Thermo Engineering

Thermo Engineering need is to have the production time of each batch in the turning department to know the precise cost per batch, automate data collection, have a log of data and see the data from the offices in real-time.

Real Case of Hyper-amortization: Interconnection of Lathes in National Industry 4.0 Plan Perspective

The challenge

Thermo Engineering is highly specialized in the design and production of probes, sensors, assemblies and thermowells for temperature control.

The need is to have the production time of each lot in the turning department to know the precise cost per order, automate data collection and have a log, and see the data from the offices in real-time.

For this purpose it is necessary to interconnect FANUC CNC lathes with the project management software and company MES, also taking advantage of the incentives offered by the Italian National Industry 4.0 Plan. It is, therefore, necessary to respect all the requirements of the legislature in this regard. The reading of data from machinery and automatic transfer to offices and management is required to TOOLS for SMART MINDS.

The solution

To meet the needs of Thermo Engineering, software for Industry 4.0, already developed and tested for a long time in T4SM, was used: iDaq, Digital Factory 4.0 and Lilium, achieving all the objectives set with a complete and scalable solution.

The machines, 4 FANUC CNC lathes, are connected to the company MES.

iDaq takes care of data collection directly from the field. It is in fact used to communicate with machinery through native FOCAS library. For each machine, the main operating parameters are taken.

The main data acquired are:

• Machine status
• Number of production pieces
• Working time
• Operating parameters

Digital Factory 4.0 collects all the data acquired by iDaq. It provides a global view of the data acquired by the plant machinery.

The data can be viewed in real-time from different locations, each customizable according to criteria of subdivision of machinery or type of data.

Lilium deals with the transfer of data to the company database, from which the MES extrapolates the information for the visualization and the archive.

Diagram of the company interconnection with FANUC CNC lathes - Data reading part

Benefits and Results

All the set objectives have been achieved, allowing Thermo Engineering to obtain significant benefits:

• Cost determination: with the production data automatically collected, you can have a precise report on costs.
• Reduction of human errors: data acquisition is automatic, reducing errors due to manual operations.
• Time-saving, production control: The staff sends codes of articles to be produced per order initiated by the MES are sent directly to the specific machinery involved.
• Italian State Incentives of the National Industry 4.0 Plan: all the requirements by the legislature have been respected in order to have access to tax benefits.
• Production traceability: all the data of the production cycle are tracked and there is a production log committed per batch.

Potentiality

The solution is completely scalable. From the field point of view, it allows both to acquire new quantities and to connect new machines quickly, guaranteeing a minimum impact on the existing system.

Thanks to the modularity of the solution it is possible to interconnect machines with technologies and functions that are also different from those already connected. The intention is to interconnect other old generation machinery, which although were not born for Industry 4.0, can become it. In this way, it will be possible to see the data of all the machines involved in the turning department process from a single access point: both the most recent and the least updated ones.

From a management point of view, the solution is open to interfacing with third-party software for visualization, data analysis, and business intelligence.

Finally, the solution allows the application of artificial intelligence algorithms, such as Machine Learning, predictive analysis and process drift control for each machine and plant. This makes it possible to predict stops and breaks with the aim of promptly intervening and thus reducing downtime and production costs.

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"With the T4SM team we have finally found the professionalism, experience and technology that will allow us to take a big step forward in terms of quantity and quality of the collected process data.

All this offers us the potential to gain access to highly specialized and competitive international markets." 

Daniele Vacchelli
Administrator
THERMO ENGINEERING SRL 

 

Challenge

• Interconnection of machinery
• Automation of data collection and data log
• To know the cost associated with each batch
• Compliance with the requirements of the Italian National Industry 4.0 Plan

 

Solution

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

 

Resources

• iDaq
• Digital Factory 4.0
• Lilium

 

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