To4S is an ideal solution to attain an automatic classification, simple, flexible and productive of pieces cut in scheme of cut 2D

Patented, flexible and productive, To4S is an innovative solution FMS (System of Flexible Manufacture) for the load and download of systems of cut 2D, able to select and apilar different materials, independently of the type of nesting. It has been developed by Astes4, a company with headquarters in Switzerland that gathers the professional experiences more qualified in the field of the industrial automation, mechanical design and the development of software. Through his representative Laraudogoitia Industrial Machinery S.L., Astes4 offers To4S.

The industrial processes every time are faster with batches of production increasingly small and oriented to the reduction of stock. The management of the production requires a flexible system and easily adaptable to the fast changes of production. With the end to support the global competitiveness, the reduction of costs without taking into account the risks of deslocalización, the company has to have of systems of efficient production and interconnected with the system of management. In the practice, a direct control between the departments facilitates the chain of taking of decisions.

In the world of the cut of two dimensions of sheet where there is a need of a flexible manufacture, controlled, orderly and trazable, the company Astes4, through his representative Laraudogoitia Maq. Ind. S.L, offers his new system ‘To4S', the combination of the most advanced technologies in the field of the manipulation and picking. We speak of systems of automation, load and intelligent ‘download' for systems advanced of cut 2D.

Does not matter if the system of cut is of laser type CO₂ or fibre, stream of water, oxicorte, plasma, … To4S has been designed and developed to select, manipulate and apilar different materials, independently of the nesting of cut of ferrous materials and/or no ferrous. Intelligent and without supervision, To4S consists of a mechanical structure of double portal in which there is 4 manipuladores. An able system to coordinate the 4 cabezales accionados of independent form or synchronised. In each portico mount a pair of manipuladores managed and optimised of efficient way thanks to a software, that coordinates the machine of cut, the portico To4S and the automatic warehouse of sheet.

The election of the tool (or tools), the points of goring of the piece, and the place of deposit in the area of storage are totally automated. The composition of the warehouse of tools is configurable and coordinated by the program of nesting, as well as the following sequence of goring and of download.

The tools have of a system of stick fast, able to guarantee the necessary flexibility to download and apilar easily each type of piece, resolving like this the limitations of the systems of common automation. Depending of the size of the pieces and the speed of the flow of work, the system selects with total autonomy the best and more efficient solution for the use of 1 to 4 manipuladores. It is important to take into account the capacity of use combined of tools with suckers and electroimanes. In fact, with this last attains reach a capacity of load of 12 kg/cm², significantly higher that the attained with the suckers of 0,5 kg/cm².

The software of programming allows the ‘active control' of the geometrical complexity of the pieces, his weight, his thickness, the precise identification of his centre of gravity. All this allows to guarantee the correct extraction equipment equipment of the pieces cut even with the combination of the four organs of subjection.

The system To4S is integrable with all the systems and solutions in the market of the machines of cutting and warehouses of sheet (there is not operative difference if it treats of scheme new or already existent), the system is designed to capture archives in the most common formats (ISO, DXF, DWG, etc.) generated by systems CAD/CAM.

Another strong point of To4S resides in the capacity to learn and adapt to the logic of production, adapting his speed of load and download to the speed of the machine of cutting. This dynamic interaction, allows a lower wear of the mechanical system with evident advantages for the length of the life of the components and the consequent reduction in the costs of maintenance. The greater speed of To4S in front of the machine of cut, allows to integrate other operations, such as the labeling/labelled for the identification of the pieces downloaded.

In addition to the productivity of the cycles of load and download without supervision and the optimisation of the spaces by the compacidad of the system, To4S has been designed with a clear green ‘orientation' able to guarantee a tangible saving of the costs of consumption of power.

With regard to the management of retales, the pieces cut remain entirely separate, all the retal downloads with the comb or can cut in pieces and download in container. Also it can separate automatically the materials for his recycling.

Neither is necessary subestimar the appearance of the lower space of necessary manoeuvre for the means of manipulation and the degree of sustainability because of some technological devices realizar: Under consumption of power by means of the use of electroimanes permanent, very low consumption of air compressesed, the system of saving of power that allows the rest of the engine if it has to remain inactivo by a prolonged time while it expects to the next process.

The efficiency of the production has to go of the hand with the process of cutting and, for this reason, the proposal of the system To4S realizar to measure for each specific application. This means to share with the customers his real operative needs, realizar the study of the distribution and the optimisation of the flow of processes. It put it it is not to sell only a system but rather offer a value added in terms of increase of the productivity and, therefore competitiveness, understood in his wider sense.

To4S is able to operate in way no chaired, what means that the programming of the cut can adjust in three turns, with an evident economic profit of an increase of the capacity of production and the consequent increase of the operative competitiveness. A way guaranteeed by the controls of operation and hygiene to avoid the potential human error in the handle of the material to cut. The sensors of tackle are programmed to detect situations of alarm and manage the derivative information of the no satisfied cuttings (no detected by the machine of cutting), avoiding like this the waste of materials and resources. The system also interconnects with the corporate management of the customer communicating that some pieces have not downloaded by defects of manufacture during the cut like an example, when the pieces ‘sueldan' in the grill.

The result earns scope with the elimination of errors of paletizado, the reduction of waste, errors of compliance, demolishing his costs of operation, but also by means of the optimisation of the internal movements and the reduction of the waste of raw materials and/or semielaborados no managed. An approach that allows him promote the reduction of the batches of production, on line with the current demands of the market, to reduce the times of wait man-machine, on line with the vision of just-in-time. And, at the same time, to guarantee a constant supervision of the process of cutting.

As it has conceived and designed, the system To4S is able to use magnetic tools with capacity of until 12 kg/cm², in addition to traditional suckers, in whose case the net half discharge is of roughly 0,5 kg/cm². The different magnets arrive like this to increase until 24 times the speed of flow, what allows to move easily and without difficulty, even with sheets of ironinging of big thickness (until 30 mm), with high concentration of holes, of complex forms, and throw long narrow that traditionally is not so simple to manage of fast form.

The concept of tooling with tie up interchangeable is the technological heart of the patent To4S. The combination of a system of goring eléctroimanneumático provides the necessary flexibility to download and apilar different types of pieces surpassing the own limitations of the systems of automation more common and traditional.

To be able to comprise better how the To4S can be very effective and efficient in the production, is necessary to understand the concept of work of the list of work (joblist). Thanks to the software developed, east allows to concentrate the most diverse types and quantities of pieces, material, asked of customers, groups, etc. The nesting CAD/CAM optimises of independent form, realizar his best work of optimisation of surfaces subjected to cutting.

The system realizar the very organised storage of each piece of work and of the retales, in accordance with the logic of the division situated after the list of works. This means that if a folio of sheet presents free zones, in the same can insert automatically the mechanised of one or more pieces ‘repetibles' (that they do not belong properly to the main batch in the production), but that, in this case, give value to what of another way would be scrap. His management is not different to the normal batch, since it treats them exactly of the same way, apilándolo like a piece more.

The election of the tool (or tools), point taken in the piece, and the point of deposit in the area of storage, are totally automated, although it can access and modify these data of an easy and fast way of agreement to the specific needs production The system To4S is an ideal solution to attain an automatic classification, simple, flexible and productive of pieces cut in scheme of cut 2D.