The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern African (SEIFSA) welcomed Statistics South Africa’s announcement that the producer price index (PPI) for intermediate and final manufactured goods increased by 6,7% and 5,9% respectively in January 2017, saying this boded well for profit margins in the ailing metals and engineering sector.
SEIFSA Economist Roberta Noise.
SEIFSA Economist Roberta Noise said the 6,7% increase in the January PPI for intermediate manufactured goods and the 6,4% increase in the January composite input cost index tracked by SEIFSA indicated that profit margins are likely to show an improvement in the sector.
SEIFSA compiles the composite input cost index by tracking a basket of input costs related to the metals and engineering sector. The index (6,4%) reduced by 53% in January 2017 when compared to January 2016 (13.6%). “Within the metals and engineering sector, PPI for intermediate manufactured goods tracks price movements better than PPI for final manufactured goods since the sector represents 60% of the weight in the index. Therefore, the increase in PPI for intermediate manufactured goods directly affects the sector and shows slight recovery prospects for producers, given the 6.4% composite input cost index recorded in January 2017,” Noise said.
Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) announced that the PPI for final manufactured goods increased by 5.9% when January 2017 is compared to January 2016. This is down from the year-on-year 7.1% recorded a month earlier. Noise said that contributions to the January 2017 reading included, in order of magnitude, food, beverages and tobacco products (3,1%) and coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (1,6%).
According to the StatsSA data, the PPI for intermediate manufactured goods increased by 6.7% when January 2017 and January 2016 are compared, down from the 7.3% recorded a month earlier. Contributors to the January 2017 increase include chemicals, rubber and plastic products (2.8%), sawmilling and wood (1.5%) as well as basic and fabricated metals at 1.2%.
Noise said the fact that the PPI for both final and intermediate manufactured goods showed an upward trajectory was a welcome development for the metals and engineering sector, which had experienced a terrible 2016 because of exchange rate volatility and a slowdown in commodity price increases, among other factors. She said the relative stability that has since taken place in the exchange rate and the recent uptick in commodity prices have had a significant impact on the PPI and its direction.
“Therefore, the current movement in PPI for both final and intermediate manufactured goods will help in the metals and engineering sector’s growth expectations relative to the easing in the composite input cost index,” Noise concluded.
Acclaimed London-based, global thought leader and charismatic futurist Sarwant Singh, who consults with many of the world’s leading companies, will address the sector on the Future of the Automobile. A member of the World Economic Forum Transportation group, he sits on advisory boards of Nissan, ATI, Leeds University Business School and others, while his book New Mega Trends has since been sold in over 30 countries. Toyota, Ford and BMW are also high profile automotive companies he has consulted to.
NAACAM Executive Director Renai Moothilal
Singh will share the stage with KPMG’s German-based Global Automotive leader Dieter Becker, renowned for producing the annual Global Automotive Executive Survey and leading research on emerging issues that impact the automotive and manufacturing industry.
South Africa’s OEMs will also be well represented in the line-up of speakers, who will address industry in eleven sessions over two days. Speakers confirmed are Volkswagen SA CEO Thomas Schaefer, Nissan SA CEO Mike Whitfield, Gladstone Mtyoko Divisional Manager at Mercedes Benz, Toyota CEO Andrew Kirby and Senior Vice President for Manufacturing Nigel Ward, Ford CEO Jeff Nemeth and the South African OEM Purchasing Council Chairman John Astbury. SA based OEMs will be amongst the exhibitors, in some cases highlighting localization success stories or opportunities, whilst also being part of a dedicated black supplier profiling process.
NAACAM President – Dave Coffey
Topics at the conference include South Africa’s Automotive Vision and Masterplan, The Future of the Automobile, Manufacturing Best Practice, Transformation, Leadership and Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
National Association of Automobile Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) President Dave Coffey said the conference, featuring presentations, case studies and panel discussions on April 5 and 6 at the ICC in Durban, was scheduled to have keynote addresses from South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies as well as Minister of Economic Development, Mr Ebrahim Patel.
