| AMS Controls Newsletter | March, 2009 | | Welcome to the March 2009 edition of the AMS Controls newsletter!
We are happy to finally see some positive news about the economy in the media. It seems like for many months, news stories emphasized the negative and were perhaps somewhat responsible for the cycle of fear that ensued. Of course, today's signs of recovery are still faint at best and we have a long and challenging journey ahead of us. Hopefully the rebound will be global and rational.
Interest in computer integrated manufacturing continues to increase. More and more companies have been investing in upgrades to their machine controls and the Eclipse production management system. While this has put a strain on the group here at AMS that is responsible for this newsletter's content, we remain committed to providing what we hope is useful information.
Another area where we've seen a surge in interest is the Eclipse webinar series. Every month Jaycen Rigger presents a new topic that explores in detail all of the important features and benefits of integrated roll forming manufacturing. Each session is limited to 40 participants, so be sure to reserve a spot if you are interested in the next session: jrigger@amscontrols.com. Jaycen is also presenting at the upcoming World Class Roll Forming Workshop in Louisville, Kentucky. There is still time to sign up for this terrific learning opportunity.
Our engineering and R&D group have been hard at work. Stay tuned to future newsletter issues for more details on new features of the Pathfinder folding machine controls, new high-performance rotary and crank-based control algorithms, a comparison of analog and digital servo control performance, and much more.
As always, we welcome your feedback about our newsletter and appreciate your suggestions for topics. Be sure to check out the archive page on our website if you recently started receiving our newsletter.
Best wishes from everyone at AMS Controls to you for improved prosperity this year. Please contact us to see how we can help you and your business succeed during these challenging times.
Andy Allman
President | | Mind The Gap |
In Juran's Quality Handbook, John Early and O. John Coletti describe the "quality gap" as the difference between customers' expectations for a product or service and their perception of what they actually received. This overall gap is the sum of many smaller gaps as shown in the diagram.
 A key benefit of applying computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) in operations is the near elimination of the process and operations gaps. Take for example a company like Amazon. Orders are entered (and hopefully verified) by the customer through Amazon's website. Although they are not a manufacturing company per se, their fulfillment process is fully integrated and extremely accurate and efficient. While many of their processes are completely automated, those that require human intervention have quality control checks (via barcodes) to ensure correct shipments.
In the case of roll forming, once orders are in the computer system, elements of CIM should eliminate mistakes (or quality gaps) at each step. Downloading and coil validation are two examples of this. A properly-implemented system should produce parts with the correct profile, material, color, length, punch pattern, marking, packaging and delivered to the correct location at the right time.
Although CIM systems such as AMS' Eclipse can address the most common quality gaps, there are still a few areas that require special attention on the part of the manufacturer:
- Orders should be carefully checked after they are entered into the system. Ideally, the customer should have a chance to verify the order data.
- When coils are received, it is important that they be correctly labeled. Once the coil has the right label, the CIM system will prevent it from being used on the wrong orders.
- When bundles are loaded onto the truck, care should be taken to ensure only the correct bundles are loaded (nothing missing and no extras). Many companies will scan the bundle labels to check against the expected manifest.
With a reduced market, the level of competition between manufacturers becomes much more intense. Having good quality by itself does not provide a sustainable competitive advantage (since nothing stops your competitors from doing the same). Not having a high level of quality is a sure way to be at a disadvantage and a tight market may not give second chances. Give AMS a call to see how our CIM solution, Eclipse, can eliminate your quality gaps.
| | Scrap is a dirty word... |
...especially when pennies count. If you have post-cut roll former, and you want to eliminate as much scrap as possible, your line probably requires the operator to manually cut the material before finishing a run in order to facilitate a coil change. The point where that cut needs to be made can be somewhat elusive. It needs to be made before the job is finished, yet not so far back that a lot of material is wasted. Knowing just when that point has been reached can save many feet of scrap at every coil change. On panel lines, where colors are changed often, this can result in significant savings.  Coil End Point = Shear to Roll Former Entrance Distance + Machine Coast Distance
When used correctly, the Coil End Point feature can greatly reduce scrap by preventing a machine full of scrap at each coil change as well as providing feedback to the operator regarding an upcoming coil change. | | Preventative Maintenance Made Easy | An often overlooked feature of AMS' Eclipse Production Management Software is the Preventative Maintenance scheduler.
If you don't practice preventative maintenance, it is something you should seriously consider:
You can improve production uptime and part quality by reducing machine breakdowns and improving machine condition. You can extend the lifetime of the equipment through regular upkeep and reduce the costs associated with managing and maintaining spare-parts inventories. ( The Fabricator)
If you do practice "P.M." then Eclipse provides a very powerful and convenient tool to establish a routine and make sure it is implemented. Because of the tight integration between Eclipse and the XL200 machine controllers, maintenance activities can be scheduled as accurately as possible and with no additional production data entry required (unlike stand-alone PM systems). The Eclipse system can also enforce your PM schedules and policies.
