Automation keeps manufacturing alive! - Fastems

valves,” says CEO Joachim Klaus with a
smile. “Our product range comprises a total of
seven product groups with 38 types of safety
valves. With a wide variety of materials and
valve sizes in nominal widths from DN 10 to
DN 400, 1/2“ to 16“, the company provides
safe solutions for all industrial applications.
Annual production is currently around 75,000
safety valves and is increasing constantly, and
we expect considerable growth in demand
for our larger safety valves in particular.” “In
light of this forecast,” adds production planning
manager Kai‑Uwe Weiss “it was decided
two years ago that a replacement investment
was necessary for two of our older machining
centres. We solved the challenges facing us
by means of an automation project, which we
called ‘Innopac’.
automation solution
requirements
“As with all automation projects”, admits
Joachim Klaus, “we too wondered how we
might solve one of the key problems, namely
how to integrate, for our business, batch size
one manufacturing orders into the automated
manufacturing process.” “Based on our team’s
experience” notes Kai-Uwe Weiss, “we added
an additional requirement in our specifications
in the call for tenders: the two machining
centres had to be capable of machining
the clamped pieces in one or at maximum
two clampings with a horizontal spindle”
“Today we know that it was precisely by
meeting this requirement”, stresses Joachim
Klaus, “that were able to achieve such good
results for rationalization. Whereas before six
or seven clampings on various machines were
necessary, we now manufacture our safety
valve housings using one or at the most two
clampings.”
rationalization solutions in
manufacturing
Matthias Hoffmann learned the job of a
machine setter in the company and became
involved in the automation project right
from the start. He says that, “all machine
pallets in the Flexible Manufacturing System
are loaded and unloaded in the two loading
stations. These carry either clamping
systems for small parts or hydraulic chain
clamping systems for machining valve housings.
This type of clamping ensures the tension
is distributed evenly across the entire
workpiece and also enhances the quality of
the processing. It’s also a lot faster, taking 30
seconds at the most.”
“The machining centres we chose”,
explains Kai-Uwe Weiss, “are DBF 630s,
which are made by Doerries Scharmann
Technologie GmbH. With these, the clampings
previously required for machining on
the lathe are no longer necessary. This was
A compact MLS-MD system (Multi-Level-System) and, from left: Machine operators Heiko
Rathjen, Matthias Hoffmann with Klaus Maurmaier, Fastems Sales Manager for Germany,
Production Planning Manager Kai-Uwe Weiss and Frank Turm, CNC Programmer.
one of the key reasons it was worth using a
Fastems Flexible Manufacturing System for
automation. Additionally though, automated
production processes ensure a high processing
quality – the machining quality of the
valve seat sealing surfaces is one of the defining
criteria for the quality of a safety valve.
Secondly, we needed to integrate an automatic
joining operation in the machining process.
This involves automatic assembly and subsequent
machining of the valve seat socket in
the safety valve housing, which is monitored
by the control system. The standard versions
of the DBF 630 machining centres also contribute
greatly to reducing the clamping work.
Bearing all these things in mind, we made
Doerries Scharmann Technologie GmbH the
general contractor for implementing our automation
plan. Doerries Scharmann then got
the Finnish company Fastems involved in the
project, whose Flexible Manufacturing System
provided the basis for fully automated operation
of the two DBF 630 machining centres.”
automated worKpiece handling
“Our goal,” says Kai-Uwe Weiss, “of having
at least every third shift unmanned could
only be achieved by automating in-feed and
removal of workpieces. The Fastems Flexible
Manufacturing System offers, as other companies
have told us, the best options for automatic
operation of machining centres. Users
of Fastems Flexible Manufacturing Systems
really do get closer to the aim of using the
8760 hours theoretically available each year
more productively. Besides the recommendation
by Doerries Scharmann, we were also
convinced of the value of the Fastems Flexible
Manufacturing System by the fact that
nearly all the best known tool machine manufacturers
have installed Fastems systems
and all speak highly of them.
“We work with cast parts,” Kai-Uwe
Weiss reminds us. “Cast parts are not always
homogenous. This means you have to reckon
on a tool break even during unmanned
night shifts.” “When this happens,” adds
Klaus Maurmaier “the machine detects the
tool break and reports this to Fastems system
control and the pallet is removed and
marked. Before continuing with a new pallet,
the FMS control system checks whether all
tools are still available, replacing broken tools
if necessary.”
fast implementation
“Even looking back today,” says managing director
Joachim Klaus, “the decision we made
shortly before Christmas 2005 with regards
to the complex rationalization project was the
correct one. The Fastems system was installed
back in September 2006 and the team that
did it was great – they assembled it within ten
days. By November the machining centres
were connected up to the Fastems Flexible
Manufacturing System. And they were wired
up to the Fastems Control System in no time
at all too – less than three days. It was at this
point we realized we were dealing with professionals.
And we were able to witness how
well it performed straight away. Even while
the automatic manufacturing system was being
commissioned, we received a large order,
which we were able to turn out rapidly.”
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