Robotic Solutions, IOT and Automatic Machines In Glass Grinding

We are now in the fourth industrial revolution, a real evolution in the way of "making industry" and how to understand the related processes of organization and production. Using the term "industry 4.0" we indicate this trend now fully underway that plans to integrate industrial automation and new production technologies to improve working conditions and increase the productivity and quality of a company’s plants.

This revolution has also overwhelmed the world of glass processing: relying on solutions that automate activities and increase production flexibility, the glassworks can entrust to automatic systems the most repetitive operations moving the staff towards tasks of greater responsibility and, at the same time, they can connect the different machines to allow a complete integration and a coordinated production process. Bringing your company into the world of Industry 4.0 means being more competitive on the market and taking a leap into the future, beating the competition on time.

What we have seen so far can be achieved thanks to several solutions, including the"Internet of Things"a path of technological development that, through the Internet, makes each object with its own identity in the digital world... grinding machines included! Specifically, in Lattuada, this is achieved thanks to the PLM IOT i-Like Machines software that allows you to connect the machines to each other, achieve constant production monitoring and always have workflow data at hand thanks to an intuitive and user-friendly interface. Choosing a Lattuada straight line edging machine equipped with our software will allow your glassworks to monitor in real time the production cycle, be alerted in case of malfunction, optimize the production of the plants and reduce machine downtime.

TheAutomation in the world of glass processing also goes from making machines automatic thanks to the integration of exclusive systems that make autonomous the operations; for this reason in Lattuada we have developed the A-WR system that introduces a fully automatic wheel adjustment management and the i-AL system, a complete package of mechanical, electronics and software components specifically designed to offer maximum automation in glass processing and complete integration with the entire production system. .

And this is not all! In the world of industry 4.0 applied to glass processing, Robots are now the protagonists: fully automatic machines capable of carrying out most of the operations usually carried out by technicians and able to work synergistically with humans. To achieve this result, for several years at Lattuada we have started a collaboration with the German company Knitell Glassthanks to which we can include in our production lines the robot KUKA capable of performing tasks such as edge detection, automatic glass measurement and capable of moving glass sheets from one machine to another without operator intervention.

Already in 2017, at the Vitrum fair, we brought to the attention of Italian and European glassmakers a solution that integrates the robot KUKA and two straight-line edgers Lattuada:In this case we had two straight-line edgers with 11 grinding wheels, a fully automatic glass measuring device and a KUKA robot to connect the two machines. Thanks to this type of integration it was possible to obtain an automatic adjustment of the working speed according to the size of the glass, a continuous production and a possibility of glass rotation of 90° or 180°. A real innovation that allowed, already 6 years ago, to streamline the workload of operators and obtain a controlled production in all aspects!

Today, the synergy between the KUKA multi-axis articulated robots and the new models of fully automatic Lattuada grinding machines allows a significant increase in productivity, a reduction in process costs and greater safety for the operator especially when processing large glass sheets.

Do you want to take your glassware into the future? Here are the main advantages you can get:

• improve automation of the glass grinding process
• lower production costs by reducing downtime
• standardize grinding quality and increase production at the same time
• increase the flexibility of machinery
• reduce production risks by minimize man-machine interaction

Enter the world of industry 4.0 related to glass grinding: contact us and together we will find the best solution for your reality!

Source: Adelio Lattuada Srl - Blog