TPT November 2011

S oftware

RAMP – Tube shop control and workflow management IN the field of tube processing the use of CNC-controlled machines has become wide-spread. Machines for cutting, flame- cutting, bevelling, bending and flange- welding can be used more efficiently with CNC-systems. But software can be used to control more than a single machine. In fact, to fully utilise the full potential of modern CNC-controlled machines, an integrated workshop control system is essential. Inefficient flow of material or workload planning, which results in either bottlenecks in fabrication or idle times at the machines, cannot be solved with the purchase of new machines alone. The machines need to be connected, the flow of material needs to be balanced so that each machine and work place has both the materials and the required data for the next work order at all times. The machine should never have to stand idle while operators wait for new pipes to be delivered or calculate and enter the CNC data manually. Nor should the machines receive more work orders than they can handle. To coordinate all the tasks required for efficient production, a workshop control system, like 3R software solutions RAMP (Resource Activity Material Planning) can be used.

Tasks that can be handled with RAMP include, but are not limited to: • Balancing/nesting: the software automatically creates work packages for daily production, based on schedule, material availability, machine capacities, etc. Machines and work stations receive neither more work orders than they can handle, nor less, making optimal use of the daily capacity. • Cutting and tooling optimisation: RAMP automatically calculates the cutting/ flame-cutting order that will result in the most efficient use of materials, and the least amount of scrap. In addition the work packages created by RAMP take the tooling on bending machines into consideration, so that tooling changes can be minimised. • Material handling/transportation: ideally machines should never have to wait for the next tube to arrive, but should work continuously without interruption. In a RAMP-controlled, fully automated pipe shop, the operator of the band- saw or flame-cutting machine can see the upcoming orders, and can request the required material from the pipe rack ahead of time. A fully automated transport system retrieves the requested

characteristics of his bending machine. By doing so, the operator does not take any risk because from now on TubeInspect simulates the results of the changes and shows with a virtual gauge check if this bending process could actually produce a good part. Just when the right settings are found, another real bending test will take place. Therefore, in the future, fewer bending tests will be necessary, which makes the setup process even leaner. Aicon 3D Systems GmbH – Germany Email: miriam.zur.muehlen@aicon.de Website: www.aicon3d.com tubes and automatically delivers them to the machine, so the operator never has to interrupt his work. • Status tracking and change manage- ment: with computers at every workplace, it becomes easy not only to give each worker up-to-date work orders in a paperless environment, but it also becomes possible to track the fabrication status for each spool or component. If the engineer had to make changes after releasing the drawing for fabrication, it is possible to update the work orders immediately. This reduces the risk that a spool has already been fabricated by the time the changed information arrives in the workshop. Getting CNC-controlled machines to increase workshop efficiency is a good first start. But if there are underlying problems, it requires intelligent coordination and integration of your machines to solve them. Therefore you should never see your machines as independent from each other, but as interdependent components of a greater system. A system that 3R software solutions’ RAMP can control for you. 3R software solutions – Germany Website: www.3r-solutions.com

Correction of bending machines WITH the launch of the new software version 4.7, Aicon’s optical tube measuring system TubeInspect will be extended by a practical function: now the operator has the possibility to simulate the bending process considering individual correction values, and to verify their effect on accuracy to gauge by means of a virtual gauge check. can be transmitted directly to the bending machine, whereby TubeInspect allows the connection to up to 100 benders.

However, sometimes the correction values suggested by TubeInspect cannot be transferred one-to-one, for example if they led to collisions at the bending machine or if corrections are suggested at parts which cannot be affected because of solid bending tools. Now the new simulation module comes into play: When TubeInspect evaluates a measured tube as a bad part and suggests correction values, the operator can adapt them at his own discretion. After all, only he knows the actual circumstances and

With the help of high resolution digital cameras, TubeInspect determines the tube geometry within seconds, and thus proves accuracy to gauge. Beyond that, the system shows in detail which bending points deviate from the desired values, and suggests correction values. These correction values

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N ovember 2011

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