“The Conference is an essential part of the industry’s ability to engage with current happenings informing the trajectory of the automotive sector and the exhibition will be a unified expression of the South African value chain’s manufacturing capability,’’ Coffey said.
Other high-profile participants include Ethekwini Mayor Councillor Zandile Gumede, SP Metal Forgings MD Ken Manners, Sumitomo Rubber CEO Riaz Haffajee, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) Secretary General Irvin Jim, Schaefler MD Marshal Myburgh, Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) CEO Dr David Masondo, Automotive Masterplan Lead Dr Justin Barnes, Automotive Supply Chain Competitiveness Initiative (ASCCI) Chair Alex Holmes, NAACAM President Dave Coffey, Metair CEO Theo Loock, Transnet Chief Customer Officer Mike Fanucchi and Professor Anthony Black of University of Cape Town.
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will host three-day export training workshops in three provinces next month as part of its efforts to nurture the culture of export and increase the number of the country’s exporters.The workshops, which will be held in Polokwane, Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg, are part of the Integrated National Export Strategy (INES) which is the country’s blueprint towards ensuring export promoting industrialization to spur economic growth.
According to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, the strategy aims to increase South Africa’s capacity for exporting diversified and value-added goods to various global markets.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
“One of the pillars of the National Export Strategy is the National Exporter Development Programme (NEDP) through which the department aims to promote the export culture and to increase the number of exporters in the country. The main goal of the NEDP is to increase exports, particularly of value-added products that contribute to employment creation,’’ says Davies.
He adds that the programme will go a long way in creating a vibrant export culture in South Africa, developing a pool of export ready companies, and ensuring that new markets and export products are developed.
The NEDP has an extensive capacitybuilding component, the Global Exporter Passport Programme (GEPP). It is a training programme that ensures that companies acquire export-ready status and sustainability in the international market. It also assists in enhancing the market competitiveness of exporters. About 3 000 companies have received training in different phases of the GEPP since its introduction in 2013. “Interventions proposed in the National Development Plan to ensure that 11 million jobs are created by 2030 and for stimulating economic growth include improving skills and innovation, enhancing competitiveness of our businesses and increasing the country’s export earnings,” emphasizes Davies.
He adds that the training which the dti is providing to business people equips them with the knowledge and skills that they require to access international markets and produce products that have the capacity to compete with the best in the world.
“Companies which open markets in other parts of the world will consequently increase their production in order to service the new markets, thereby increasing our exports and contributing in job creation and growing the economy. The training assists us to expand the pool of companies that we fund to participate in international missions and trade fairs,’ says Davies.
TaeguTec’s large product selection machines any material quickly and efficiently.TaeguTec supplies the most advanced state-of-the-art cutting tools and tooling services to South African key industries including automotive, mold and die, metals, electronics, and others.
One of the industry’s favourite choices when it comes to drilling into everything from alloy steel to stainless steel is TaeguTec’s DrillRush – the versatile indexable drill that is constantly being expanded to provide dependable, optimal hole drilling performances on any material.
The various DrillRush geometries and sizes such as 1.5xD, 3xD, 5xD, 8xD and 12xD not only increase productivity but improve on tool life due to its reinforced edges and coating, which are suitably designed for optimal chip control and hole quality on any material. TaeguTec recently introduced two new sizes – the 12xD drill that produces deep holes accurately, repeatedly and economically and the DrillRush 6mm to 6.9mm diameter range drill heads, which were designed to handle 1.5xD, 3xD and 5xD drilling depths.
All DrillRush products eliminate the needto remove the entire drill from the spindle in order to replace the head – a process that shortens cycle times and substantially increases productivity. For producing cost effective large diameter holes, TaeguTec’s SpadeRush, a recently introduced line of high productivity head changeable drills for large diameter hole making that stays within the cycle times necessary to be competitive due to its optimized cutting edge and unique rigid clamping system, generates higher productivity and outstanding performance.
