Unforeseen downtimes in serial production are always accompanied by high costs, making it essential for machines to be serviced in time. Because sensor, transmission and data storage technology have taken a big leap forward in recent years, predictive maintenance has already been realized in some industries, demonstrating a tangible benefit of Industry 4.0. The WZL and the WBA have developed a guideline for this.

Fig. 1. The guideline for the development of predictive maintenance solutions is divided into three phases: analysis, design and implementation

Guideline to the Development of Predictive Maintenance Systems for Serial Producers and Toolmaking Companies

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Instandhaltung

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Sensoren verschiedener Messverfahren

Fertigungsautomation

Sensorik / Aktorik

Fernwartung / Ferndiagnose

Machine Learning

Datenanalyse

Dienstleistungsqualität

Qualitätsmanagement

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Instandhaltungsmanagement (TPM)

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die Qualitätssicherung

Werkzeugbau

Machine Learning für die Qualitätssicherung

Symbiosis of Toolmaking and  Serial Production

The toolmaking industry of the future is facing significant changes in its range of services and its value creation processes. It is difficult to predict exactly how the collaboration of German tool manufacturers with series production will be structured in the future. However, it can be assumed that digital networking and sustainability will play a key role.

What the Two Trend Topics Mean for Collaboration between Toolmaking and Series Production

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Energieeffizienz

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Toolmaking of the Future –  Digitalized and Sustainable

Gefran’s intelligent displacement transducers are more than just position encoders. They also simultaneously record process variables such as linear acceleration, angular velocity, tilt, and sensor temperature.

In addition to position, the intelligent, multifunctional Twiist position encoders record and correlate many other process variables.

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Messtechnik

Sensortechnik

Elektronik

Beschleunigungssensoren

Positioniermessysteme für Achsbew.

Maschinenelemente

Werkzeugmaschinenkomponenten

Twiist Redefines the Function of Sensors

Whether it is the cycle time, energy consumption or process stability: the levers for greater efficiency and quality in the injection molding process are many and varied. With the new performance.boost Engel offer its customers an expertise as a service for process analysis and optimization.

With its expert knowledge, the company identifies process optimization potential and provides user support during their implementation. The results include shorter cycle times, superior part quality, greater process stability, lower energy consumption or a longer machine service life

16:9

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Lohnfertigung

Spritzgießmaschinen

Instandhaltungssoftware

Optimize Processes Efficiently with Engel performance.boost

Sesotec GmbH, Schönberg, Germany, extends its range of free-fall metal separators with the Rapid Pro-Sense 6. This system is optimized for applications in the plastics industry, especially for granulate and compound producers. Used for quality assurance it, among other things, also is suitable for applications involving abrasive material. The model features a high detection accuracy and thus provides protection against complaints caused by metal particles, and the logbook function allows full traceability. Constant high product quality is thus guaranteed. 

Sesotec Presents Rapid Pro-Sense 6 

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffhandel

New Free-Fall Metal Separator 

LyondellBasell has informed the engineering and construction contractors it will slow construction of its world-scale propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) plant.  

Limitation of Non-essential Activities due to the COVID-19 Pandemic 

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

LyondellBasell to Slow Construction on PO/TBA Project 

The European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA) is pleased to announce the addition of new data for glass fibres to its Eco Impact Calculator, the online tool which enables composites companies to calculate the environmental impact associated with the production of their products. 

Embracing Life Cycle Thinking 

Europa

EuCIA Announces Inclusion of New Glass Fibre Data in Eco Impact Calculator 

Starting immediately, ips Intelligent Pelletizing Solutions GmbH & Co. KG, Niedernberg, is also supplying systems for the production of long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT). For this, the company is delivering complete systems from a single source ¿ from planning through construction to commissioning ¿ just as for strand and underwater pelletizing systems. 

Intelligent System Concept for the Production of LFT Pellets 

Thermoplaste

Faserverarbeitung

Pultrusion

Granulieren

For Heavy-Duty Structural Components 

¿Our SCS membership is fully in line with Greiner Packaging¿s vision that sustainability and plastics go hand in hand¿, explains Konrad Wasserbauer, Director Circular Economy of Greiner Packaging. 

Aim is to Strengthen the Sustainability of Styrenic Products 

Polystyrol

Verpackungsmaterial

Greiner Packaging Joins Styrenics Circular Solutions  

LyondellBasell's donation will support food banks in 17 countries and communities where the company has major operations.  

Donation of $1.3 Million to Combat Hunger During COVID-19 Pandemic 

LyondellBasell Supports Global FoodBanking Network 

Engel Austria GmbH, Schwertberg, Austria, presents the next generation of the all-electric e-cap injection molding machine series for beverage caps. The production of 29/25 lightweight caps on a new e-cap 380 machine makes it clear how continuously increasing requirements can be combined with the shortest cycle times, the highest precision and lowest energy consumption. 

Engel Presents the Next Generation e-cap 

Kunststoff-Verpackungsmaschine

High Stability and Precision  

Since March 2020, Alain Zijlstra has taken the lead role in Volpak S.A.U., Santa Perpetua de Mogoda/Barcelona / Spain. 

New Chief Executive Officer 

A Change in Leadership at Volpak 

Wittmann Battenfeld USA is providing essential machinery and equipment to battle the pandemic. 

