PRODUCT REVIEWS
Marvin Duchhardt ( left ), application engineer , Meissner AG and Jonas Pfeil ( right ), design engineer , Meissner AG as project specialists .
DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022
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Mould production software
Toolmaking and plant engineering firm , Meissner , relies on FASTSUITE E2 software
to break new ground for its robotics systems . Using powerful automation and simulation in robot-assisted embossing , the company has drastically reduced its cycle times in production .
Meissner AG , based in Biedenkopf ( Germany ) leverages the latest technologies to maintain its position in the toolmaking and plant engineering market . About a year ago , the mid-size company added robot-aided embossing to its service portfolio . To understand how groundbreaking this innovation was , consider that the manual embossing of a mould can easily take two or three months because , to ensure a uniform pattern , each workpiece must only be handled by a single metalworker .
With robot assistance , Meissner can now manufacture an extensively embossed mould in seven to ten days , depending upon size . Automation has therefore cut cycle times drastically .
To make robot-aided embossing possible , a user has to create a dedicated machine control program – a complex task that Meissner brought to a successful conclusion with software and consulting provider , CENIT . Because industrial embossing is a comparatively rare manufacturing technology , the partners decided to adapt an existing FASTSUITE E2 technology package ( stud welding ) to match Meissner ’ s needs .
Based on the customer ’ s requirements ,
Tests for robot-aided embossing with a test workpiece .
the CENIT team developed an efficient programming method and complemented it with the required downloader ( translator ). The process points for the embossing can be uploaded to FASTSUITE E2 as a set and programmed by process groups . The pilot project involved 160,000 process points , but the solution can reportedly handle a great deal more .
“ In addition to the drastic reduction in processing times , highly realistic simulation by FASTSUITE E2 prevents potential collisions and eliminates any problems with singularities before the robot actually begins its work on the mould . Since the embossing process is verified by simulation , the robot can run for up to 24 hours without manual intervention ,” commented CENIT AG .
Jan Müller , plant and operations manager at Meissner AG , sees additional benefits in using FASTSUITE E2 as a universal software companion .
“ We can rely on FASTSUITE to program robots and machines from virtually any manufacturer . That ’ s a great advantage because our customers come to us with plenty of different models . On top of that , the 3D simulation software already offers us a wide selection of ready-to-use modules for any number of manufacturing technologies ,” he explained . n
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