one success to the next," the company affirms.
This DMG Mori (https://is.gd/equmos) ‘Path of Digitisation: Step-by-step from the vision to reality’ has been declared as the overall guiding principal for itself and its customers. And from January 2018, customers have been able to experience ‘Digital Factories’ through live demonstrations in DMG Mori showrooms that highlight the benefits. A ‘digital tool box’ has been created, based on current innovations and future initiatives, that will enable smaller businesses to take advantage of "a simple and harmonious entry point into digitalisation", as well as serve larger companies as an integrated and modular system.
The company’s CELOS CNC interface/app platform is key in its Industry 4.0 quest (https://is.gd/eyudew) and the company said that from spring this year, the focus will be on integrated digital workflows with the launch of CELOS Version 5.0. Three elements were highlighted within its CELOS Manufacturing framework in relation to getting workflows under control: Production Planning (offering enhanced planning and scheduling of production orders); Digital Tooling (three CELOS apps for complete digital tool management throughout the entire production process); and Digital Monitoring (the complete production process at a glance).
CELOS V5 will cover everything from planning through production planning, right up to monitoring. So, the Digital Planning app enables companies to efficiently organise job orders, and Production Planning app connects ERP systems, digital production planning and terminal-controlled factory production. Says Dr Holger Rudzio, managing director, DMG Mori Software Solutions: "In combination with production planning, the consistent integration enables continuous process optimisation." This is achieved via reduced set-up and idle times, and increased productivity in the long term. The increased digital transparency should ensure increased planning reliability, he added.
Within the Digital Tooling workflow package (Tool Agent, Tool Analyzer, Tool Handling), all of the tool information necessary for the production process can be managed centrally, with tool data accessed by various systems at the same time. All process-related data is stored in a central tool management system, making the history of a tool transparent and fully traceable.
The Digital Monitoring package visualises all important information in the digital factory for more transparency during production. The CELOS Condition Analyzer app offers recording, saving, analysis and visualisation of machine sensor data. The app then makes it possible to analyse one or several machines, e.g. for early detection of machine problems. Performance Monitor visualises current machine availability and efficiency. This offers transparency and monitoring options for basic production parameters or so-called key performance indicators (KPIs). Digital Monitoring also includes CELOS Cockpit, which serves as the interface between all machines, with all information relevant, from both DMG Mori and non-DMG Mori machines, brought together. Users can gain an overview of the status of the shopfloor and, with the corresponding digital workflows from DMG Mori, get information on orders and faults (including bottlenecks, waiting times, causes and remaining run-time periods). And the Messenger app informs designated users of any downtime directly.
CELOS V5 ROLL-OUT
With CELOS Version 5.0, all DMG Mori machines with Siemens, Heidenhain and MAPPS controls (with the exception of the SLIMline machines) will be available with CELOS Version 5.0 from April 2018. Existing machines with older CELOS versions can be updated to the latest software. The update is performed using an ‘update stick’ and is carried out by DMG Mori Service. Every customer is provided with basic training on the new features.
DMG Mori is also a key player in the ADAMOS initiative (https://en.adamos.com), described as an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and aimed at machine tool builders that want to benefit from cloud-hosted services, an app library and app platform to better serve their customers, but who could not create all this alone. ADAMOS GmbH and the ADAMOS App Factory Alliance started on 1 October 2017 with around 200 experts, more than 30 apps and with apps available on five digital marketplaces (see also Machinery article here https://is.gd/asuyak). ADAMOS partners include Dürr, Zeiss, ASM, Engel and Software AG. Other partners will follow.
"ADAMOS is an important component of our ‘Path of Digitization’, as we have more control of the digitalisation process and are in a position to actively shape it", stresses Rudzio on the strategic importance of the IIoT initiative. While DMG Mori independently develops a platform-based business model, ADAMOS GmbH cooperates in the delivery of the required IIoT infrastructure, on the basic software and digital products, as well as the availability of data-based services.
The core of the global ADAMOS initiative is to develop the digital future of mechanical engineering in an alliance of equals. "We want to jointly determine the rules of digital production in an interdisciplinary cooperation. This is the only way that industrial companies can avoid the risk of entering into a dependent relationship with software companies or large internet businesses," Rudzio explains.
