Focus on the new trend of flexible intelligent manufacturing and jointly explore new ideas for industry breakthroughs

Fastems, the world's leading flexible automation solution provider, successfully held the 2023 media communication conference

April 14, 2023, Beijing - At present, the diversification and even personalization of user needs have become an urgent challenge for the manufacturing industry. Flexible "smart" manufacturing technology that combines flexibility and high efficiency is becoming an important factor in improving modern manufacturing. Advantages and innovation points of enterprise competitiveness. On the occasion of CIMT2023 (China International Machine Tool Exhibition), the most influential event in the machinery manufacturing industry this year, Fastems, the world's leading supplier of flexible automation solutions, held a media communication meeting in Beijing. Mr. Kalle Peltonen, Vice President of Pallet Automation Business of Fastems Group, Mr. Ding Yongping, General Manager of Fenfa Automation (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and its user representative Mr. Chen Hui, Flexible Line Project Director of Xipai Group, and more than ten reporters from well-known media in the industry They shared the development results of Fastems in China and conducted an in-depth discussion on the development trends and application status of flexible manufacturing technology.

In the new era of manufacturing, flexible power is always surging

Flexible production has always been one of the important contents of intelligent manufacturing. Its core value lies in that it can not only rely on automation to ensure production efficiency, but also make the production line flexible/elastic, so that products can be flexibly and timely adjusted according to market changes and customer needs. In the future, it can be extended and upgraded according to the development and changes of production!

"Our observation is that the opportunities and challenges in the new era of 'Industry 4.0' are providing strong driving force for the new development of global flexible manufacturing." Mr. Kalle Peltonen said at the media conference, "First of all, many industries The trend of 'multiple varieties, small batches'; secondly, the global manufacturing industry is facing the problem of aging population and shortage of young technical personnel; and the proportion of high-end horizontal machining, five-axis and compound processing equipment continues to increase. And the industry has increasingly higher requirements for product quality and production automation, etc.; China, which accounts for nearly 40% of global machine tool consumption, is undoubtedly the market with the greatest development potential for flexible manufacturing and is also the focus of Fastems. Focus on and continue to pour resources into strategic locations.”

Founded in 1901 and with a history of more than 100 years, Fastems, a Finnish family company, has always been an industry expert and global leader in flexible manufacturing systems and solutions. Since entering China in 2012, Fastems has always relied on its own technological advantages to continuously promote the improvement of the flexible automation level of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. The implementation of 70 sets of flexible line solutions fully proves the strong strength of its products and solution advantages.

"Fastems' positioning is very clear, that is, it focuses on providing factory machining automation systems to help customers achieve full utilization of 8,760 hours of machine tools per year (365 days x 24 hours). We have a full range of solutions to meet the needs of customer production lines - —Highest efficiency, best production volume, flexible production, fast and higher return on investment,” Mr. Ding Yongping added, “From the tug of the epidemic to the recovery of the economy, we have once again witnessed the strong vitality and explosiveness of the Chinese market. The positive signals sent by the two sessions have made Fastems' determination to take root in the local area stronger than ever. We firmly believe that high-quality development is the last word. Even during the epidemic in the past three years, Fastems is very honored to participate in and witness the success of many domestic companies. To push the level of intelligent factory manufacturing to a new level, many manufacturing entrepreneurs have passed the stage of vague conceptual understanding and can actually select products and optimize solutions according to their own needs, truly making automation a reality. Production services. Fastems China has also built a complete sales and service team, fully prepared to empower more local users to grow and change!”

"Eat soft food" and fight tough battles

A flexible production line can produce quickly and run smoothly, and control software is the key. Especially in the context of the current accelerated digital transformation of my country's manufacturing industry, flexible system software needs to have strong interoperability, achieve seamless cross-platform flow, and provide accurate and reliable data support for intelligent production management at the top of the factory. Fastems is an automation solution provider with strong software capabilities. Its independently developed MMS is the leading management software for production planning, simulation, execution and monitoring in the current industrial field. In addition, Fastems also has a software R&D team of more than 150 people at the group headquarters, which continues to optimize and upgrade flexible software based on market development trends and user needs. At the media conference, Mr. Ding also interestingly called Fastems a technological pioneer that "eats soft food and fights tough battles."

MMS software can easily manage all production factors in the flexible production line, such as CNC programs. When there is a processing need, it will automatically download to the corresponding machine tool, detect the tool, and realize unmanned and automated production. At the same time, MMS can also realize automatic order scheduling - the operator only needs to input information on the control panel about what products need to be processed, how many pieces to be processed, when to produce, when to finish, etc., and the system will automatically arrange all orders and Pre-calculate the required materials and quantity, tools and tool quantity, required time nodes, etc.; and automatically dynamically adjust - when the production order changes, there is an urgent order, or a piece of equipment fails, the software will New production plans and operation lists are quickly generated based on changes that occur, coupled with a real-time and detailed order process monitoring system, to achieve uninterrupted production and minimize the impact of external uncertainties on production.

Fastems’ “soft” strength was also recognized at the media conference by its user representative, Mr. Chen Hui from Xipai Group, a leading company in my country’s fluid control solutions. The flexible production line jointly established by Fastems and Xipai integrates 6 high-end machining centers, as well as 159 machine pallets and 118 material pallets. The entire production line is 97 meters long, making it the longest high-end intelligent machine in the domestic industrial field. chemical production line. "By effectively connecting the MMS software with the company's order system, material system and ERP system, our flexible production line has now implemented an automatic navigation production model from ERP automatic ordering, production scheduling, production resource planning automation, etc. The effect is amazing. Surprise!” Mr. Chen Hui continued, “In addition, the digital twin function of MMS software is also one of the modules that has brought us many benefits in actual production. Through digital twin, our technicians can The computer monitors the operating status of the production line at any time, including machine tool processing status, tool usage, part processing efficiency, etc. In the interface of our software, you can also see a prompt message, that is, 'the machine tool will be affected by XX reasons in XX hours. As for downtime, this is also the 'fine scheduling function' provided by the MMS digital twin, which can predict the subsequent production situation in real time and help us respond and prepare in time. "

Mr. Chen Hui also revealed the planning of the second phase of the flexible line of Xipai Group. This will be a highly intelligent production line integrating three high-end horizontal machining centers and two five-axis machining centers, and equipped with a central tool magazine system. It is expected to be officially delivered and put into operation in 2025. Fastems will also continue to use its professional technology and rich application experience to help Xipai once again break through the upper limit of efficiency and effectiveness.

"Technological development and social changes have put automation and digitization on the agenda of the machine manufacturing industry. I don't think it will be based on personal will. As one scholar said, the present is not the future. Only by solving current problems can we have success. The future. In the new era of intelligent manufacturing, I believe that flexible manufacturing, a 'sword' that contains huge empowering value, will be able to overcome obstacles and create brilliance with flexibility. Fastems will definitely help users break through the situation intelligently. Win!" Mr. Ding Yongping concluded.

Figure 1: Mr. Kalle Peltonen, Vice President of Pallet Automation Business of Fastems Group (right), Mr. Ding Yongping, General Manager of Fenfa Automation (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (left), and user representative Mr. Chen Hui, Flexible Line Project Director of Xipai Group (middle) ), shared the development results of Fastems in China with more than ten journalists from well-known media in the industry, and conducted an in-depth discussion on the development trends and application status of flexible manufacturing technology.