3 Fundamentals of press design

Press control systems
Fig. 3.5.7 Switch cabinet with components for main press drive
an assembler language. These originally application-oriented programming
languages are now being used for achieving visual display, data
processing, data management and communication functions.
The consequences of this trend are high software development and
maintenance costs, non-transparent programs – which not even program
design standardization can make any easier to understand – and
long lead times to put the press into operation. To permit the integration
of this type function, the PLC has to be equipped with additional
expensive hardware modules.
In comparison, industrial computers, for example PCs, offer the benefits
of graphic user interfaces, data processing capability and facility
for object-oriented programming through the use of powerful programming
tools. The basic requirements imposed on a future-oriented
press control system, i. e. the ability to access as many functions and as
much information as possible directly at the machine, are only achievable
in the future through the use of greater intelligence and more computing
capacity. In addition, modern automation engineering calls for
Metal Forming Handbook / Schuler (c) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998
103