Tomorrow’s machine tools will take the drudgery out of working with them. A smart machine can make real-time decisions about manufacturing processes, and with plenty of adaptive controls and better machine vision, operators will be able to spend more time on creative work and less time on repetitious tasks.

In 2000, a government-funded initiative began as a collaborative effort among commercial firms, government agencies and various machine tool and equipment vendors to advance to the next level of machine tool automation. The program grew out of two workshops sponsored by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology — a Smart Machine Workshop in 2000 and a First Part Correct Workshop in 2002, according to IndustryWeek earlier this year.

“The project’s objective was to provide better information that will enable management to achieve the goal of making parts better, faster and at lower cost,” Richard Curless, vice president of engineering and development at machine tool maker Cincinnati Machine, told IndustryWeek.

In other words: smarter machines.

“A smart machine is one that can make decisions about the manufacturing process in real time,” TechSolve‘s John Kohls, director, Smart Machine Program, explained. Additional functions include the following:

• Learning so the machine tool can be more efficient for other parts that will be made later;
• Providing data on cutting tool life;
• Diagnosing itself to “maximize mean-time between failures; and
• Detecting imbalance to permit knowing where to place compensating weight.

Further examples of smart machines include maintenance diagnostics on GE aircraft engines and its Genyus diagnostic system for reciprocating compressors, another IndustryWeek editorial points out. A well-known manufacturer of construction and earthmoving equipment has added machine intelligence to agricultural sprayers so that fertilizers and herbicides are only applied where needed. Sensors and computers make this possible.

Adaptive Controls
For machine tools, adaptive controls can save time as well as tools themselves, as American Machinist notes. Though available since the 1960s, faster microprocessors and lower computer memory increase the value of this technology.

For example, “an adaptive machining control system uses a sensor to measure horsepower on a spindle motor and adjusts the feed rate to achieve a continuous load.” American Machinist adds, “The adaptive control system can respond to load change sin microseconds, human operators are usually a bit slower.” Other benefits include the following:

• Reducing cycle times;
• Extending tool life;
• Reducing maintenance and downtime;
• Decreasing part temperatures;
• Reducing the need for manual part program optimization; and
• Reduced scrap and rework.

According to Alan Friedman at Predict/DLi, a machine’s sounds, temperature and motion can tell even more. In his article entitled “The Smart Machine”, Friedman says, “we also place temperature sensors on machines to ask them if they are too hot or too cold. We place pressure gauges on them to see if they running efficiently.” Moreover, “vibration is the best tool to use to interpret what your machine is trying to tell you.”

A machine that is vibrating too much may need a change of bearings or alignment. Friedman relies on ferrography, a technique for analyzing the particles present in fluids that indicate mechanical wear, “to inform someone of the particular process occurring within the machine that is creating wear particles.”

All of this bodes well for standalone machines. However, considering the number of businesses now operating several locations on the same continent, can this technology be easily incorporated into plant systems? Maybe, IndustryWeek has said: “The Association for Manufacturing Technology’s (AMT) board of directors has approved a two-year initiative … to begin a machine tool interoperability” program. Its goal is “to provide a standard way of exchanging information among all types of manufacturing equipment.” The benefits would include dramatic efficiencies, data access and competitiveness, according to IndustryWeek‘s recent “Standardizing Machine Communication.”

Better Vision
So there’s machine motion, sound, pressure, power and fluid condition. And vision.

“Once considered as only a beneficial and desired option, machine vision is now a competitive requirement for categories of problems that can’t be solved any other way,” according to yet another IndustryWeek feature, “Seeing More with Machine Vision”. Recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan reveals that revenue of the vision inspection equipment market reached $2.32 billion in 2006, with growth to $3.7 billion anticipated by 2013.

This trend was echoed by an Automated Imaging Association (AIA) machine vision market study. The 2007 study “Machine Vision Markets – 2006 Results and Forecasts to 2011″ envisions a compound annual growth rate of 4.3 percent from this year to 2011. “Machine vision is seen as a key automation technology” and will become “increasingly indispensable to manufacturers seeking to maximize quality, productivity and efficiency,” notes Paul Kellett, AIA director, in an announcement of the report.

Resources

Making Machine Tools Smarter
by John Teresko
IndustryWeek, Jan. 1, 2007

More Machine Intelligence
by John Teresko
IndustryWeek, Jan. 1, 2007

Adaptive Controls Save Tools and Time
by Lawrence Haftl
American Machinist, Jan. 24, 2007

The Smart Machine
by Alan Friedman
SmartMachine Technologies (via DLI Engineering Corp.)

Standardizing Machine Communication
by John Teresko
IndustryWeek, April 1, 2007

Seeing More with Machine Vision
by John Teresko
IndustryWeek, May 1, 2007

New AIA Market Study Released
Automated Imaging Association

Favorable Performance of Most North American MV Product Markets in 2006 Expected to Continue through 2011 but with Slight Dip in 2007
by Paul Kellett
Machine Vision Online, April 10, 2007