Based on Siemens’ Process Simulate software, AP&T’s customers can get an exact picture, as early as the tendering stage, of how their planned production line will function and perform in reality, while AP&T’s technical sales team is able to visualise the production process and specify cycle times and production capacity with almost 100% precision.
The software will also reduce the time required for customised production solutions development, with 3D layouts easily exported from a CAD environment to Process Simulate and vice versa. Adjustments can be made within the simulation program, streamlining design work and resulting in shorter system lead times.
Process Simulate will also support virtual commissioning, with simulation program data used to run machines. This is achieved by creating a ‘digital twin’ (a central element of Industry 4.0) that is downloaded to the press line’s control system, ensuring that the machines run in exactly the same way as they did during simulation. This saves valuable time and enables production to be initiated more quickly.
Says Andreas Vaktel, simulation engineer at AP&T: “Together, we have produced an excellent tool for discrete event simulation, whereby the machines included in the production line can communicate with each other through a virtual control system. This allows us to identify potential bottlenecks in the process early on, which otherwise would have been impossible to detect in traditional time-based simulation.”
And Summ Systems’s CEO, Dick Nyström, adds: “Collaboration has been important in several respects, since AP&T is a very prominent supplier within the manufacturing industry, and is active within several industries. That the company is now taking a step into what we call the ‘digital factory’ and that it recognises the value of robotics simulation and programming with Process Simulate for ‘discrete event simulation’ constitutes continued and strong confirmation of Summ System’s delivery and offering.”