DMG Mori’s app-based CELOS control and operating system already enables data-based processes to be completely planned and visualised in the factory, but via ADAMOS, CELOS can now be expanded into an open network and a digital marketplace for the mechanical engineering industry. Concludes Rudzio: "We can now offer our customers comprehensive digital services for our machines. We are able to digitalise the entire process chain of production and, thanks to ADAMOS, we can successfully design basic and integral processes for our customers using a 360-degree approach."
The digital world is also part of DMG Mori’s improved service push within its ‘Customer First’ initiative, which resulted from customer feedback, hailing the next phase as ‘Customer First 2.0’. Part of it is ‘Netservice 4.0’, which offers the very latest in remote service and claims an 80% solution rate ( see extended online article ‘Remote maintenance specialist acquisition’).
Netservice 4.0 takes in multi-user conferencing that brings together operators, service experts, service technicians and, if required, also experts from the DMG Mori plant. Included too is visual support through serviceCAM, a camera exclusively developed by DMG Mori for live streaming. More extensive access to CELOS, IPC, NC and NETbox (an open IIoT-Connector, even for third-party machines) offers a faster and higher solution quota, because of deeper access to the machine. And, importantly, high security standards are achieved through TÜViT-certified security safety architecture. The complete Netservice 4.0 packet is preinstalled on the CELOS NETbox.
The service challenge is large: there are more than 300,000 DMG Mori machines at work permanently around the globe, many of these for over 10 years, while the installed base is increasing at the rate of 1,000 new machines/month, the company points out. More than 3,500 service employees now work at DMG Mori, but by the end of the second quarter of 2018, around 200 additional service technicians will join the team. The company has additionally expanded internal training and advanced training activities to better support its product range and technology.
But it is the spindle that is the very heart of any machine tool and here the company stressed its commitment. It has service stocks of more than 1,000 spindles, so at least 96% of all spindles are available almost overnight and on their way to customers in the shortest possible time.
As for the remaining 4%, Dr Maurice Eschweiler of the Executive Board of Industrial Services of DMG Mori AG (the Germany-listed part of the business) says: "If a requested spindle is not in our warehouse, we repair a motor spindle within six working days. In the rare case where this is not possible, the repair itself is free of charge for our customers. The customer merely has to pay the costs for the disassembly and reassembly."
Together with the Customer First 2.0 initiative with low service costs – thanks to a best-price guarantee on spare parts – and the new flat call-out rates, full-service contracts and, especially, the further development in the area of digitalisation, Eschweiler considers service at DMG Mori to be well on its way to fulfilling the company’s own and, above all, the customers’ high expectations, without any exceptions.
Of course, while service is important, making sure a product does not require unnecessary attention is also the goal, with this aim also accommodated within an initiative, ‘First Quality’. ISO 9001 sets the foundation and the underlying manuals for quality management form the basis for continuous further development of quality management at the manufacturing plants.
A six-phase design review process, which systematically focuses on long service lives and the durability of all their products, is adopted, while prototype tests guarantee "one-hundred-percent functionality of the product right from their launch".
Checking that this has an impact in the field is via customer surveys at 15 and 90 days after the installation, as well as just prior to the end of the warranty period. Feedback from up to 30,000 direct customers per year is thus gathered.
The company points to its 36-month, unlimited hours guarantee for its MASTER spindle series as an example of its diligence in product development and quality.
BEGINNING OF EXTENDED ARTICLE
Box item 1
Remote maintenance specialist acquisition
DMG Mori AG took over WERKBLiQ GmbH and its 20-strong team located in Bielefeld in October 2017. WERKBLiQ remains an independent company and offers a multi-vendor maintenance platform that allows all those involved in a maintenance programme to remain networked. With 15 different modules, the WERKBLiQ platform is a comprehensive tool for digitalising and ensuring efficient repair and maintenance processes in the industrial sector.
In addition to mapping individual internal processes, the platform offers communication with existing business partners and those who are interested in becoming so. Today there are more than 220 users and more than 150 machines, with a total of 5,132 scheduled maintenance works on the platform.
All that is needed is a conventional tablet, an up-to-date browser and an internet connection. WERKBLiQ is already available as an app on DMG Mori machines with CELOS V5.0. This means that operators have digital central control of the maintenance process directly on their machines.
Information will never be lost, thanks to automated data transmission through the CELOS NETbox and the maintenance of relevant procedures in the machine logbook. A calendar overview of all maintenance dates, together with a reminder function and supporting checklists to work through, ensure employees are ready for the next audit at all times.
