| AMS Controls Newsletter | February, 2009 | | "Prepare for the upturn"
...
"The companies that put the money back into the equipment during
the slow periods are the companies that are going to run away with
the pie when business picks up again." ( FFJournal, January 2009) Looking Forward!
Welcome to the February 2009 edition of the AMS Controls Newsletter. As you are aware, a large percentage of our everyday conversations now contain a reference to the economy. The evidence of a recession is all around us - on TV, in the papers, on the net and definitely on the minds of our families. The initial response of most companies was to hunker down and conserve cash, which is understandable in light of weakening sales. However, we are now seeing signs that firms are thinking about the future and where they want to be in the changing competitive landscape. We have seen a resurgence of interest in computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) as a tool to aid in profitability and competitiveness. A well-implemented CIM system can provide mistake-proofing and scrap-savings as well as many other benefits. Forward-looking companies will be better able to exceed their customers' expectations while achieving much higher levels of productivity and profitability. AMS is focused on providing equipment and services to help manufacturers achieve their potential. AMS is happy to announce the receipt of a significant order in January from one North American company, a move that clearly demonstrates their intent to be a tough competitor. This metal building component manufacturer is retrofitting 18 roll forming machines with XL200 controllers, setting up Eclipse in several factories, and starting to upgrade their folding machines to our Pathfinder controller. Thank you to all of the progressive-minded companies whose representatives made the trek to the Windy City for the AHR Exposition. AMS enjoyed meeting everyone that stopped by the display to see a demonstration of the XL220 HVAC-rectangular duct machine controller. This newsletter is a resource intended to give you ideas that, when implemented, will make your operation more competitive. As usual, in this edition of the AMS Newsletter, we offer several ideas for reducing scrap and improving the integration of your current machinery with available information technology tools. Are you ready to compete? We appreciate all of your feedback as well as ideas for future articles. | | Machine Application Type: Open Loop Stopping | |
This article on open loop stopping roll forming lines is the third in the AMS Controls series of basic machine applications. Our first article outlined the four most common basic machine application types. The second article covered open loop flying die applications, and this article continues with open loop for stopping lines.
Open Loop Stopping Key Features - Low Cost
- Low Cycle Rates / Lower Average Line Speeds
- Moderate Accuracy
- Sensitive to Timing / Tracking Variations
- Press Variations Do Not Affect Length
Open loop stopping (also known as feed-to-stop or start/stop) machines are low cost roll forming solutions that have lower throughput rates, because as the name implies, the material must stop for press operations. The benefit of the stopping alternative is higher accuracy. Since the length control system doesn't have to hit a moving target, press consistency doesn't affect length. Instead, it is the ability of the material to stop consistently that dictates length repeatability.
Line speeds in stopping applications can vary greatly. Longer parts can be run at higher speeds to increase throughput, but shorter parts must run slower. Some systems have a 2-speed operation so the material is always driven at a constant "slow" speed some distance just prior to the press operation. This ensures the material is always coming to a stop (decelerating) from the same speed, regardless of how fast longer parts are run. Press speed also impacts throughput, because the material must stand still while the press completes its cycle.
Tolerance in open loop stopping applications is often ± 0.060" (1.5 mm) or better. As long as the material is stopped consistently, or if the length control system has the ability to make small corrections prior to cycling the press, length accuracy can be very tightly controlled.
The open loop stopping machine type is commonly used for metal building components (wall and roof panels) and low output light gauge steel framing (stud and track). The application doesn't lend itself to mass producing large quantities quickly, but this machine type does offer high quality parts on a low cost machine for smaller operations, do-it-yourself builders, and users who service local areas.
Stopping Reaction
When a length control system attempts to stop material for a punch or shear target, the material must decelerate to a stop before the press can be fired. The time required to bring the material to a stop from run speed is the machine's Stopping Reaction time. Figure 4-1 describes Stopping Reaction time with a state diagram.
Figure 4-1
When the length controller turns off its motion output, the material decelerates to a stop. If the system waits until the target length is directly beneath the press tool, the press will miss the target. The material will have traveled (coasted) beyond the press tool by the time it stops, as in figure 4-2. Click here for complete article on Open Loop Stopping Control. | | Scrap Reduction using Two Encoders |
Some machine designs have a tendency to create lots of scrap on a coil change. This article explains how using two encoders can reduce this scrap to a minimum.
On a roll former with a large distance from the first punch to the shear (typically pre-punch, post-cut), scrap is often a major part of the operation. For many companies, the assumption is that large quantities of scrap are unavoidable, due to the nature of the process. AMS Controls can help to significantly reduce scrap on these machines.
The general layout of a pre-punch post-cut machine is depicted below. Whether the actuation of the dies is open loop or closed loop is irrelevant. The problem with such a line layout is how coil changes are handled. Pre-Punch Post Cut Operation
| | Eclipse Data Exchange Options | Although there are some customers who are using Eclipse as a stand-alone application, most have connected it to one or more outside software systems. The most common applications are: - ERP (enterprise resource planning) software
- CAD/CAM software
The most common connection we see to Eclipse is with an ERP system. Once an order is released to production, it is transmitted to Eclipse by a variety of different technologies (see below). Orders can be already scheduled in the ERP system or sent to Eclipse to be scheduled there. There are also provisions to modify, delete, or place on hold orders that have already been sent to Eclipse. If Eclipse is maintaining a parallel coil inventory, new coil information is sent from the ERP system when the coil is added to the inventory. As production data is uploaded from the machine controls to Eclipse, this raw data is also uploaded to the ERP system. This includes information about order completions, coil usage, scrap generation, operator performance, etc.. Very often, customers ask if we've worked with a particular ERP system (SAP, Oracle, Symix, etc). The answer is of course, yes. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, we have been interfacing with a highly-customized manufacturing module. Out-of-the-box versions of these systems do not handle the needs of most companies in our industries. Fortunately, creating an interface between these ERP systems and Eclipse is a very straightforward process and has not been a problem so far. The work mainly involves mapping data fields between Eclipse and the ERP system.
