Outlook 2018: Smart solutions for efficient production

Industry 4.0 is rapidly gaining importance in Asia. The major international players have been tackling this issue for a long time and have first successes to show. Many other companies still find it difficult to deal with digitalization and networking. This is where we see our role to support our customers with their very special problems to enable them to make full use of Industry 4.0 and to accompany them on their road to becoming smart factories. This for sure, will remain one major focus in the year to come. 

 

For all three areas of the smart factory – smart machine, smart production and smart service – ENGEL today already has mature products and solutions in its inject 4.0 programme, which contribute a great deal of benefit, both individually and within the context of a digitalization strategy as applied to the entire machine pool. These products are modular which allows the customers to choose them based on their individual Industry 4.0 status. Be it one module out of the iQ products or an entire smart factory system. Products which are particularly asked for in Asia are the intelligent assistance systems of the ENGEL iQ product family, the remote control solution e‑connect.24 and the MES authentig.

 

Dr. Christoph Steger 

 

With production cells becoming more and more complex due to increasing process integration and automation, steering and controlling them must become that much more simple and intuitive. This is an important goal in the smart machine area. Self-adapting assistance systems play a decisive role in this. They increase process consistency and quality without requiring the machine operator to acquire special expertise. While iQ weight control maintains consistent injected melt volume throughout the entire injection molding process, iQ clamp control monitors the mold breathing in order to calculate and automatically adjust the optimal clamping force. In order to increase the availability of machines and production cells, smart service – among other things – relies on online support and remote maintenance. e‑connect.24 gives our customers access to qualified remote maintenance and online support around the clock.  

 

Customized solutions are currently our main driving force for growth, with Asia, and China in particular, growing at above-average rates. Apart from injection molding machines, robots and other automation solutions, the system solutions tailor-made to meet the requirements of the respective applications include process technologies, peripheral systems, molds as well as software solutions for digitalization and networking. ENGEL unlocks the potentials for efficiency and quality particularly well by adapting all components in the manufacturing cell to each other exactly right from the start, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of our customers. 

 

From Austria to Asia, we are building at almost all production sites to significantly expand our capacities. In September, we inaugurated our new production hall at ENGEL Machinery Shanghai, expanding large-size machine production by 1600 m². In addition to this, the existing office building was lengthened to create an additional 1000 m² of office space. In Europe, the main expansion projects are in Schwertberg and St. Valentin. At the ENGEL headquarters in Schwertberg, construction started in May at the north section of the premises, next to the main entrance. There the production hall built in 2013 will be extended by autumn 2018, and the technology center for customers will then be moved above the new section. It will be significantly larger than the existing center in order to present an even wider selection of injection molding machines and technologies. At the same time, the large-scale machine plant in St. Valentin will be further expanded and the next step is a new customer technology center for large-scale machines. ENGEL also is expanding capacity at its sales and service subsidiaries, with particular emphasis on Southeast Asia. Last year ENGEL established a regional hub in Bangkok for its local subsidiaries and representatives. Further steps will include a new even bigger building in Bangkok.  

 

ENGEL AUSTRIA

Tel: +66 (0) 2 184 2645

E-mail: sales@engel.at

Website: www.engelglobal.com

Image: ENGEL Christoph Steger