Connecting the Digital World with the Factory Floor
The classic manufacturing conundrum is how to make products quicker, cheaper, and better.
The classic manufacturing conundrum is how to make products quicker, cheaper, and better.
With thousands of fastener locations that need to be drilled and filled to complete a plane, drilling and fastening remain the largest areas of opportunity for automated robotics applications in aerospace. New developments are also making robots more attractive than ever in the aerospace and defense space—especially improved rigidity and accuracy in the robots themselves.
Automation development in the aerospace industry has quickened its pace, with the aviation and defense industries attempting to further automate manufacturing processes to meet growing OEM order backlogs and critical aerospace-defense program deadlines.
Today’s products require high finishes, burr-free edges, freedom from contamination, and often close tolerances. Electropolishing provides all of those conditions and more in a matter of seconds for many metal parts. It is a process that has been used for more than a hundred years. It is widely known and the science is widely discussed, but its ability to run job shop lots and high-precision high-volume parts in the same equipment makes it a bit unique.
Advanced simulation, new toolpath techniques aid programming of highly complex machinery. CAD/CAM software developers continue to refine simulation capabilities and toolpath techniques that enable programming highly complex equipment including multiaxis and multitasking machine tools.
The machining challenges for two of the most advanced concepts in cutting tool materials are pretty well known. Cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools of varying designs are being used to cut hardened ferrous metals with or without interrupted cuts, as well as welded and clad metals.
All fixtures are designed to hold a workpiece in position firmly and accurately during a manufacturing process.
Modernizing the smaller shop with the latest digital tools available from enterprise resource planning (ERP) software developers
New ISO safety specification helps automation developers design safer robots for close encounters on the factory floor
Automotive supplier Faurecia (Nanterre, France) decided it needed to get serious about Industry 4.0 fast.