MACHINING
MACHINE TOOL 4.0
SCHAEFFLER
SCHAEFFLER AND DMG MORI
PROJECT DEMONSTRATES HOW
INDUSTRY 4.0 WORKS IN PRACTICE
As a global automotive and industrial
supplier, Schaeffler is digitally transforming
its entire business, which involves the
integration of its mechatronics components,
systems and machines into the rapidly
expanding world of the ‘Internet of Things’.
Through its Machine Tool 4.0 project,
Schaeffler wants to demonstrate that
Industry 4.0 is not an abstract, remote vision,
but can make a contribution to added-value
today.
The digital networking of production
facilities along the entire value chain is one
of the most important goals of Industry 4.0.
Schaeffler sees itself not only as a supplier
for smart factories, but also implements
new technologies at an early stage in its
own volume production. The goal of being
able to respond more quickly and flexibly to
current developments in a rapidly changing
world is a key motivation for Schaeffler
to digitise its processes in all areas. In the
future, the company will therefore digitally
map the entire product lifecycle, from
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the initial concept to a new product, and
from digital production planning to sales
management.
Schaeffler’s components such as bearings
and linear guidance systems are used in
critical areas of machines, which produce
critical information about conditions and
movements. In recent years, Schaeffler
has invested heavily in research and
development and has incorporated sensors,
actuators and control units with embedded
software into these products. With this, it is
now possible for these parts to collect and
process valuable data on the condition of
a machine and then convert this data into
added-value services.
MACHINE TOOL 4.0 –
TURNING VISION INTO
PRACTICE
As a leading supplier and development
partner for machine tool drive components,
Schaeffler is pursuing a specific digitalisation
strategy, with the aim of providing data from
a diverse range of processes using sensors,
networking and analyses in order to offer its
customers real added value.
At its plant in Hoechstadt, Germany,
Schaeffler has put a machine tool into
operation that demonstrates how Industry
4.0 actually works in practice. Equipped with
several dozen new and additional sensors,
the milling machine, which was developed
in close collaboration with leading machine
tool maker DMG MORI, collects large
volumes of data that can be evaluated in the
Cloud.
During production, the machine records
more data than usual; it is the prototype
of a machine tool in the IoT. The machine
is not used in a research laboratory but in
the ongoing volume production of high
precision bearings. This means rolling
bearings that are, in turn, used in machine
tools.