ANCA and Zoller Data Exchange Helps Fraisa Streamline Regrinding Process

It’s the same old story every day and the pressure is constantly increasing: the first tool must be in quality and rework must be avoided. Scrap must be avoided at all costs, because it is one of the major cost drivers. This applies to both the production of new tools and to regrinding.

To achieve this, it is essential to have a perfect grinding program as well as valid information about grinding wheels and wheel packs. ANCA provides a standardized interface for this in the WheelEditor of ANCA’s own ToolRoom grinding software, which enables both the export of wheel information and the import of measurement results. These measurement results are the basis for all calculations that lead to a perfect tool in the first run. It does not matter whether the wheel data is managed locally or across multiple machines using ANCA WheelServer. This interface can be used to exchange all wheel information, such as diameter, wheel radius, wheel angle, flange size and other relevant information. The interface also offers the option of exchanging only individual parameters, such as flange size or diameter, for wear control. In this case, only this data is transferred via the network and measured. The results are also provided and transferred via the network.

Fraisa, a precision tool company based in Willich, Germany, uses the Zoller Venturion to measure its grinding wheel packages. The data is sent directly to the ANCA WheelServer, which assigns the actual data of the physical package to the virtual package and in turn provides this to the grinding machine. “The transfer of actual data from Zoller to the ANCA software is a game changer for us. It saves us an enormous amount of time and effort,” says Stefan Schaefers, head of technology at Fraisa. 

Here, each package is measured before use, ensuring that only real data is used. Since its introduction in 2018, the system has been implemented on all Zoller devices and the 20 ANCA machines on site. “We are talking about 10 grinding wheel packages per day that are dressed by our external partners and then measured directly by the machine operators in our company,” explains Schaefers. The results are impressive: “Particularly with regard to machine availability, external measurement and automated data transfer have brought huge improvements. We were quite amazed ourselves when we did the first evaluations in this regard and realized that we could save 20 percent in non-productive time and reduce the rework rate by 10 percent.”

Fraisa GmbH in Willich is the main location for tool reconditioning. Around 350,000 tools are reground here every year. The ReTool concept uses the latest production control and automation solutions to offer customers cost savings of up to 70 percent compared to new tools, while also reducing CO2 emissions by 50 percent. This is possible, among other things, due to a very high level of plant efficiency, which in turn is partly due to grinding wheel management.

“Our motto is ‘first tool = good tool’,” says Schaefers. “This only works if we do our homework in terms of data storage, measurement and handling. Thanks to the data transfer between Zoller and ANCA, we always have a ready-to-grind wheel package at hand. The error rate is practically zero due to the guaranteed repeatability and operator-independent measurement. If the wheel pack fits, the tool is as good as in the simulation after the first regrind.”

Steffen Kluth, product manager for digital manufacturing at ANCA, adds: “The measurement on the Zoller and the data transfer to the ANCA machine can be carried out by the machine operators. These are value-adding tasks that have a significant influence on quality and thus also increase the value of daily work. In addition, data transfer eliminates the risk of typing errors.”

The state-of-the-art production methods and control at Fraisa are success factors for ReTool. Schaefers sees this advantage and has already thought about further enhancements. “We are aware that the use of connectivity and automation must be continuously expanded. For example, we want to become even better at grinding wheel management. We have 250 different variants of grinding wheel packs in circulation. On the one hand, we have to maximize the efficiency of our workflows and, on the other hand, we have to ensure that we always have a duplicate wheel pack available when one is needed. That’s another thing we’re pushing.”
“That’s a further important step towards the integrated manufacturing of tools,” says Kluth, “because the data format used for the transfer is based on the widely known XML format.” This standard will also be incorporated into the future specification OPC UA for Cutting Tools, for example. 

Since the introduction of its own modular automation system AIMS 2022, ANCA has developed its own portfolio for digital, automated tool production and is also contributing to various standardization projects, such as the GDX interface or Umati.

anca.com