Driving the Digital Machine Shop
Once a skill-oriented craft, die-making has now evolved and is considered the ‘Mother of Manufacturing’. Thanks to the growing popularity of India as a manufacturing hub, the die and mould sector of the country is experiencing a major boom. A peek into the challenges and opportunities that the sector encounters, and Siemens’ contribution to it…
The demography of India and urbanization support growth in automotive sector and consumer durables market, driving the growth in the die and mould sector. The key industry players see a favorable scenario: with major OEMs developing and manufacturing locally, there is an increase in demand, especially in the commercial tool rooms. This growth also enables qualitative manufacturing locally and helps foray into global markets. With the market’s conditions favouring die and mould, good growth is estimated in the near term of 2-3 years.
Die boom
Automotive industry is pushing new launches faster and more frequently, which increases the demand for dies. Similarly, packaged products in consumer goods also increase the need for dies in the food industry. Export tool room requirements are also the key drivers in the demand. Additionally, global OEMs developing and manufacturing locally have also supported in the growth of this sector. The quality and productivity of manufacturing is the main element that has supported India to become one of the global manufacturing hubs.
Traditional tool and die making was envisaged as a skill-oriented craft. However, this is now commoditized. This has been possible due to 3D modelling, rapid tooling and high speed machining. The entire value chain of the industry has gone through a phase shift which aided the growth of this sector feeding the demands of automobile, auto component, plastics, packaging, etc. The current challenge is the growing demand for precision dies and complex dies due to efficient designs in product development and challenges in an effective ecosystem which can support these demands.
Siemens’ comprehensive portfolio
We, at Siemens, have an extensive portfolio which covers the entire process chain involving manufacturing of a mould and die product. From the design/3D modelling using our NX platform, to resource management with TEAMCENTER, until machining with SINUMERIK CNC, delivering high precision machining with high productivity and efficiency. With SINUMERIK MDynamics technology package, our new expertise in milling, SINUMERIK is always ready for challenging machining profiles.
Different shapes and designs require different machining operations and the decision often has to be made as to which manufacturing strategy should be used: three axes, three plus two axes or five axes. Convex or concave free-form surfaces with uniform curvature are usually machined with three controlled axes. However, five axes are required for deep cavities or frequent changes of the curvature. No matter whether three or five axes — SINUMERIK supports every machining strategy.
Innovative solutions
Out of the various solutions specific to mould and die, below are the few that stand out.
Siemens today is the only organization that can support the concept of digital twin, a concept widely discussed under technologies supporting the ecosystem of Industry 4.0. This helps to enable virtual realization of the real machine with the help of NX platform and SINUMERIK Virtual NCK. The digital twin supports the user to visualize the digital print of the component from the digital twin of the real machine, effectively increasing the availability and efficiency of the machine tool itself.
The SINUMERIK MDynamics technology package offers intelligent path control with Advanced Surface feature which ensures optimal workpiece surface at very high machining speed. The adaptive features enable the machine operator to choose surface finish requirements with respect to machining times, enabling best surfaces with highest efficiency.
Top Surface – SINUMERIK 828D and SINUMERIK 840Dsl solutions are now available with Top Surface, a technology package which understands the errors in the part programs which typically arise out of CAM post processors and corrects the same to ensure best surface finish and is a benchmark in the industry. By effectively reducing errors in programming, which typically is not controlled by the tier suppliers of the mould in India, the faults in the workpiece can be avoided effectively.
Mould View in SINUMERIK CNC enables the operator to understand the workpiece surfaces right on the CNC to verify the even point distribution of the profile so as to ensure best surface before machining.
Overcoming challenges
The current scenario of industrial die and mould manufacturing consists of independent process chains including 2D to 3D modelling, 3D model editing, post processing, machining simulation, creation of part program, simulation of part program, machine set up and finally machining. Today, all these processes have different standards and different software platforms which do not talk effectively with each other.
There is a considerable loss in productivity at every stage, which effectively reduces the efficiency of the entire system. By adopting technologies which support the Industry 4.0 revolution, the Indian tool room industry can ensure consistent quality through the process chain which is the need of the hour. Utilizing technologies like digital twin of machine for virtual realization of the component near to the real world enables reduced time to market. Integrated CAD CAM and machining enables reduction of errors and effective utilization of the machine tool, further increasing the availability and productivity of the machine tool. Adopting these technologies will help us in overcoming high costs and ensuring that we stay competitive as well as fulfilling the quality requirements of tomorrow sustainably.
HIGHLIGHT: By adopting technologies which support the Industry 4.0 revolution, the Indian tool room industry can ensure consistent quality through the process chain.
Vijay Pratap Singh
Head of Business Development
Machine Tool Systems
Siemens India
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