Fastems presents manufacturing system with lot size-independent manufacturing costs.
A production in which production costs per piece are entirely independent of lot sizes? Visitors who come to the Open House event at Fastems can see this in practice from 5th to 6th June. The event to be held under the motto “Lot size-independent manufacturing costs – that’s how it’s done” includes several novelties in this field.
This year is the first time that the Open House isn’t being held at the Fastems Systems head office in Issum, but at Norbert Kempf CNC-Technik GmbH in St. Ingbert (Saarland). And there are good reasons for this. The entrepreneur Stefan Kempf working in cooperation with Fastems has produced what is probably a unique solution which completely automates the setup changes of his machines so that setup change costs have been eliminated once and for all.
Automation across different production halls
The automation comprises a storage robot and four gantry robots which supply a total of 19 machining centres via a Fastems CTS (Central Tool Storage) and GTS (Gantry Tool Storage) system. A gantry robot accesses not only the GTS but also the CTS across different production halls so that a total of 5,320 tools is available for the production processes across all the machining centres including the machine-specific tool magazines. This automation system now enables Norbert Kempf CNC-Technik to run its production operations with production costs that are completely independent of lot sizes. During the Open House event visitors have the opportunity to see this impressive automation solution in action.
Flexibly configurable robot cells
Another novelty in relation to production costs which are independent of lot sizes is the presentation of the Fastems RoboCell ONE. This flexibly configurable robot cell which is designed for automating up to two machine tools of the same type (lathe or milling machine) and the handling of heavy workpieces weighing between 60 and 80 kg was specifically developed for the production of small lot sizes comprising a wide range of different parts. The system features a versatile robot, an automatic gripper change system and parametric programming for configuring the robot kinematics without the need for lengthy product change teaching procedures, so the robot cell carries out a virtually uninterrupted and therefore highly automated production process even if there is a complicated mix of parts.
Attractive fringe events featuring big-name speakers
Visitors to the Open House event cannot only look forward to seeing pioneering automation solutions, there’s also an attractive range of fringe events including interesting presentations. For instance, keynote speakers include Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Bauernhansl, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA) in Stuttgart, and Dipl.-Ing. Michael Lickefett who heads up the Factory Planning and Production Management department at Fraunhofer IPA. Running alongside the event there is an exhibition of partner companies.