The automatic transmission of all machine details and the history function minimise queries and unnecessary service calls. Should an on-site visit be necessary, WERKBLiQ users can request a service technician directly via the platform on the machine. Questions and orders for spare parts can also be completed via the platform.
Says WERKBLiQ’s top man, Dr Tim Busse: “From the moment machine operators and DMG Mori come together as service partners on a common platform, service tasks become significantly faster and much easier to allocate, control and document. The entire management process for spare parts can be concluded efficiently and transparently.” His goal is to present the first specific solutions in time for the autumn trade fair AMB.<ends>
Box item 2
Product launches & technology development in brief
[] The DMG Mori VCS Complete Technology Cycle determines volumetric deviations in the work area and compensates, delivering increased accuracy. It is now one of 30 technology cycles offered by the company. VCS Complete is claimed as being able to offer “up to 30% more precision over a machine tool’s lifetime”.
DMG Mori AG and Heitec AG have founded a joint venture, DMG Mori Heitec, to develop automation systems. One in four new machines from DMG Mori is provided with an automation solution. In future, every machine will be fitted with modular automation systems. The product range consists of the proven PH 150 pallet handling system, the RS 3 rotary pallet magazine and the WH 3 workpiece handling system, as well as the newly developed, flexible GX gantry loader in the Vertico design. Robo2Go extends the portfolio as a mobile robotic automation system for a large number of turning machines.
The joint venture will also develop digital twins, virtual models, of its systems. With the aid of digital engineering, project lead times can be cut by around 20% and commissioning on site can be reduced by up to 80%.
DMG Mori is supplementing its wide range of standard automation systems with application-specific solutions, which can be individually tailored to customers’ needs with the aid of robots.
The automation systems and machines will be from a single source and customers will have a single point of contact for the automation solution. Within a matter of days of a customer making a request, the specialist visits the customer, creates a customer-specific solution with his team of experts and coordinates all the other steps as the customer’s single point of contact.
[] Powder-bed additive manufacturing is supported by the Lasertec 30 SLM. It has a working volume of 300 by 300 by 300 mm, can be fitted with fibre laser sources of 600 W to 1 kW, can build 3D components in layer thicknesses of 20 to 100 micron, offers minimal operating costs via its only 70 l / h argon consumption, has integrated powder recycling, offers quick powder change using replaceable powder modules and features a universal software solution with CELOS SLM that allows users to go from CAD files to process control with a single standard user interface.
CELOS SLM offers an adapted exposure strategy that is generated automatically before the start of the process. This ensures that the energy input in the part can be controlled so that exactly the needed amount of energy is put into the pulverbed. All process-relevant parameters, such as scan speed, laser power and focus diameter are incorporated in the programming. This prevents distortions and stress generation in the material so even thin horizontal and vertical walls can produced reliably.
[] The new NTX 3000 2nd Generation features a compactMASTER turn/mill spindle, a 3,000 rpm/1,194 Nm main spindle, an additional turret including Y-axis, bar diameter of 102 mm, X-axis travel of 675 mm and +/-150 mm Y-axis, all in a footprint of 16.5 m². The turn/mill spindle moves in B to deliver 5-axis machining and the company's in-house toolSTAR tool magazine with 38 stations can be expanded to up to 114 pockets. CELOS app-based control and user interface, and large, 21-in multi-touch display are other features.
[] With the launch of the CLX lathes, CMX V vertical machining centres and CMX U universal machining centres at AMB 2016, DMG Mori offers a variety of machines with an extensive range of equipment options. Adding to this now is the comprehensive range of 3D controls from Siemens, FANUC and Heidenhain, new turning centres developments and intelligent automation solutions in VERTICO design.
For the CLX series, there’s 19-in DMG Mori SLIMline multi-touch control panel and Siemens or 15-in DMG Mori SLIMline control panel and FANUC controls. For CMX models, there’s Heidenhain multi-touch in addition to Siemens and FANUC. DMG MORI Technology Cycles are available, offering even more efficient manufacturing. CLX models are available with Y-axis and counter spindle, while CMX models in three sizes have more than 200 options. Finally, comprehensive automation solutions using the GX 6 gantry loader and the PH 150 palette handling system are available.
First published in Machinery, March 2018
