Green manufacturing
The Gimo, Sweden production facility of Sandvik Coromant, a leader in the design and manufacture of premium metal-cutting tools and machining technology, is tapping into the extensive benefits of VERICUT Force™ from CGTech. The company is using this advanced physics-based software, which analyses and optimises cutting conditions during component machining, to deliver significant savings in both cycle time and energy consumption. The results are nothing short of impressive. Energy efficiency in full ‘Force’ at Sandvik Coromant
Sandvik Coromant’s Gimo production plant manufactures tool bodies (holders) for indexable- insert cutters used in milling, drilling and turning operations. Gimo is no ordinary plant. In 2019, the World Economic Forum recognised the factory as just one of 16 digital ‘lighthouses’ worldwide for the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). And it is clear to see why. The Gimo site is up and running 8,760 hours per year and features extensive automation. In fact, the whole night shift is unmanned, operated by hundreds of industrial robots and automated guided vehicles (AGVs). Furthermore, a digital ‘thread’ runs throughout the factory that automates everything from customer order to despatch, with data feedback from production to the company’s systems supporting process
analysis and continuous improvement. VERICUT ensures stable processes, which are essential for unmanned operations. The site has been a VERICUT user for over 10 years, recording no machine crashes in that time. Now, the Gimo factory is introducing VERICUT Force for program optimisation to this part of its automated process. At Gimo, the whole set-up simply runs by itself in the plant’s specially created automated batch mode environment. There are no design engineers or production engineers sitting in front of CADCAM stations. Instead, the system determines everything automatically, including workpiece material and lead-time requirements. While machining optimisation using VERICUT Force serves to reduce cycle time, the Gimo site wants to leverage the benefits of this increasingly
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