Available as a standard drill in 3xD and 5xD for a diameter range of 26mm to 41mm, the SpadeRush’s unique clamping technology enables operators to quickly change drill heads without removing the clamping screw from the holder.
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For more information, please contact TaeguTec – Tel: (011) 362-1500.
According to news reports, AMSA is appealing to the steel downstream to join it in a united lobbying effort for higher levels of tariff protection on both primary and value-added steel products.
Gerhard Papenfus, Chief Executive (NEASA)
The fact that AMSA even contemplates obtaining support from the steel downstream for any of the protectionist measures mentioned in the news reports, just illustrates the extent of AMSA’s arrogance, their disconnect from what is happening within the ranks of their downstream customers and the anger amongst downstream manufacturers – for both the 10 percent customs duty already granted (which serves as a slow poison causing the gradual demise of the Steel Industry), aggravated by the ill-conceived attempt to secure a further 30 percent safeguard duty (which, should it ever be introduced, will ensure the rapid demise of the Steel Industry).
There must be no uncertainty with AMSA that there won’t be any support from the downstream for any of the protectionist measures AMSA has in mind.
Since, by AMSA’s own admission, the advantages of the 10 percent customs duty (to AMSA) were insignificant, and in light of the preliminary indication by the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC), that there is no justification for a safeguard duty (AMSA applied for 30 percent safeguard to be introduced), AMSA now canvasses for downstream support as part of their increased efforts to secure further protection.
AMSA would be well advised that, if they want to engage with the downstream on this issue, they should start off by entering into discussions with NEASA, the only organization openly against the AMSA protectionist initiatives, and the largest representative organization of downstream steel manufactures. NEASA has already obtained the support of over 2000 companies who rebelled against both the 10 percent customs duty as well as the 30 percent safeguard duty. If AMSA’s new strategy is one of canvassing support for its downstream hostile protectionist agenda, NEASA is ready to further mobilise the steel downstream.
AMSA’s concern about the effect of imports on the downstream is merely a matter of window-dressing in an attempt to divert attention from its own, downstream hostile protectionist effort. For reasons, briefly listed below, protection of imports to the downstream is simply impossible and will never be supported:-
Many downstream products are already protected at the bound-rate. (The bound-rate is the maximum protection allowed by the World Trade Organization, to which South Africa is a signatory. For example, a steel downstream finished product that has a tariff of 15 percent, had protection of 15 percent until the 10 percent protection on primary AMSA steel was introduced, the result being that the 15 percent has effectively been reduced to five percent. Therefore, the introduction of duties on primary steel produced by AMSA, almost decimated the protection the downstream industry previously enjoyed.)
In canvassing government’s support for the 10 percent, AMSA did the downstream a tremendous disservice and thereby illustrated their absolute insensitivity for the interests of the steel downstream.
Protecting the downstream is an administrative impossibility. There are thousands of products and the time, effort and money, even if subsidized, will never be sufficient and will therefore not be feasible.
Custom control of so many products will be practically impossible and it will foster a haven for corruption, which will only benefit criminals and further enhance the demise of honest downstream manufacturers.
AMSA’s offer to assist the downstream in this regard, comprising thousands of companies, is therefore nothing short of being ridiculous and cannot be taken seriously.
AMSA admits that the 10 percent customs duty only had an insignificant effect on imports. However, while it brought no benefit to AMSA, downstream importers were severely prejudiced by it. The preservation of the 10 percent customs duty therefore makes no sense and NEASA hereby officially requests AMSA to withdraw their support for this duty and to request ITAC to advise the Minister of Trade and Industry to scrap it. This is the only manner in which AMSA can illustrate real concern for the steel downstream.
AMSA is right in saying that if there is no steel downstream, that there will be no steel upstream and vice versa. However, if in using the term ‘upstream’ AMSA refers to itself, this statement is not entirely correct. For the steel downstream to prosper it needs access to the cheapest available high quality steel and AMSA, by being successful in convincing government to protect its antiquated steel mills by means of duty protection, is denying the downstream that opportunity. In that sense AMSA’s interests are directly opposed to that of the steel downstream, and the downstream may well prosper without AMSA.
