Page 22 - Metallforming Magazine December 2020

How Press Controls Battle the Pandemic
operators running presses manually for single-stroke applications, and they’ll need to be protected.
“There may be a future need,” he says, “to sanitize equipment and tools automatically using disinfectants or ultraviolet-light technology. With PLC- based controls, these functions easily can be added. Additionally, we may see more totally automated cells, incorporating many of the features mentioned above to reduce hands-on operation.”
The pandemic has forced control- solutions providers, like metal formers themselves, to look at new ways to not only optimize their products for the new normal, but also to ease the ability of metal formers to access and correctly deploy those products, according to Finnerty from Wintriss Controls Group.
“(As industry suppliers), we often can't get into plants anymore,” he says. “This creates a huge information gap where normally either a qualified sales representative or a factory-application
person can visit customers and work with them.”
Finnerty points out how the indus- try, and his company in particular, has adapted through the rollout of virtual die-protection clinics and webinars; the inclusion of operating, mainte- nance and troubleshooting manuals and other print and visual documen- tation into the actual press-line con- trols for access by operators via user interfaces; new control and sensor capabilities to ease installation and operation; and online stores to help metal formers choose the correct die- protection, sensing and connection- hardware solutions for their particular needs.
“That’s been a big part of our COVID-19 approach,” Finnerty says. “We realized that this is here to stay.”
Perhaps the future metal forming plant floor will become increasingly cellular and take on a whole new look.
“Regarding controls, during the next few years we will need to think in terms
of ‘cells,’” offers Phillips of Link Sys- tems. “This encompasses not only the stamping process, but all of the ancil- lary details, robots, welding, tapping, etc., and the passing along of all related information through plant monitoring, and receiving back data to improve on the fly. Also, we may move toward inte- gration with other smart-manufactur- ing tools such as augmented reality (AR), where operators are trained via AR glasses that display maintenance items, tooling setup and basic opera- tion where tags are emblazoned on the machines to indicate locations and ori- entation. And (for metal forming in general), as additive manufacturing increases in speed and throughput, machines will employ additive and subtractive processes, combined into a single hybrid process.” MF
Read the online version of this article at www.metalformingmagazine.com for details on the latest control products available from the suppliers referenced here.
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20 MetalForming/December 2020
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