The world of tool and mould making is being transformed

Related Vendors

HASCO Hasenclever GmbH + Co KG

CUMSA

Renishaw plc

Audi AG

Verein Deutscher Werkzeug- maschinenfabriken e. V. (VDW)

New technologies to meet challenges

What new technologies are you using to meet and master these challenges?

Breme: We’ve been using intelligent tools since 2011, for example, for large series production, not least for the Audi A8, Audi A3, Audi TT, Audi Q7 models and the new Audi A4. This means we can handle ultra-sophisticated design requirements in a reliable process. Tool design work takes due account of the static and dynamic loads encountered in the forming operation. Audi Toolmaking is doing intensive work in simulating the entire process chain – from the component to the finished body in white. There’s a lot of potential here, since in future we aim to do without any back-up tools.

ETMM: What do things look like with the much-hyped issue of Industry 4.0?

Breme: We have fully embraced Industry 4.0 or (as we call it at Audi) the “smart factory”: For years now, to cite just one example, remote maintenance of our bodywork production lines has been performed as standard practice, as has remote maintenance of intelligent tools. Industry 4.0 technologies are meanwhile also being used where we are design-enhancing our shop-floor production processes. Assistance systems, for example, are supporting our staff with real-time data from the production line for planning project sequences. These digital assistants function as a kind of navigation system for route planning in providing scheduling proposals for complex planning operations with competing planning goals. This involves issues like deadline compliance or high machine capacity utilisation. Automation is progressing as well: in 2015, we commissioned an automatic robot drilling line, and expanded the deployment of driverless transport systems for logistical purposes.

ETMM: Audi Toolmaking has already pioneered the thrust towards the intelligent tool. How have you digitised your toolmaking operation, and what are you planning for the future?

Breme: With control data feedback from the intelligent tools, for example; crucial information on the quality of the tool and the process is supplied by the control activities of the sensors in the intelligent tool. This means good PCB batches can be distinguished from less good ones, for instance, which enables countermeasures to be initiated at an early stage. No less deserving of mention is system integration into the quality recording systems of the production operation; we have recently introduced software tools for this purpose, which are being continually expanded. These quality tools enable us to transparently image at any time the quality status of a particular vehicle project. An important role is also played by global decentralised measured-data acquisition and virtual quality analysis; components, tools and automobiles can be qualitatively assessed within a few hours in our new robot-based duplex measuring cell. What’s more, data and empirical insights can now be fed back during a tool’s lifetime, because we have installed the pressing plant in May 2015.

ETMM: How do you support machine tool manufacturers in terms of digitisation?

Breme: When new investments are involved, there is close co-operation between the machinery manufacturers and Audi Toolmaking. To cite two current examples: the interface definitions for linking the intelligent tools to the press control system, and joint definition of acceptance test criteria.

(ID:43798792)