Siemens to Showcase Joint PLM and Production System Solutions for Machine Tool Industry at EMO Milano 2009

By DE Editors

Siemens will exhibit a combination of PLM software, production systems, and equipment at EMO Milano 2009. The combined solution will be presented by Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, and Siemens Drive Technologies Division, a supplier of products and services for production machinery and machine tools.

EMO, a trade fair held once every two years for the world production of machine tools, systems, robots, and automation products, will be held from Oct. 5-10 in Milan, Italy.

The software portfolio of the Siemens PLM Software presentation at this year’s EMO focuses on the workpiece-oriented process chain between the initial idea for the product and the finished piece. The software covers the requirements for sophisticated PLM tasks across a range of industries,  beginning with product development using CAD/CAM systems and the generation of programs for parts via optimization of the post processor and the CNC parameters, and extends to online and offline simulations for controlling and optimizing the manufacturing process on the PC.

“From a machine tool user perspective, this enables the manufacturer to accurately emulate the characteristics, features, and nuances of the machining process in a virtual environment prior to physically producing the finished part, eliminating the iterative approach on the shop floor,” said Florian Güldner, analyst automation, ARC Advisory Group. “Virtual emulation is defining the future competitive advantage for manufacturers by providing a means to maximize the overall equipment effectiveness—the utilization and productivity of high value production equipment—thereby conserving capital resources”

Siemens PLM Software will exhibit its Virtual Machine technology, a one-to-one copy of a machine tool on a PC with full virtual Sinumerik controller functions and machine tool simulation. This new technology will maximize machine tool productivity by eliminating the need to use the physical machine for non-production tasks.

Siemens PLM Software will also demonstrate examples of extending engineering process chains from product design right to the machine tool, connecting the virtual world of engineering design and planning to the real world of the shop floor; and part manufacturing solutions that can be applied to a range of industries including aerospace, machinery,  medical devices, and automotive.

To illustrate the PLM to shop floor process chain, a mold and die theme will include demonstrations of NX tool design for injection molding, high speed machining using NX CAM for NC programming, and machining simulation and advanced post processing for the Siemens Sinumerik controller. The second theme will focus on a complex part, representative of aerospace or power generation machining, with a process spanning the software functionality of NX CAD for part design and NX CAM for five-axis programming. Example parts will be machined at the EMO booth using a five-axis high-speed cutting machine tool equipped with a Sinumerik 840D sl controller.

For more information, visit Siemens PLM Software.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.