RSA: Development from sawing line to sawing center
Aktualisiert am: 03.05.2006 08:05
Approximately 10 years ago, RSA was the first supplier to present a sawing line for tubes and sections which interlinked several processings and came from one manufacturer. The advantages for the users were manifold: shorter processing times and increased output due to reduced conveying distances, increased flexibility because of very short resetting times, increased availability due to one person responsible for all operation processings.
In the last 10 years, as a result of the globalisation, the sales and production conditions for tubes and sections were subject to important changes - the same applied to the possibilities of the automation. In accordance with the RSA market analyses, in the opinion of the company, the time was ripe to further develop the concept of a sawing line taking over the well-known advantages as well as integrating current and future demands. For that, RSA presented at the Tube a new concept which can be best decribed by the term sawing center. This new development is aiming at the long-term maintenance of the competitiveness of the user and a comprehensive efficiency going beyond the pure performance data. Here, the main points are taking the dependency of production quality and efficiency off the operator as well as keeping the sawing center open for a later extension by further processings and functions without any problems.
Easily operated: PC control system with intuitive menu navigation
The increasing automation and efficiency of the machines reducing manual labour is calling for increased demands on the qualifications of the operators. NC axes with high speeds and nearly boundless traverse
motions are made possible by means of the CNC programming. Even a higher-ranking structure of the menu requires that the operator is thinking in the rigid structures of the CNC logic. Outsourcing production to low-wage countries and employment of people with a low degree of skill frequently result in a loss to quality and efficiency. Therefore, the new RSA sawing center is operating with a PC control system. Though, in the background, the control is making use of the SPS as well as of the CNC logic aiming at the optimum automation of the sawing center, it is not necessary that the operator has a specialised knowledge. For example just by entering the order number, the total center is resetting fully automatically. In case of new orders only the length, diameter, material, and quantities have to be entered. Everything else is stored in the control system. A large-scale touch-screen, intuitive menu navigation and in addition the possibility to switch over to any language whatsoever contribute to safety.
Future incorporated: Open for later expansions
Further advantages of the PC control system in connection with the concept of the sawing center are the transparency of data for diagnostics and observation as well as expandability. The easy connection to the network of the company or to the Internet allows for example a status or output request or telemaintenance from any place. In case additional processings are integrated into the sawing center, the menu navigation of the operating interface will remain unchanged; merely some functions are added. Currently RSA is offering the modules for deburring, facing and chamfering, measuring, cleaning and stacking. Further modules for the processing of end faces are being developed.
It is furthermore possible to add the software and the hardware for miscellaneous functions such as the material management for the
retracement of the batches via bar code without any problems. As well as options for simplifications being developed until later.
Comprehensive efficiency: From the output to the longevity
"Efficiciency", so the experience of Dipl. Ing. Rainer Schmidt, RSA business manager, "is the sum of all customer demands, machine output and simplifications in dependance on personnel and other costs. In addition to the amortization period it is of course necessary to have a look at the life time of the sawing center." For the calculation of the amortization period not the sawing performance alone has to be taken into consideration, but rather the quantities of parts being produced per day and per man. This perception considers ancillary times as well as the personnel needed for loading and unloading the sawing installation. In this regard RSA for example specifies an output of 5,000 pieces per man-hour, including deburring, measuring, cleaning, and customized packing of the tubes and sections.
"Of course a sustainable sawing center brings only little profit, when precision and efficiency decrease over the years. Therefore, we have attached importance to utmost solidity", Rainer Schmidt explains. Examples are an extremely solid machine bed, as it is usual for heavy-duty machine tools, a saw forward feed free from play during the whole lifetime as well as oversized gear units, motors, and modules. Moreover RSA ensures a worldwide spare part supply and service in the long term.
Interested persons are invited to a test production with their own workpieces, free of charge, at the RSA head office in Lüdenscheid, Germany.
In the last 10 years, as a result of the globalisation, the sales and production conditions for tubes and sections were subject to important changes - the same applied to the possibilities of the automation. In accordance with the RSA market analyses, in the opinion of the company, the time was ripe to further develop the concept of a sawing line taking over the well-known advantages as well as integrating current and future demands. For that, RSA presented at the Tube a new concept which can be best decribed by the term sawing center. This new development is aiming at the long-term maintenance of the competitiveness of the user and a comprehensive efficiency going beyond the pure performance data. Here, the main points are taking the dependency of production quality and efficiency off the operator as well as keeping the sawing center open for a later extension by further processings and functions without any problems.
Easily operated: PC control system with intuitive menu navigation
The increasing automation and efficiency of the machines reducing manual labour is calling for increased demands on the qualifications of the operators. NC axes with high speeds and nearly boundless traverse
motions are made possible by means of the CNC programming. Even a higher-ranking structure of the menu requires that the operator is thinking in the rigid structures of the CNC logic. Outsourcing production to low-wage countries and employment of people with a low degree of skill frequently result in a loss to quality and efficiency. Therefore, the new RSA sawing center is operating with a PC control system. Though, in the background, the control is making use of the SPS as well as of the CNC logic aiming at the optimum automation of the sawing center, it is not necessary that the operator has a specialised knowledge. For example just by entering the order number, the total center is resetting fully automatically. In case of new orders only the length, diameter, material, and quantities have to be entered. Everything else is stored in the control system. A large-scale touch-screen, intuitive menu navigation and in addition the possibility to switch over to any language whatsoever contribute to safety.
Future incorporated: Open for later expansions
Further advantages of the PC control system in connection with the concept of the sawing center are the transparency of data for diagnostics and observation as well as expandability. The easy connection to the network of the company or to the Internet allows for example a status or output request or telemaintenance from any place. In case additional processings are integrated into the sawing center, the menu navigation of the operating interface will remain unchanged; merely some functions are added. Currently RSA is offering the modules for deburring, facing and chamfering, measuring, cleaning and stacking. Further modules for the processing of end faces are being developed.
It is furthermore possible to add the software and the hardware for miscellaneous functions such as the material management for the
retracement of the batches via bar code without any problems. As well as options for simplifications being developed until later.
Comprehensive efficiency: From the output to the longevity
"Efficiciency", so the experience of Dipl. Ing. Rainer Schmidt, RSA business manager, "is the sum of all customer demands, machine output and simplifications in dependance on personnel and other costs. In addition to the amortization period it is of course necessary to have a look at the life time of the sawing center." For the calculation of the amortization period not the sawing performance alone has to be taken into consideration, but rather the quantities of parts being produced per day and per man. This perception considers ancillary times as well as the personnel needed for loading and unloading the sawing installation. In this regard RSA for example specifies an output of 5,000 pieces per man-hour, including deburring, measuring, cleaning, and customized packing of the tubes and sections.
"Of course a sustainable sawing center brings only little profit, when precision and efficiency decrease over the years. Therefore, we have attached importance to utmost solidity", Rainer Schmidt explains. Examples are an extremely solid machine bed, as it is usual for heavy-duty machine tools, a saw forward feed free from play during the whole lifetime as well as oversized gear units, motors, and modules. Moreover RSA ensures a worldwide spare part supply and service in the long term.
Interested persons are invited to a test production with their own workpieces, free of charge, at the RSA head office in Lüdenscheid, Germany.