It was even a topic at the recent Davos World Economic Forum held in January. “The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum. Machinery has written about Industry 4.0 previously (www.machinery.co.uk/67245).
There’s no doubt that this connected world already exists and that its extent will broaden and deepen. But on the way to an industrial utopia, with interconnected people and systems exchanging data and boosting productivity, quality and output, there are challenges.
In investigating cloud-connected tooling-data-to-CADCAM transfer, Machinery has turned up a point of detail that demonstrates the nitty-gritty reality of delivering what is, in essence, part of the Industry 4.0 landscape.
In short, digital tooling data is available from many tooling supplies in standardised form. This means that this data can be ‘poured’ into a ‘receptacle’ that conforms to the same data rules. The receptacle, in this case, is CADCAM systems, which already have tooling libraries that require ‘filling up’ with tooling data. Stand-alone tool management systems that themselves interface to CADCAM systems similarly need to be ‘filled up’ first.
This tooling data comprises both geometry and cutting information.
Electronic tooling catalogues have been available for a while, but these provide a more convenient catalogue function; they do not automate data input. Solid models of tools have been downloadable in some cases, offering a part-digital solution.
But there are a number of systems now aimed at providing a digital tooling-data-to-CADCAM interface (or to tool management systems) – Sandvik Coromant’s Adveon, Kennametal’s Novo and MachiningCloud are the main ones (www.machinery.co.uk/117005). They are, for the most part, all employing the same data standards. But this is business and the two tooling giants compete, so are not using, or cannot use, the other’s conduit. They are, however, both working together, and with Iscar, in support of ‘filling up’ Siemens PLM’s software with tooling data, a company with much global clout.
Outside of the two tooling giants, MachiningCloud is independent of tooling links, but is strongly connected with a CADCAM package. So while it is tooling data heavy, it is CADCAM interface light. Fundamentally, all current solutions are partial.
This article was first published in the March 2016 issue of Machinery magazine.
