smart service
New e-connect portal being launchedIn order to increase the availability of machines and production cells, smart service relies on online support, remote maintenance, and predictive, condition-based maintenance. As of the Fakuma 2017, all ENGEL’s smart-service products will be integrated into the e-connect customer portal. This simplifies and accelerates the communication between the processors and ENGEL, and provides a time- and location-independent overview of machine status, the processing status of service and support orders, and the prices and availability of spare parts. To meet the new demands of Industry 4.0, ENGEL has redesigned its customer portal from the ground up. The new version will be launched for the German, Austrian, Swiss and UK markets at Fakuma 2017. The next steps will be the other European countries and the USA.
Ensuring the prevention of unplanned system downtime
e-connect.monitor is now also integrated with the platform. This allows the processor to easily, and at any time, obtain an overview of the condition of critical machine components, and plan ahead for maintenance work such as the installation of spare parts. For the first time, e connect.monitor is making it possible to monitor the condition of critical injection moulding machine components in real time, and to calculate their remaining useful life.
ENGEL has already introduced two modules of this solution; one for the condition-based, predictive maintenance of plasticising screws and one for spindles. At the Fakuma, ENGEL will demonstrate how, with the help of e-connect.monitor, the condition of plasticising screws can be determined through the barrel wall. In the automotive industry, this solution is already being used on large machines.
The second module for the online monitoring of injection and clamping spindles was developed specifically for all-electric, high-performance applications in the packaging industry. Through the new e-connect customer portal, test customers already can use e connect.monitor daily to get current information on the condition of the spindles
smart production
Extremely deep vertical data integrationIn the Expert Corner for smart production, the focus is on MES authentig. The Manufacturing Execution System was developed by T.I.G. Technische Informationssysteme GmbH, which has been part of the ENGEL Group for close to a year. With the integration of T.I.G. into the ENGEL Group, both companies have combined their MES know-how and their many years of experience with MES projects worldwide, thereby achieving innovation at an even faster pace.
Tailored to the specific requirements of the injection moulding industry, authentig offers particularly deep vertical data integration, down to the level of individual cavities. The software creates transparency in order, for example, to optimally utilise the available capacity of a machine park, or to correlate productivity ratios with economic goals. The MES has a modular structure and can be precisely adapted to the individual requirements of the processor. New for Fakuma is a certified SAP interface, which simplifies data integration between MES authentig and SAP's ERP system.
Cap costly power peaks reliably
"Energy" is the most recent authentig module, and is being presented live at the Fakuma. Not only does it make the energy consumption of individual consumers in the injection moulding operation transparent, but it also reliably caps peaks in the power demand. This is made possible by defining situational consumption limits for each individual consumer, and then dynamically allocating the pre-defined power amounts to the consumers. This intelligent hall management can thus help to significantly reduce the energy costs for the machine pool. The module supports processors in the certification of their energy management system according to ISO 50001.At the Fakuma, all of the injection moulding machines at the ENGEL booth will be networked through authentig. ENGEL will also demonstrate how easily MES can ensure the seamless traceability of process parameters. All of the inject 4.0 logos produced during the trade fair will be marked with a QR code. Even long after the Fakuma, trade-fair visitors will be able to use this code to retrieve the process data stored by authentig for each individual part.
Source: ENGEL
