Within the frame of the Smart Industry (or: Industry 4.0), where the industry uses the newest information and technological developments in order to produce tailor-made higher quality in a more efficient and flexible way, the Nijdra Group reinforced itself with a new production robot.
With this new investment to the further automatization and robotization of the machine factory in Middenbeemster, the output is increased with less manpower and the flexibility is enhanced. Through Internet, sensor technology and new computing methods, in future factories have to be able to adjust themselves quickly and automatically to the manufacturing of new products. Besides, machines have to discover and correct errors in the production process by themselves.
Jeroen Nije, General Manager: “With intelligent factories and customized products made by robots, the Netherlands want to join the international production industry. In Germany they call it Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution. The Smart Industry develops here on a fast pace, but actually we have been working that way for years already. Our Tool Management System, for example, that registers all tools, is connected to the Technical Centre (TC) where the CAM-programs are developed. This means that the tools available or to be ordered are taken into account already during the programing process.”
“Just like many other companies in the chipping industry, we are confronted with decreasing gross margins, rising wages and the lack of skilled CNC-operators. Furthermore, our costumers demand more and more flexibility while series are becoming smaller. This changing market situation is the reason why, with the acquisition of the robotic tool, FMI separates the production output and the man-hours. With user-friendly robotic systems for loading and unloading the CNC-machines we meet the present problems and by doing so we hope to preserve the chipping industry on the long term” finishes Jeroen Nije.”