 With the PM system in Eclipse, you can define the machine elements (or groups of elements) that need to be tracked and scheduled for PM: gearboxes, punch dies, blades, roll tools, shafts, bearings, etc.. Maintenance can set thresholds for PM for every element. Thresholds are based on any combination of: - Number of Parts Produced
- Run Hours
- Run Footage
- Clock time
- or any combination
If you set a threshold for roll tooling based on number of parts, hours AND footage, which ever threshold is reached first will cause the system to inform maintenance. Maintenance can even set a pre-warn percentage for each threshold.
Example: Maintenance want to PM the bearings on a machine after 3000 run hours. However, they want to be pre-warned when 80% of that time has been reached so they can check up on them to make sure that 3000 hours isn't too long to wait or they can order parts with enough notice.
When items are removed from service for normal tooling changes, the system will maintain its tracking for that item. That is, if you are changing a shear out simply because you are running a new profile, Eclipse will keep track of the fact that the shear was only used on 10,000 parts and that it still has another 10,000 parts before you need to PM it. There's even a check to see if items should be disposed instead of maintained.
As to the question of "why," to implement a formal Preventative Schedule - the justification starts with realizing how valuable it is to keep your production running when you most need it.
Reduce costs by 20%
Many studies suggest that consistent PM can result in a 5 to 10 percent productivity improvement, which can reduce costs by up to 20 percent. You can use the following metrics to analyze production: - Production cycle time
- Number of work shifts
- Length of work shift
- Annual number of production days
- Daily production at 100 percent
- Average daily production volume
Using these values, you can assess a plant's performance and not only benchmark current production but also understand the impact of higher production levels. ( The Fabricator)
AMS has three decades of experience at making its customers more profitable and offering capabilities to get more out of existing production lines. It's worth a consultative discussion to find out more.
| | Machine Application Type: Closed Loop Stopping | This article on closed loop stopping roll forming lines is the fourth 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, the third covered open loop stopping, and this article continues with closed loop stopping control.
Closed Loop Stopping Key Features - Very high accuracy
- Higher cost (servo system and associated components)
- Production rate depends on spacing of targets & dwell times
- Roll-feeder slip may require the use of second encoder
Closed loop stopping systems are similar to the open loop stopping systems but they can offer a much higher level of performance (both throughput and accuracy). Whereas an open-loop system's accuracy depends largely on the repeatability of the equipment and consistent conditions, a closed loop system can provide great results regardless of these outside factors.
The motion profile of a closed loop stopping system is very similar to that of a single speed open loop system. The main difference is that the controller can accurately control the material movement so that as soon as the deceleration ramp is completed, the metal is positioned exactly under the desired punch or shear tool. 
Closed loop feed-to-stop machines use servo systems to achieve very tight tolerances compared to other length control methods. Accuracy in this application is often ± 0.003" (0.08 mm) or better. Throughput is lower on stopping equipment since material must stop for press operations, but proper servo sizing based on the material load can help minimize the impact of stops. For more on Closed Loop Stopping machines click here. | | AMS Corporate News |
Vote...
for your favorite operator console input: an HMI/Touchscreen, or a physical pushbutton. To place your vote go to amscontrols.com. It's kind of like American Idol for rollform production operators. We'll discuss the results in AMS' April newsletter.
Eclipse, Webinar Training Schedule The next Eclipse Webinar; powerful, informative, and free to all users with a current Maintenance Agreement, will be held April 14 (1-2pm Central Time). The focus of this monthly webinar will be downtime tracking.
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 three hundred machine integrations during his tenure with AMS. Please email Jaycen today for registration or questions; jrigger@amscontrols.com. 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 include the following: - Learn the generic terms used to describe roll forming machine applications.
- Get a general understanding of the four basic machine applications - Open Loop, Closed Loop, Flying and Stopping Lines.
- Compare the four basic machine types in terms of speed, accuracy, and cost.
For more information on this informative program please see brochure. News From AMS Controls GmbH: March 20 - 21: AMS Controls presents the Pathfinder Graphics Control System for sheet  metal folders at the annual showing at Kaufmann Ulm Spenglereibedarf GmbH in Ulm, Germany. More than 2,000 direct customers of Kaufmann Ulm will have the opportunity to see the latest state of the art Graphics Controller, which can be retrofitted to almost any of their folding machines, giving them many more years of additional operation.
For more information please contact thofer@amscontrols.com at AMS Controls in Europe. AMS to Expand Sales and Marketing Efforts in South America
AMS Controls is looking to expand its very important South American footprint. Interested sales representatives should contact AMS (Brad Poole: bpoole@amscontrols.com) to discuss operational focus and opportunities.  AMS Controls' Pathfinder Controller featured in New Products section of February 2009 issue of "metalmag" Pathfinder is the innovative metal folding machine controller from AMS. It is very easy to use and offers an amazing set of features that will make operation of your new or retrofit machine simple and efficient.
XL200 users can find helpful information regarding error codes that may show up on the controller by clicking here.
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