| AMS Controls Newsletter | December, 2008 | | Greetings!
Welcome to our December newsletter. Now that our heavy trade show season is over, we have had a little more time to devote to writing articles. We hope you find the content interesting and useful. Please send us your feedback about the newsletter. Are the articles relevant? Do you want more detail (or less)? Do you have ideas for an article? Send us a note at feedback@amscontrols.com. What you'll find by reading the articles in this month's newsletter are the common threads of improving efficiency and preparing for the next improved business cycle.
There are only a few shopping days left in December. Now is a great time to upgrade that old MP350 or XL100 to a state-of-the-art XL200 controller. Buy that special production manager the Eclipse Production Management System he's always wanted. There have been many U.S. customers taking advantage of the special depreciation rules of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008; call soon so you don't miss out!
| | Improving Production Capacity | | With the economic downturn, the idea of developing production capacity is probably not on the minds of many manufacturers these days. Certainly, when demand is strong, companies have a big incentive to add equipment or expand facilities in order to keep up. When the market is down, however, there are still important reasons to focus on productivity.
With competitors fighting to win a dwindling pool of projects, having the ability to quickly turn around orders can mean the difference between success and despair. The ability to carefully control labor costs is also an important consideration. Companies who have streamlined their production data flow through computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) will have lower downtime and will be able to promise (and deliver) their goods faster.
How can CIM help?
A CIM system such as Eclipse can directly improve production capacity by eliminating the downtime otherwise needed for data entry of orders and manual recording of production and coil usage. We have seen cases where the machine operator wastes sometimes as much as 100 minutes in a shift manually programming order data and punch patterns. Not surprisingly, these are always the first machines that need overtime or additional shifts when demand increases.
In an integrated system, no time is wasted entering cut-lists, programming punch patterns, changing messages on part printers, configuring automated stacking equipment, updating completion reports or recording footages for coil consumption. While each of these tasks may only require a few seconds or minutes at a time, the extra production capacity gained by eliminating them can add up quickly.
Continue Reading... | | An Introduction to the Four Basic Machine Types | |
AMS Controls' core business is machine control and production management for roll forming industries. As such, length control is a primary focus, so we wanted to produce a series of articles on issues that can cause length variance- where problems come from, and how to eliminate them. Once we got past encoder issues (which are common across all machine types), we wanted to tackle length control based on machine application - non-stop vs. stopping, servo control vs. non-servo control.
Before launching into a series of articles detailing the different machine types, we realize an introduction to some basic concepts is in order. AMS needs to define some common terms and jargon that are particular to the types of control systems we provide.
This article covers the four basic machine application types very generally, describing functionality from a high level. A few pros and cons are listed, but each application will be covered in greater detail in subsequent articles.
| | Nucor's Selection of AMS Controls as an Integrated Manufacturing Partner | |  AMS Controls takes great pride in supplying integration solutions that support its customer's productivity and profitability goals. At the end of every project the benchmark (or best marking?) measure of success for AMS is to no longer be thought of as a supplier but to be considered a business partner.
AMS designs and manufactures the finest lineup of machine controllers and most technically advanced integration software available. The ability to incorporate these into current equipment and leverage three decades of industry experience to help achieve customer's goals puts AMS in a very unique position. Recently, AMS Controls engaged in a project to integrate several manufacturing lines for Nucor Building Systems. Nucor is one of the most respected steel companies in the world. The catalyst for Nucor to select AMS to supply equipment and technology was the need for seamless integration of new equipment with existing equipment and infrastructure, all in a way that provided quick return on investment and minimal disruption to operations. Four years ago, we changed the way we bundle roof panels. We started doing a staggered end lap which made it very intensive for the operator to enter orders by hand at the controller. IT proposed automation could make our operator's more efficient and reduce the risk of error. By improving on this system, Nucor estimated they could save "several hours a week," in data entry at each machine by automating the part download. They approached AMS to help make this happen. | | CIM in Action at AMS |  One of the greatest benefits of AMS products is the ability to link the factory floor to the office network. Known as Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), this capability leads to greater throughput with fewer mistakes, more uptime, and less scrap. While we don't use roll forming or folding machines in our manufacturing processes at AMS, we have developed a unique CIM application of our own utilizing the XL200 and Eclipse combination.
| | Product Announcement -
6390 Encoder Splitter/Switch |  Have you ever needed to send material encoder signals to more than one device?
Have you ever needed to switch between two different encoders?
