A survey by McKinsey showed that in manufacturing, approximately 749 billion hours are worked each year around the world. Of these, about 60% (478 billion hours) were automatable or at least semi-automatable with existing technology. Imagine if even a small number of those 478 billion labor hours were converted to planning, analysis and strategy hours.

Thomson Mathew, ANCA software product manager said, “To remain competitive in tool manufacturing, more and more businesses are looking for automation or semi-automation. Taking the time to set up the infrastructure smartly is delivering significant business advantages such as improved productivity, better access to machine data and lower production costs.”

“ANCA has an extensive range of products and features that enable our customers to run Smart Factories. One of these is our iView measuring system that can measure the ground tool in its original clamping inside the grinding machine. This feature has recently been further enhanced with a new camera bracket design that allows operators to visually inspect and perform manual measuring of parameters like endface land width, lip distances, chisel angles and more,” Thomson concluded.  

Tool manufacturers use iView to take an image of the ground tool using the iView camera and then compare the data with an ideal overlay profile generated by the iView software without having to take the tool out of the grinding machine. This means faster set up time and better accuracy as the ground tool is checked against the tool requirements in one set up.

iView is accurate to 0.002 mm (<0.0001”) to allow accurate comparison and measurement of the actual cutting tool against the profile. The technology automatically compensates the tool based on the overlay and profile error it is adjusted and re-ground. This process also eliminates any accuracy loss that can occur when tools are transferred between grinding and measuring machines.  

Versatile and accurate one iView camera can be used across multiple machines in the MX, TX and GX/FastGrind range. The new bracket assembly allows the iView camera to be mounted horizontally, inside machines. This means that operators can visually inspect the endface, as well as perform manual measuring functions on endface land widths, lip distances and chisel angles.

This design can be used with existing iView cameras in the field, as well as new camera assemblies. The camera slides on to the adaptor plate mounted inside the machine, and is tightly clamped for measurements.