Hybrid computing systems in Industry 4.0

When tackling a CNC job at Lantek, the first thing I am asked to do is create the complete job, which includes programming all the parts in sub-jobs on the different machines in the workshop together with the qualities, thicknesses, and sheet metal formats of the material.

Historically, different material cutting technologies have been developed for different sectors of the market, each with its advantages but also disadvantages and limitations. Usually they have been developed around a single type of cutting, but for some time now combined methodologies are being used, such as water and plasma, punching and laser or punching and shearing.

An increase in the competitive pressure of the digital environment is forcing us to look for more time and cost effective means and greater productivity, requiring greater efforts in R&D to find innovative solutions in the metal and sheet metal industry. And in this search for better performance, two traditionally antagonistic technologies have joined forces to bring an optimized cutting solution to the market. We are talking about combining a water jet cutting machine (based on mechanical cutting through abrasion) and plasma cutting (thermal cutting using high temperatures that melt or vaporize the material).