Cast System

The goal of Cast System is to interconnect the machinery to better organize and manage production and constantly monitor the production process. 

Machinery interconnection for Industry 4.0

The challenge 

Cast System has been dealing with the Zamak (zinc alloy) die-casting activity at an international level for over 25 years. The goal of Cast System is to interconnect machinery and become Industry 4.0, to be more efficient, competitive and respond to the challenges of the ever-changing market.

The challenge is to interconnect similar presses of different brands and ages with the management system and the company MES. The goal is to automate data collection, to track downtimes and to know the cost associated with each batch.

We also want to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the Italian Business Plan 4.0, which offers State incentives to promote the technological innovation of the country: further objective to be achieved is, therefore, compliance with the requirements of the legislature in this regard.

The solution

To meet the needs of CAST SYSTEM, we used our software for Industry 4.0: iDaq, Digital Factory 4.0 and Lilium, achieving the objectives with a complete and scalable solution in a short time.

iDaq is used to communicate directly with Frech and Agrati presses using Modbus TCP protocol and other dedicated protocols.

iDaq collects the main production data, such as:

• Machine status
• Number of pieces produced
• Cycle time

Digital Factory 4.0 provides a global view of the plant and forwards the parameters of the job to be performed on the machine on the basis of what the operator has chosen from the MES.

Lilium deals with the transfer of data to the company database, from which the MES extrapolates the information for viewing and archiving, and the transfer of data from the database to Digital Factory 4.0 and iDaq.

Diagram of interconnection of machinery and MES

Benefits and Results

All the pre-set objectives have been achieved, allowing Cast System to obtain significant benefits:

• Time-saving: production and process parameters are acquired automatically without the need for human intervention.
• Cost determination: with all the automatically collected production data it is possible to have an accurate cost report.
• Reduction of human errors: data acquisition is automatic, reducing errors due to manual operations.
• Traceability: all the data of the production cycle are tracked and there is a production history committed per job.
• Company interconnection: the requirement for company interconnection between machinery and management has been respected in order to have access to tax benefits.
• Italian State Incentives of the Business Plan 4.0: all the requirements by the legislature have been respected.

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"We are extremely satisfied with the collaboration with T4SM because they have been able to translate the needs of our production organization and management, allowing us to constantly monitor the production process in a way to have real benefits." 

Guido Brevi

CEO
CAST SYSTEM Srl

 

Challenge

• Interconnection of presses of different ages and brands
• Automation of data collection
• To trace downtimes
• To know the cost associated with each batch
• Compliance with the requirements of the Italian State Business Plan 4.0

 

Solution

• Based on a system consisting of iDaq, Digital Factory 4.0 and Lilium communicating with the company's machinery and MES

 

Resources

• iDaq
• Digital Factory 4.0
• Lilium

 

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