CAD/CAM, controls and factory automation

Manufacturing Engineering, Aug 2002

At IMTS, Gibbs will display GibbsCAM's ease-of-use, and its new Multi-Task Machining (MTM) module for GibbsCAM 2002. The company also plans to demonstrate its next-generation solids-machining capabilities. "What we're developing now is a higher level of automated programming for machining solids," Gibbs says. "When we talk about programming automation, we're talking not about making decisions for the user, but coming up with tools that make the user's decisions automatically. You state your preference, then we do some powerful automatic processing that reduces your programming time. Our goal is to empower people to program solid models much more quickly than they can with current technology."

Advanced networks via Ethernet and Internet connections are making remote diagnostics and machine tool monitoring much more commonplace. Controls and factory automation suppliers are getting together with machine tool vendors to make networked machines capable of much more.

"All machine functions will be linked and monitored at a central point," explains Yusuf Venjara, general manager, engineering, at Hitachi Seiki USA Inc. (Itasca, IL). "The system goes beyond conventional connectivity and will illustrate how programs can be transferred among machines, and how the control system can generate an e-mail message, give alarms, or even page a particular operator. In previous monitoring systems, the operator waited for something to occur before a message was delivered. Now the system warns of impending problems."

High-speed networking will be shown at IMTS by GE Fanuc, which will introduce its 100BASE-TX Ethernet card that can communicate data at 100-Mbits/sec, 10 times faster than Fanuc's current 10-Mbits/sec CNC 10BASE-T standard Ethernet board. "In our connectivity and communications area, we'll be showing how you tie all the controllers together over Ethernet networks to get more of the production information off the factory floor and up into the enterprise system, enabling customers to make intelligent decisions throughout their supply chain," notes Peterson.

Automation vendors also will have the latest in robotics, including intelligent robots with automatic sensing capabilities from Fanuc Robotics North America Inc., according to Gary Zywiol, Fanuc Robotics vice president, product development. "Comparing today to maybe two years ago, it's a much more mature industry," notes Zywiol. "Many technologies that used to be leading-edge, which conservative customers would avoid at all costs, are now being embraced, such as intelligent robots with force sensing, and vision products. Networking, data monitoring, part traceability, downtime reporting, and Internet-based controls are all becoming much more commonplace, and the architectures are very amenable to that."

Fanuc also will show its new iPendant robot teach pendant that can function as a Web browser on the Internet. "There'll be kind of a kiosk of several of these units that customers will be able to touch and feel," Zywiol says. "It's a teach pendant connected to a robot, but you can browse Web pages on the robot or on any other device connected to the network that the robot is on. So if there are other PC servers out in the plant, the iPendant can browse those devices and get diagnostic information, production counts, and it can even browse a robot several hundred feet down the line on the network."