Page 13 - MetalForming Magazine April 2023

Industry 4.0
Registration Open for RAPID + TCT, Largest AM Event in North America
Registration is open for RAPID + TCT 2023, North America's largest additive manufacturing (AM) event, to be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, May 2- 4. The three-day event, produced by SME and Rapid News Publications, features hundreds of exhibitors showcasing metal and nonmetal AM technology, including production machines, software, finishing and inspection equipment, materials, and more.
Each day of RAPID + TCT features a keynote presentation along with dozens of thought-leadership panels and inter- active presentations from experts and innovators covering AM trends across industries including healthcare, aerospace, defense, automotive, design for AM, eco- nomics, R&D, supply chains, metrology and more.
Topics range from tips on getting started with large-format 3D printing in consumer- goods industries to the impact of micro 3D printing on prototyping and designs in healthcare.
To learn more and to register, visit www.rapid3devent.com.
Purchase Tool-Steel Off-Cuts Online
Buffalo Precision Products, a sales division of voestalpine High Performance Metals Corp., has expanded its online platform to offer tool-steel off-cuts. Cus- tomers can select from P20 modified, stainless pre-hard holder and holder (United States) and P20, P20 high hard, premium H13 and 420 annealed (Canada). This new feature allows customers to pur- chase pieces of tool steel at an attractive price with the expected ease and reliability of the web shop.
The Buffalo Precision Products web shop also provides precision flat-ground and drill rod, and metal-AM powders. Buffalo Precision Products: www.buffalo-precision.com
Remote Monitoring, Visualization and Optimization of Stäubli Robot Fleets
The new Scope platform from Stäubli reportedly provides remote monitoring, fault identification, visualization and opti- mization of Stäubli robot fleets. Scope— the acronym stands for “Smart, Connect, Optimize, Prevent and Enable”—summa- rizes the nature of this digital solution for robot fleet monitoring, according to company officials, with the onsite platform aggregating, processing, analyzing and visualizing robot-specific data. Users can view relevant operating data for each individual robot system on a central dash- board. This allows, say Stäubli officials, for detecting irregularities or gradual departures from spec, and for taking appropriate preventive action before quality is compromised, components become damaged or the production line grinds to a standstill.
Real-time data collected by Scope also can be communicated to higher-architec- ture layers or databases, and analysis tools. The platform can forward data via MQTT, HTTP response and websocket, making possible connection to a user’s ERP, MES and other systems.
Scope gives manufacturers an overview of the status of all robots, enabling them to evaluate this data manually and respond instantly if necessary, or use machine evaluations for predictive maintenance, with the option of running their own AI- controlled optimization processes.
And, Scope reportedly allows future functionalities and updates to be loaded and used in practice quickly and with minimal effort.
Stäubli: www.staubli.com
Technology for Unifying and Analyzing Machine and Sensor Data
As technology advances, a huge chal- lenge involves unlocking and extracting data trapped inside of machines and sen-
sors. To meet that challenge, FairCom offers its Edge platform, what it terms as a low-code/no-code IIoT solution. The Edge platform reportedly simplifies the integration of sensor and machine data at the source in a manufacturing operation, unifying messaging, persistence and ana- lytics with an all-in-one solution complete with browser-based administration, con- figuration and monitoring, all via common industrial protocols.
FairCom Edge supports MQTT and OPC UA for machine-to-machine communication, SQL for interactive analytics and HTTP/REST for real-time monitoring. It continuously retrieves data from sensors and machines with OPC UA support, and receives messages from those with MQTT support. The data then are automatically parsed, persisted and made accessible via MQTT and SQL to a manufacturer’s specific applications.
FairCom: www.faircom.com
AME-3D Taps
AMFG MES and Workflow Software for Production Scaling
AMFG has announced a new partner- ship with AME-3D, a product-development and prototyping business. Through the implementation of AMFG’s manufacturing execution system (MES) and workflow- automation software, AME-3D will continue to strategically reinforce its core operations to enable further scaling of production.
AME-3D offers services with particular focus in the niche of vacuum casting for production, alongside RIM casting. Addi- tionally, the company offers a number of 3D printing services. In identifying MES and workflow software as a strategic investment, AME-3D sees it as a means to mature and scale its manufacturing processes. Specifically, the company is seeking to improve its quotation speed by reducing manual input, thus easing the ability for its employees to manage higher RFQ volumes and accelerate quo- tation throughput.
AME-3D: ame-3d.co.uk
10 MetalForming/April 2023
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