Less downtime during tool changes at Nedschroef Machinery

Challenge

Complex variants, limited margin for error

Nedschroef Machinery (NSM) develops and manufactures advanced cold and hot forming machines for the automotive, aerospace, construction and fastener industries. For NSM's customers, changeover times are a major source of production downtime. Each product variant requires different subassemblies and machine settings, with many interdependencies and little margin for error. This makes both engineering and operational planning complex and time-consuming. Together with NSM, we sought a structural way to better understand and reduce changeover times.

Technologies

Model-based engineering: A single digital model for faster configuration

We developed a proof of concept for more efficient management of product families using a so-called 150% CAD model, in which all possible variants are contained in a single digital entity. By linking 3D CAD sub-assemblies to product family features, variants can be generated automatically. Only the relevant choices and constraints are activated, after which a correct 100% CAD model is automatically created. This reduces the manual engineering effort, minimises the risk of errors through automatic checking of constraints and creates a scalable basis for developing new variants more quickly.

Data-driven changeover planning

In addition to engineering optimisation, we also developed a proof-of-concept for data-driven changeover planning. This tool combines individual changeover times and logical dependencies, with an optimisation algorithm calculating the production sequence with the lowest total changeover time. The exact impact depends on the production context, but this approach clearly offers potential for reducing downtime and improving the basis for planning.

Reasoning and Acting Technologies

For intelligent decision-making and the orchestration of (autonomous) actions.

Result

Less downtime and better insight into changeover processes

The result is an approach that gives machine builders and end users more control over variant management and changeovers. This means shorter changeover times and fewer errors. For NSM and its customers, this means better insight into time-consuming subtasks and dependencies, which supports proactive maintenance and targeted improvements. In addition, parameter changes or design modifications can be simulated before implementation. This provides a scalable basis for more flexible machines and more efficient production, with less risk of downtime.