The Company has been Deemed an Essential Business by the State of Connecticut 

Automatisierungstechnik

Wittmann Battenfeld USA Open for Business During COVID-19 Crisis 

The world has a plastics problem. Every day, approximately 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into the world's oceans and plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world, from busy tourist beaches to uninhabited tropical islands. 

New IDTechEx Report for Bioplastics 

Biokunststoffe

Bioplastics Could Help Plastic Pollution 

With the Corona pandemic sweeping the world, considerable energies are being freed up and focused on developing and manufacturing urgently required medical equipment. Working under extreme time pressure, the OKE Group GmbH, based in Hörstel, Germany, has developed a concept for a full-face mask that can be quickly implemented and, according to the manufacturer, offers reliable basic protection. 

Implementing a Face Mask Concept in Record Time 

Heißkanaltechnik

Medizintechnik

Small Injection Moldings for Protection against Corona 

The Possibilities of  Cross-Company Digitalization

Way2K: Interview between VDMA and Markus Gschwandtner

In the lead-up to K 2022, the trade fair for the plastics and rubber industry in Düsseldorf, Germany, Markus Gschwandtner, CEO of Brückner Servtec GmbH, talks about the advantages of digitalization for predictive maintenance and for the circular economy.

Mr. Gschwandtner, your company has to ensure that Brückner film lines run trouble-free at customer sites. What role does digitalization play in this operation?

Digitalization is of crucial importance to us as the interface between Brückner and the customer, which is why we continuously drive forward integration and exchange of data and information. To this end, we have set up a digital service platform where the customer can access our services online. Let me give you an example: the delivery scope of a plant includes extensive documentation. Up until now, it has always consisted of many folders. If the customer wanted some information, it could take a while to find the relevant passages. On our service platform, this documentation is now available online at any time. The service technician standing in front of the machine then has easy and quick access to the necessary information via a tablet or smartphone.

Consequently, access to information is becoming easier. What other advantages are there?

The fundamental advantages are transparency and simplicity. Here is another example: we install about 30,000 parts in each machine. Many of these are labelled with a QR code, including parts from suppliers. It identifies each component from the beginning of its life with Brückner until it is used at the customer’s site. All customers need to do is scan the part they want to replace; both we and the customer then know exactly which part is concerned and when it will be available. This allows us to react much more quickly and, if necessary, to fix a problem much sooner.

Many companies hesitate when it comes to handing over data. How do you convince them?

We have to ensure that the data is truly secure. At our company, there are no leaks. We are TÜV-certified. But that assurance alone isn’t enough to convince a customer; the decisive factor is that we need to make sure the customer sees the enormous advantages. The benefits of data integration are the greatest where corporate boundaries are crossed. Over 70 percent of our customers are already on our digital platform. Basically, it’s the same principle as a smartphone: you see what’s possible with it, and soon after, you find you can’t do without it.

What is the next big digitalization topic?

The big digital project of the future is predictive maintenance. When one of our production lines comes to a standstill, the customer loses around 10,000 euros on average in revenue, and that figure is per hour. It is therefore important to keep these stoppages as brief as possible, but in any case, to be able to predict them. We are already well on the way to doing that, installing sensors, for instance, to assess the status of critical components. In the future, we will also use artificial intelligence to predict when a part might break or when maintenance should be carried out. The goal is to increase the ability to plan necessary maintenance work ahead, because that will save considerable costs and increase the production uptime.

Predictive maintenance helps make utilization of the production line and also all subsequent steps more sustainable. For example, if maintenance is carried out without it actually being necessary at the time, spare parts will also be replaced needlessly early. So, you will need a lot more material over the life cycle of a plant. But resources are also conserved if, for example, we install more energy-efficient motors during upgrades and modifications. The goal must be to use as few resources as possible, be it material, energy, or raw materials. Only through digitalization can we achieve the transparency necessary for this purpose.

How are digitalization and the circular economy interrelated?

Without digitalization, it would be very difficult to enable a circular economy. With it, however, we can for example label products during the production process. Then machines can recognize later in the waste collection cycle what the packaging film is actually made of. It is then possible to identify that a piece of packaging film is made of polyethylene and does not contain more than five percent different and foreign materials. This means it is fully recyclable. But the production lines have to be prepared. Such mono-material structures require numerous modifications to the plants. Only then can a high-quality plastic packaging film, which is ready for circular economy, be guaranteed.

What’s the next phase in the circular economy?

With regard to packaging films, circular economy can only work if we aim for mono-material structures. But it is also important to have a better collection system for plastics, comparable to that for bottles. It must be made as simple as possible for the consumer. Next, the plastic has to be separated so that you get single-source plastics. The next step is single-source recycling. But then there is the question of what to use the recyclate for. Turning a packaging film back into a packaging film remains a vision for the time being but turning recycled packaging film into good products that can be used in injection molding, for example, would make sense.

The technical challenges will be overcome. It will be more difficult to implement a viable collection system. And then it is important that the circular economy is established all over the world. A lot is collected in Germany or Austria, but not so much yet elsewhere in Europe and in many other parts of the world. The quantities are still too small for the circular economy to be economically viable. That has to change, too.

VDMA - Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V. 

https://www.vdma.org

Brückner Servtec GmbH  

https://www.brueckner-servtec.com/de

Ausgabenartikel

Markus Gschwandtner, CEO of Brückner Servtec GmbH.

On the digital service platform the documentation is available online at any time.