Blum-Novotest, leading supplier of innovative and high-quality measuring and testing technology, will present FormControl X for reliable process automation at the AMB in Stuttgart and IMTS in Chicago. “The foundation of intelligent automation solutions is process data that is evaluated live or very quickly and serves as a control variable for process optimisation. The automation reacts to the measurement result and readjusts to ensure that the process always remains within the predefined limits”, explains Wolfgang Reiser, Technology Division Manager at Blum-Novotest. “With the new FormControl X software, Blum-Novotest is presenting a solution for machining centres which can be used to gain much more knowledge by continuously measuring workpieces in the machining process”.

While the previous FormControl version (without the “X”) was based on a scenario in which a machine operator works at a machine with the laptop and processes the measurements at the same time, the trend today is moving towards automating such processes, meaning this 1:1 relationship is now fairly rare. Genuine automation of workpiece measurement also opens up completely new areas of application. That is why the goal with FormControl X was to enable real measurement automation on the basis of a modern client-server architecture – this means moving away from pure logging and towards process integration and automation with the help of the measurement data collected by the software.