Fully automatic hallmarking for aluminum molds

at Meissner AG

Automation with FASTSUITE Edition 2

Tool Specialist Meissner intends to explore new approaches in the use of robotic systems. This solution should help to diversify and expand the product portfolio. In addition to mold loading and unloading equipment Meissner develops special, customized machines and fixtures. To realize its robot programming objectives, Meissner partnered with CENIT’s FASTSUITE team.

About the customer

Meissner AG

Meissner AG founded in 1922, is located in the rural region between Siegen and Marburg. For about 100 years, the traditional company represents competence, reliability and innovation in the development, design and manufacture of prototype and series tools.

To the customer website

Business challenge

Productivity

“Depending on size, we can now produce a fully embossed tool within seven to ten days! That shows just how much automation can reduce throughput times. And because simulation lets us safeguard the process, the robot can run for up to 24 hours without any manual intervention”, says a satisfied Duchhardt.

Customer centricity

Innovation rate

“We didn’t get that many responses when we presented the challenge to several providers of offline programming software. – there weren’t many who were confident they could do it”, says Marvin Duchhardt, Application Engineer. “With the FASTSUITE team, things were different right from the start – they were all fired up from the get-go. Their commitment never flagged after that, and this has been the nature of our partnership with CENIT until today.”

Customer goals

Simulation

Programming methodology for embossing as an uncommon production technology in the industry
Failure-free uploader (postprocessor).
Eliminate collisions between robot and workpiece or problems caused by singularities.

Quality

Distances between individual stamps must lie within a certain range.
Retain a hand-tooled appearance: high variety in stamp spacing and direction; no repetition of predefined stamping clouds.

Efficiency

Creating a mold tool manually can easily take two or three months because to ensure a uniform pattern, each mold should only be stamped by a single metalworking specialist. And it’s a job that no employee can do for more than three or four hours a day.
But another problem arisesd from the enormous amount of data that needs to be processed.

We can use FASTSUITE to program just about any brand of robot or machine. That’s a great benefit because of course our clients give us different models to work with. Also, the 3D simulation software already offers us a wide selection of turnkey manufacturing technology modules. This means that as our team gains more and more routine in working with the program, they can focus on their actual task – developing new, creative solutions for our clients.

Jan Müller

Plant Manager

Meissner AG

More details

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Approach

The CENIT software service team developed the necessary downloader (postprocessor). The process points are transferred as a data set to FASTSUITE Edition 2 and programmed area by area. The pilot project covered the 160,000 process points mentioned above, but the solution can handle a great many more.

Thanks to the highly realistic FASTSUITE E2 simulation, Meissner can prevent collisions or problems caused by singularities before the robot actually begins embossing the mold. The only limiting factor during production is the robot control system which can currently consume not more than 6,000 operations at one time.

In a nutshell:

FASTSUITE proofed to be a powerful software suite for everyday automation tasks and special innovation projects.
FASTSUITE Team developed a suitable programming methodology in close coordination with the client.
Failure-free uploader (postprocessor).
With support from the Fraunhofer Institute, the team developed an algorithm.
FASTSUITE to program just about any brand of robot or machine.