Step by step to the smart factory

Bystronic has presented the networked world of sheet metal processing at the EuroBLECH 2018 exhibition. Under the motto, “World Class Manufacturing”, customers and visitors experienced live integrated automation and new software solutions for laser cutting and bending are heading.

In time for EuroBLECH 2018, the company has systematically drove forward the vision of “World Class Manufacturing”. This is based on a comprehensive range of new products and services with which Bystronic is gearing its users’ process landscape towards networked production. “We accompany our customers step by step on the path to the smart factory,” explains Bystronic CEO Alex Waser.

With World Class Manufacturing, Bystronic describes the matching supporting program. It features innovative solutions that go far beyond the conventional idea of a machine tool. It’s about fusing the individual processes relating to laser cutting and bending into a network of intelligent components, Alex Waser says. Users can thus achieve a higher degree of flexibility and transparency in their production environment. Both are important prerequisites in order to manufacture products faster, more cost-effectively, and more intelligently than ever before.

With flexible system solutions, Bystronic is expanding the rules of the game in the field of sheet metal processing. In future, users will be able to produce small series or individual mass-produced products at conditions similar to standardized high-volume series.

In future, thanks to new software solutions, users are able to create quotes more rapidly, plan their production processes in an efficient manner, and make the best possible use of their resources. Live monitoring systems represent an additional building block. They provide users with real-time information about the running processing steps from their production environment. All this results in the optimisation of costs and processes. And this in turn, is the prerequisite for growth and sustainable competitive success.

With flexible system solutions, Bystronic is expanding the rules of the game in the field of sheet metal processing. Until now, there was always a trade-off between fast and versatile. In future, users will be able to produce small series or individual mass-produced products at conditions similar to standardised high-volume series. “With the new generation of our cutting and bending systems, users can adapt their processes much more easily and thus respond more quickly to their customers’ requirements,” Alex Waser says.

The integrated automation of production steps is another key success factor. To achieve this, Bystronic uses modular solutions for the material handling in the field of laser cutting. Automation systems that grow with the customers’ requirements and with increasing laser output. In the field of bending, Bystronic is driving forward the development of flexible automation modules that enable fast transitions between automated and manual manufacturing.

Service remains another key issue for Bystronic. Within the networked production environment, upstream and downstream production steps are interdependent. This makes process reliability and the preventive maintenance of all integrated systems more critical than ever before. New service solutions help users increase the efficiency and process quality of their production.