CPT International 04/2015

The sand regeneration system in the shake-out area sets new standards
ing of the production process ensures
that the heats are available just in time
and in highest quality.
All segments of the production
chain, for example, the molding shop,
casting shop, cooling area and shakeout
bay, are organized as separate, decoupled
production units. Looking at
what is going on in the cooling area, we
become witnesses of how this works in
practice. While LENA is moving underneath
a loading pallet, the door separating
the cooling area and the shakeout
bay is closed. Behind that door,
residual sand is being removed from
the castings. All dynamic processes
handled by the unmanned transport
system are fine adjusted by the logistics
system. “We have definitely established
a network of systems in the sense
of Industry 4.0,” says Rainer Kurtz. By
that time, TINA has already moved on
and turned around, bringing “herself”
into position to hover toward the other
end of the bay. EMMA has meanwhile
picked up flasks at the molding shop
and is now hovering towards the casting
shop. “It’s a kind of magic” – the
song by Queen comes to my mind. But
what is going on here has nothing to do
with magic. TINA deposits “her” freight
in the cooling area, and immediately
the cooling time programmed in SAP
starts to count down. Digital clocks determine
the entire process flow. When
the preset cooling time is over – not one
second earlier or later- will the SAP controlled
system send a signal to the unmanned
logistics system, triggering the
pick-up of the cooled flask and its transport
to the shake-out area. It could very
well be that not TINA but EMMA, MA-
RIE or LENA will perform that job and
transport the flask onwards. That does
not make a difference because the casting
itself tells the person in the control
room at which position and in which
condition it is.
For Kurtz Ersa, Foundry Industry 4.0
means that they can now offer even
more value added services to their
customers, last but not least based
on an intelligently clocked, SAP R3
controlled production flow which
is managed via an internal, trackless
transport system. “This ensures
that the right work is always at the
right workplace at the right time,” explains
Graziano Sammati, while checking
the control monitors. Sammati
is at ease. All systems run smoothly.
www.kurtzersa.de
smart-foundry.de
Unbenannt-1 1 05.10.15 11:56
Casting Plant & Technology 4/2015 37