WELCOME TO THE SMART FACTORY

Okuma Europe is pleased with the outcome of their Smart Factory Open House. From October 25 to October 27 the machine tool manufacturer welcomed more than 200 visitors at their European headquarters in Germany to explore the latest solutions in automated CNC machining. The event offered valuable insight into new technologies for unmanned production to allow for more flexible production planning, shortened deliveries, higher efficiency and reduced costs.      

The fourth industrial revolution calls for new machining and software solutions to handle ‘big data’ in a smart factory. Okuma illustrated their approach to dealing with communication in a state-of-the-art production facility, incorporating know-how from Okuma’s self-contained start-to-finish factory “Dream Site 1” in Japan as well as other notable collaborations with customers around the world. For demonstration purposes, the CNC manufacturer transformed their showroom into a smart factory by network connecting all of the machines on display.

Guests were treated to a variety of machining demonstrations on a wide range of Okuma’s extensive fleet of machine tools. Live machining ranged from portrait milling to gear machining on Okuma’s multitasking machines. Real-time data monitoring allowed demonstrations of product and information tracking, tool data handling and more. By visualising essential data, such as utilisation, machining history and machine status, Okuma strives to take productivity to the next level. Via a central monitor the guests were able to observe the communication between the individual machine tools, the CNC controls and Okuma’s Intelligent Technology software.

Presentations covered concepts for automated production cell management, which have been realised with renowned reference customers. These projects included the successful integration of an Okuma multitasking machine and custom software solutions into a fully automated robotic cell: The entire process occurs completely unmanned, including changeovers from one type of workpiece to another, tool changes, clamping equipment changes and workpiece changeovers within the current batch.

Over the course of three days, visitors from 20 different countries came to experience Okuma’s smart factory solutions and the benefits for their individual industries. In addition to presentations and machining demos, guided tours around the facility and individual discussions with Okuma experts left nothing to be desired.