• Advanced Manufacturing

5 challenges for the metal and sheet metal cutting industry

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Ultimately, the crux of the matter is to optimize plant production in order to mass-produce customized parts without increasing costs and while also boosting productivity, that’s why using Industry 4.0 enabling technologies is vital. We’re talking about both the sensorization of plants with Internet of Things (IoT) technology and advanced software developed using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning hosted in Cloud environments.

Software for the coexistence of different sheet metal cutting machines at the same plant

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Typically, a second machine tool is added to plants in an attempt to increase production and/or diversify. However, we are also seeing it as a phenomenon aimed at resolving the issue with small series. This occurs when there’s a machine with a large automated production capacity which is expensive to interrupt in order to manufacture small series. To cover this gap and avoid interrupting serial production, many factories use an additional, cheaper machine, without automation but with greater availability.

Smart pricing

  • Advanced Manufacturing
It is generally quite difficult to know exactly how much each process contributes to a product’s value chain. The sheet metal world is not immune to the difficulty of estimating the right price for the product. There is an infinite number of processes that add value to a product: material used, scrap generated, cutting time, consumables used, labor associated with production, miscellaneous indirect costs, etc.