With the standard W4.0 digital and cloud connectivity, the WEINIG product world already secures you all options for networked production. With the new business unit “Automation & Digital Business” WEINIG is now also driving the digitized future internally.
Group photo with Jochen Ganz
The new business unit “Automation & Digital Business” creates optimal structures for the efficient handling of future challenges. CEO Wolfgang Pöschl: “With this decision, we are strategically and organizationally aligning our company to the future, which will be characterized by a greater significance of project business and digitization.” Consequently, the new company unit will be positioned in Weinig Concept GmbH & Co KG, which bundles Weinig’s engineering activities. Jochen Ganz, who is currently head of the product unit Service, was appointed managing director of the new business unit. As part of Concept, he will act as the second head alongside Dr. Otto Leible, who will continue to head Engineering, his traditional field of responsibility. Initially, the head of the product unit Service will continue to work until his successor is settled.
The establishment of the new business unit Automation & Digital Business is already the third major WEINIG initiative in the Industry 4.0 area in a short time. Following the introduction of the W4.0 digital standard in Weinig’s own product world, the digital alliance MindSphere World was co-founded in January this year. Under the leadership of Siemens AG, the members of the organization work together on the cloud-based Siemens IoT operating system MindSphere. Access to the uniform platform helps WEINIG to further develop W4.0 digital and optimize it for your benefit. Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Gregor Baumbusch: “The customer benefit will remain an outstanding and unique strength of WEINIG on the market even in the age of digitization.”
The new business unit “Automation & Digital Business” creates optimal structures for the efficient handling of future challenges. CEO Wolfgang Pöschl: “With this decision, we are strategically and organizationally aligning our company to the future, which will be characterized by a greater significance of project business and digitization.” Consequently, the new company unit will be positioned in Weinig Concept GmbH & Co KG, which bundles Weinig’s engineering activities. Jochen Ganz, who is currently head of the product unit Service, was appointed managing director of the new business unit. As part of Concept, he will act as the second head alongside Dr. Otto Leible, who will continue to head Engineering, his traditional field of responsibility. Initially, the head of the product unit Service will continue to work until his successor is settled.
The establishment of the new business unit Automation & Digital Business is already the third major WEINIG initiative in the Industry 4.0 area in a short time. Following the introduction of the W4.0 digital standard in Weinig’s own product world, the digital alliance MindSphere World was co-founded in January this year. Under the leadership of Siemens AG, the members of the organization work together on the cloud-based Siemens IoT operating system MindSphere. Access to the uniform platform helps WEINIG to further develop W4.0 digital and optimize it for your benefit. Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Gregor Baumbusch: “The customer benefit will remain an outstanding and unique strength of WEINIG on the market even in the age of digitization.”
Durgin and Crowell Lumber Company Inc. is a well-known player in the North American market due to the high quality of its products and its passion for wood as a material. The expanding planing mill has invested in an economical overall solution from WEINIG for the processes from production planning to production.
Good reputation obliges. The successful Durgin and Crowell planing mill in Springfield has therefore gone deep into WEINIG system technology. Centered on two powerful Powermat 2500s, the company has built up a periphery that offers everything that makes for efficient production: High throughput, process reliability and flexibility. The two Powermat 2500 moulders can be operated in parallel at a feed speed of 200 m/min each. To enable this high throughput, the company relies fully on WEINIG competence in the field of tool grinding machines. Durgin and Crowell have purchased two fully automated Rondamat 1000 CNCs, which supply both moulders with ground tools. An important argument in favour of the purchase was the unmanned operation of the CNC-controlled grinding machines, which ensures consistently high quality regardless of the operator.
The Rondamat 1000 is part of the WEINIG System Plus, with which Durgin and Crowell link all process steps from the product idea to the finished profile. The MoulderMaster software enables the creation and management of profiles and tools. With the OptiControl Digital, tools are measured without contact, which is essential for an exact adjustment of the machine and thus for smooth profile production.
The German company Strobel is an ambitious window manufacturer. And with WEINIG technology it has bought virtually permanent progress. Now WEINIG found an innovative solution for producing mouldings in the family business.
The heart of the wooden window production line at Strobel is a fully automated WEINIG Conturex Compact CNC center with 32 axes. The company has a very high number of profiles in its range and manufactures to order, i.e. in small batch sizes. Accordingly, it requires a high degree of flexibility and minimal set-up times for high cost-effectiveness. A separate solution was sought for the production of mouldings that could meet the highest demands.
A strong system
The company chose the WEINIG moulder Powermat 1500. With the PowerLock tool that can be changed within seconds and the powerful PowerCom Plus controller, the Powermat 1500 is ideally suited to Strobel’s requirements. The customer machine offers variable machining possibilities with 8 spindles. A special feature is the pure design for profiling Strobel’s complete range of mouldings all around windows and beyond. These include above all glazing beads, sash bars, weatherboards, window stops, roller slats and slats for front doors.
Innovative software
With the aim of maximum efficiency, WEINIG developed a special software solution for variable mouldings for Strobel. The basic idea is that only the basic profile is stored in the profile list, although the customer produces the same profiles in a variety of dimensions.
In order to maintain an overview and still be able to produce the required profile quickly, the customer first calls up the basic profile in the PowerCom Plus controller and then specifies the finished profile dimensions (width and height). These parameters are used to automatically calculate the required spindle positions and to position the spindles fully automatically.
And most importantly: The spindle positions are calculated using stored formulas, because some of the profiles move through the machine in a different position. This is illustrated by the following example:
The finished profile has dimensions of 51 x 36 mm, but when guided through the moulder, the reference surface results in dimensions of 57.04 x 35.09 mm for the left and the upper spindle. Exactly these spindle positions are calculated automatically by stored formulas (see the PowerCom Plus screenshot).
Numerous benefits
For the customer, the new software saves time both when creating a new profile and when retrieving a profile, because searching the profile list is much easier and scaling is very simple and fast. In addition, the customer can create new profiles and store the corresponding formulas in PowerCom Plus. Despite the extreme variance of the profiles (some of which differ only in their dimensions), the customer achieves a very high degree of flexibility and short set-up times.
Communication solutions within W4.0 Digital represent an important step in this direction. Here, we tell you what networked production can do when it comes to cutting.
In cutting, the WEINIG W4.0 Digital standard enables communication with the multi-blade buzz saws VarioRip, ProfiRip 340/450, KR610 as well as the longitudinal circular saw FlexiRip and the cross-cut saws from the OptiCut series. The saws are connected from the office PC via CSV files.
The cutting lists/commissions can be processed directly by the electronic control units ProfiCut Direct / OptiCom Pro. It is also possible to export files from the control units. In this way, real-time statistics, quantities, running metres, etc. can be queried from the office at any time. The WEINIG Machine Monitor provides you with a convenient evaluation of your machine data.
With the aid of the piece number monitoring, only the amount of wood on the optimizing buzz saw that is needed for the current commission is cut to size. The standard interface of W4.0 Digital allows cutting lists to be entered centrally at the OptiCom control of the OptiCom cross-cut saw and to be automatically transferred to the ProfiCut Direct electronic control unit of the ProfiRip multi-blade buzz saw. A VPN connection for services is also possible, of course.