CAD/CAM There are a number of specialized applications where companies are designing parts in some type of CAD or engineering software and would like to transfer this engineering data to the manufacturing equipment. This is a very common practice in the metal machining industry and has started to become more popular with some roll forming and folding applications. The following are examples of CAD/CAM connections that are commonly used with Eclipse: - Punch patterns for purlins or other structural parts from metal building design software
- Light gauge metal framing and roofing design software (i.e. Keymark, Argos, John Butts, Applicad, etc)
- AutoCAD drawings (via Eclipse's DXF file import/translation feature)
- HVAC design software
- Custom-written design software
Data Transfer Methods
There are currently three standard methods for transferring data between Eclipse and another application:
- ASCII comma-delimited text files
- XML files
- Direct SQL access via ODBC
ASCII text files have been used for this purpose for more than 20 years. This is the "least common denominator" since it doesn't take much to create or process this kind of file. XML is a structured text format which offers a higher level of flexibility and is less sensitive to evolving standards. XML is certainly gaining broader industry acceptance and many software systems have XML-based formats for data exchange. Since Eclipse and all ERP systems are based on databases, it often makes sense to more or less directly connect the databases together. This bypasses the otherwise necessary step of exporting information from the database of one system to a text file then importing the text file into the database of the other system. Because of its speed, this method is becoming more common for the purpose of coil validation (see last month's article on this subject). The data exchange methods currently used with Eclipse were the result of customer requests. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for additional methods that would help your organization. | | Feature Spotlight: Pathfinder Mirror Feature |
Mirror Feature Cuts New Part Creation Time in Half Many of the trim profiles produced on folding machines are symmetric. The Pathfinder controller has a nice feature that makes the programming of these parts very easy. The operator only needs to define half of the profile and Pathfinder can do the rest.
Parts can be mirrored around the following central elements: angle, a segment, a hem or a radius. The following drawings show examples of symmetric parts with the central element highlighted:
To create a symmetric part in Pathfinder:
Starting from one end of the part, add elements(segments, hems, angles, etc) up to and including the central element. Select the mirror feature (from the drop-down list or just hit the "7" key shortcut). Pathfinder completes the part drawing. Click here to see a short video demonstrating the mirror feature as well as many other advanced features on the AMS Controls - Pathfinder Controller.
| | AMS Attains Microsoft Certified Partner Status and will Present at Microsoft Dynamics Convergence |
AMS Attains Microsoft Certified Partner Status
AMS Controls attained Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in the ISV/Software Solutions. As a Certified Partner, AMS has demonstrated  expertise in developing products using Microsoft technologies that meet customer needs. Microsoft Certified Partners receive a rich set of benefits, including access, training and support. This will help AMS continue to deliver powerful solutions to meet our customer's needs.
AMS has completed early adopter program for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 and will be a presenter at Convergence-2009 Microsoft recently selected AMS Controls to participate in a pre-release, early adopter program for their latest version of their NAV (formerly Navision) ERP platform. AMS was one of five companies globally and the only US manufacturer to participate in this program. "Participating in this program supports our objective of staying on the cutting edge of technology. We strive to be technologically progressive internally to help us create technological product advances for our customers," says AMS VP of Operations Marc Allman.
Marc will be co-presenting "Discrete Manufacturing with Microsoft Dynamics NAV" at Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2009 in New Orleans March 10-13. Visit the Microsoft event site for more details. Please stop by and say hi if you are in attendance. In his presentation Marc will detail tools that help you run a world class manufacturing operation: - Different discrete manufacturing scenarios like Make-To-Stock, Make-To-Order and Assemble-To-Order
- How these scenarios are incorporated into Microsoft Dynamics NAV Standard and fully integrated with the rest of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, including multi sites and locations
| | AMS Corporate News | |
Eclipse Webinar Training Schedule Next Eclipse Webinar, free to all users with a current Maintenance Agreement:
February 17:- Coil Tracking and Verification Downtime tracking (1-2pm Central Time)
Want to get even more out of Eclipse, AMS' industry leading integrated manufacturing software? Eclipse is a very powerful set of management tools 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". 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-machine integrations during his tenure with AMS. Click here for menu of all AMS Controls training options.
AMS' to Participate in 2009 FMA World Class Rollforming Workshops April 21 - 22: AMS will be participating in the 2009 FMA World Class Rollforming workshops in Louisville Kentucky. AMS' presentation, by Jaycen Rigger, will detail the Four Basic Machine Applications: An Outline of Open Loop, Closed Loop, Flying and Stopping Lines Jaycen Rigger - AMS Controls, Inc. - Understand the generic terms used to describe roll forming machine applications
- Get a general understanding of the four basic machine applications
- Compare the four basic machine types in terms of speed, accuracy, and cost
For more information on this informative program please see brochure.
In The News: "Continuous Improvement for Roll Forming"
| | | | | |