“Industry in general and, specifically, the sheet-metal industry, is facing a time in which the challenges posed by globalisation and Industry 4.0 should be seen as a lever to boost the modernisation of production processes and digital transformation so that we can look to a future which guarantees efficient and competitive businesses,” explains Joseba Montoya, sales director of Lantek Spain and Portugal. “Our company is constantly evolving and, at Blechexpo, we want to make sure that the new solutions developed at Lantek are within the reach of manufacturers and industry professionals. Solutions should include and combine the latest technologies [AI, cloud, IoT, machine-learning] to guide them in their transition towards Industry 4.0.”
Lantek’s objective is to convert factories into intelligent and connected organisations ready to compete in the future. These targets have been some of the key drivers for the development of software products that provide integral management and process streamlining for manufacturers. This results in greater competitiveness as factories will save on time, resources and costs, as well as having more flexible structures and the capacity to quickly adapt to the market’s continuous changes.
At Blechexpo, the company will make the latest developments included in their advanced manufacturing cloud platform, Lantek 360, available to the attendees, placing special emphasis on the Lantek Analytics, Control Panel, iQuoting and MetalShop solutions.
Lantek Analytics is a cloud solution that allows manufacturing data to be analysed to facilitate proper decision-making. Comprised of two modules – Manufacturing Analytics and Customer Analytics – the software is customised for production data originating in the company's Lantek software suite. Every manufacturer can use it individually with their own KPIs to automatically analyse relevant parameters and answer specific questions to optimise production and support management's strategic decision-making with data.
Deployed as a plug and play device, Lantek Analytics minimises the impact on the facility and never interrupts manufacturing processes. Moreover, the software is said to ensure an easy and fast learning curve so that both engineers and directors can benefit from data analytics.
Lantek Control Panel is a mobile and online app that allows data to be viewed and analysed in real time, offering a complete picture of the plant that shows the current status and availability of machinery, machinery workload, and allowing alerts and notifications of changes to industrial processes to be received. With feedback from machinery, all processes and up-to-date performance indicators can be viewed. All processes related to manufacturing, such as the status of production, downtime and breakdowns are shown. Business activity information, such as requests and new order confirmations, can be seen at any time and in real time. And thanks to its alerts, managers can react as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.
iQuoting is Lantek’s tool for creating quotes that allows users to generate quotes and view customer data from anywhere at any time. The system connects to the organisation's MES and ERP systems, and uses the data from Lantek modules for nesting, production order management and operations management. Intuitive and user friendly, iQuoting even allows users without technical knowledge to create precise calculations in a short period of time. The system automatically verifies material availability and capabilities, and includes material, production and transport costs in its calculations, as well as individual customer rates.
Lantek Metalshop is a B2B e-commerce platform for metal parts. This web interface enables the quotation, sale and production planning of metal parts by sending a DXF file. Subsequently, through the correct import of geometry, the algorithm can precisely estimate fundamental parameters such as cutting times, cost of material, stock levels and margins to apply. The requests addressed to Lantek MES verify the production steps already carried out in the workshop and estimate the cutting operations and/or other tasks, as well as subcontracted processes in order to meet the delivery date required. As part of the process, the application checks the existence of anomalies in the data, such as defective CAD data and zero-part weight, creating a user intervention alert so that an engineer can solve the problem with the client.
“The current way of doing business is premised on adaptation to the client’s requirements, which means that you must be prepared in terms of anticipation, co-ordination, efficiency and customisation,” says Montoya. “Being available 24/7 is essential and this is achieved by having an online portal that allows requests to be made within the platform with offers processed in real time. This is what MetalShop provides.”