The new 6390 encoder splitter/switch module is a practical solution to these common roll former control problems. Configuration switches are used to set the operating mode and other options.
| | Feature Preview: Automatic Springback Compensation for Folding Machines! | | We're offering a sneak peak at new technology being developed at AMS Controls: automatic compensation for metal springback on folding machines. We've been working on this for the last couple of years and are now close to having it ready for production. Here's some basic information about the feature: - It works with any metal (even spring steel!) and any coating.
- It measures the actual springback on every bend.
- The compensation feature bends to the nominal programmed angle, measures the springback, then re-bends (while the part is still clamped). This can be done for every part or just the first part of a run. In this second mode, the necessary over-bend for each angle is remembered from the first part and the machine bends the corrected angles for all subsequent pieces.
- Both long and short folding machines can be retrofitted with this feature.
With this feature, even the least experienced machine operator can be instantly productive and accurate - eliminate trial & error and the wasted time & material that goes with it! Please check out our website for a short video demonstrating the feature. If you are interested in being a beta tester for this feature please let us know (sales@amscontrols.com). | | AMS Corporate News | | AMS' RMA Process AMS Controls offers three levels of repair service to Customers, as well as a refurbished unit program. In any case, customers must contact Technical Support to receive a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number before shipping any items to AMS Controls. Items received without an RMA printed clearly on the outside of the shipping container could experience delays in service. The Repair department can not process items until a Technical Support Specialist has spoken to the customer and issued an RMA number.
All repairs, including warranty repairs, must be accompanied by either a Purchase Order or Credit Card. Repairs may be requested as: - Open PO - The customer understands repairs must be made and authorizes all parts and labor required to service the unit back to working order (AMS Controls will contact customers when repair costs exceed $2,000.00). No Credit Cards will be accepted for this method of billing.
- Not to Exceed - The customer requests a specific repair cost for parts and labor. If the total for the repair is estimated to exceed this amount, AMS Controls will contact the customer for permission or further instructions.
- Check Out - Check out fees are 2 hours times the Repair Service Level requested by the customer. After the unit has been checked by the Repair department, a technician will call the customer with an estimate for the repair total. The Check Out fee will be applied to the total repair cost. In some cases, check out time will exceed 2 hours (older units, extensive damage, etc). The customer will be updated with the new estimate for check out time, and for permission to continue the check out.
AMS' Holiday Schedule
We at AMS extend season's greetings and wish that you, your family, and friends have a blessed holiday season. Our incredible team of employees are also looking forward to our holiday schedule; we will be closed December 24, 25, 31 and January 1.
Eclipse Webinar Training Schedule Want to get even more out of Eclipse, AMS' industry leading integrated manufacturing software? Eclipse is a very powerful set of management software designed with three decades of experience in mind. This training is an opportunity to focus on Eclipse basics such as settings, adding product codes, material codes, setting up machines, controller setup and tool libraries, creating part definitions and orders and "scheduling basics".
This easy and informative webinar will be held on December 16 at 3pm Central Time. Leading this training will be Jaycen Rigger, AMS Technical Support Manager. Jaycen is the manager of AMS' training and development program and has managed more than 300-integrations during his tenure with AMS.
In addition to the December 16 training, AMS now offers a full range of topics to be discussed during subsequent webinars.
12/16/08 - Eclipse Basics - XL200 and Eclipse
- Eclipse and Comm
- Maintenance and Settings (adding codes, controller parameter backups, setup and tool libraries, general software settings)
- Part Definitions
- Order Creation at Eclipse (what is an order, product code, material code)
- Scheduling (auto-download from ERP, different levels of human intervention, footage-based auto-download, requesting from the machine)
- Coil Verification and some other specifics get tossed into this general mix
01/13/09 - Reports - Walk through of each report and its use (what do the numbers mean)
- troubleshooting using reports
02/10/09 - Scrap Tracking - Scrap Tracking/Coil Verification (they're kind of tied into to each other)
- Setting up codes
- Barcode scanning
- Controller procedures for last parts, suggestions for different machine types, etc.
- Reading the reports
03/17/09 - Downtime Tracking - Downtime tracking
- Setting up codes
- How scanning works for time entry
- Reading the reports
04/14/09 - Special Features - Custom Lists
- Query Lists
- Preventative Maintenance
Please email Jaycen today for registration or questions; jrigger@amscontrols.com. | | | | | | |