Page 26 - MetalForming March 2015

Stamping Controls
Evolve to
Meet Current,
Coming
Challenges
Trends in data reporting, cellular manufacturing and good-part verification drive advances.
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR
Like other technologies that couldn’t Communication manufacturing, controls will enable
Across the Workcell
Suppose a metalformer wants to reduce changeover time to 5 min. Of course that means investing in die- change components for the task. But, says Phillips, it also means ensuring that the controls can make it happen.
“Controls must talk to each other for projects such as this to succeed,” he explains. “Today, controls can com- municate with robots, transfers and other cell components. In the past, press controls did not address compo- nents or particular processes if they were not in and of the press. Controls now have expanded their reach, espe- cially given welding, assembly, clinch- ing and other actions performed with- in the tooling to produce a more complete part. They can even alter tooling to improve tolerance on the fly.”
As thinking evolves from stamping as an assembly-line process to cellular
keep up with the times, controls
that only flashed a light to warn an operator of a stopped stamping press have long outlived their usefulness.
As manufacturers have expanded their expectations for press controls, the technology has evolved, and will continue to evolve.
“In the 1970s and into the ’80s, met- alformers wanted a control that would make the press go down and up,” explains Dean Phillips, sales engineer for Link Systems, Nashville, TN. “They then sought more—slide adjust, coun- terbalance and other functions to reduce the amount of time that opera- tors required to perform such tasks.”
Today, offers Phillips, one-button operation is the ideal.
“The operator selects a job and the press controls take over,” he says, “telling all of the workcell components what to do.”
And there’s more...much more.
the evolution.
“The integration of ancillary devices
into a single-button operation so that all systems are communicating—that’s where controls are heading,” Phillips says. “Enter a job number and all press functions are updated—shut height, counterbalance, press speed, die pro- tection, feed length, lubrication sprayers —all adjust to their proper settings. The same occurs with transfer systems, robots and other cell operations such as assembly and material handling.” Met- alformers want a more complete part coming off of the press, driving controls to adapt to the increased use of cellu- lar manufacturing, and to communi- cate more closely with the entire cell.
Gathering and Sharing More Information than Ever
Metalformers and their customers increasingly crave information, for a variety of reasons, and controls have
24 MetalForming/March 2015
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