For the downstream it is imperative, for its own survival, that AMSA invests in the construction of a modern steel mill in South Africa in order to effectively compete with steel imports. Failing this, AMSA will simply not survive in the long term. The ‘winds of change’, confronting the global steel trade, will simply eventually bring about AMSA’s demise.
The danger of any protectionist measures, those already introduced as well as those AMSA is continuing to canvas support for, is simply delaying the inevitable, and in the process causing irreparable harm to the steel downstream. NEASA will do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening.
January U.S. cutting tool consumption totalled $173.05 million according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was up 8.7% from December’s $159.17 million and up 8.7% when compared with the total of $159.22 million reported for January 2016. With a year-to-date total of $173.05 million, 2017 is up 8.7% when compared with 2016.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals reported by companies participating in the CTMR program. The totals represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.
Brad Lawton, Chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group states that, “the early numbers for the first month of 2017 support the optimistic feelings that are growing in the domestic manufacturing market. For the export of U.S. made cutting tools it is hoped that the strength of the U.S. Dollar and the Trump Administration trade policies will not destroy this potential business. We must all wait and see the numbers at the end of the first quarter.”
“The latest data indicate cutting tool shipments are on a somewhat firmer footing in early 2017. The overall trend in durable goods orders and shipments points to firming activity after a lacklustre 2016 performance. Likewise, most leading manufacturing indicators show improving domestic and global confidence levels,” says Gregory Daco, Chief U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. “President Trump’s pro-growth fiscal agenda should stimulate activity by year-end and into 2018, though his protectionist and anti-immigration agenda represent notable downside risks.”
Airbus welcomes the signature of a new chapter of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in Civil Aeronautical Industry between the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan (METI) and the Directorate General for Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy (MEDDE) of the French Republic.
The agreement was signed in Tokyo between Toshihide Kasutani, Director-General, Manufacturing Industries Bureau of METI, and Thierry Dana, French Ambassador to Japan.
With this agreement, which aims to strengthen the cooperation between Airbus and the Japanese industry, an Airbus-Japan Ad Hoc Civil Aeronautical Industry Working Group will be established, and it will meet on a regular basis to discuss technology fields that could be considered for cooperation between Airbus and Japan such as material, aircraft system and equipment, or manufacturing technologies for the development of future Airbus aircraft.
“We are very pleased that Japan and France are together providing support for enhancing our partnerships between Japan and Europe,” said Stéphane Ginoux, President of Airbus Japan. “We see Japan as a key country for partnerships in areas such as future aircraft technologies, R&T and digital innovation. We are committed to expand our industrial footprint in Japan further.”
The European machine tool industry was represented by Galdabini, President of CECIMO and Managing Director of Galdabini SPA in the European Industry Day. As debater in the high-level panel on SME access to technologies, Galdabini highlighted that cross-border collaboration between machine tool builders and technology centres is essential, but severe bottlenecks, hampering the competitiveness of industry, exist.
Mr Luigi Galdabini, President of CECIMO and Managing Director of Galdabini SPA.
“If European machine tool builders want to keep up with market trends, they need to be increasingly agile, develop new solutions that match the changing needs of machine tool users, and focus on incremental innovation, offering continuously improved goods and services to customers. Consequently, technology centres spread across Europe can join forces with manufacturing SMEs and help them in responding to these evolving demands. At strategic level, MT builders need more policy instruments that foster the link between research and business, and they also call for incentives, which underpin cross-border collaboration in Europe and support the internationalization of manufacturing SMEs” added Galdabini.
Mr Filip Geerts, CECIMO Director General.
CECIMO and 124 European manufacturing associations recently launched a Joint- Declaration that calls the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Competitiveness Council to define and implement an ambitious and coordinated European industrial strategy. “CECIMO finds it very positive that the European Commission organized the first European Industry Day. Nevertheless, to safeguard the world leadership of European manufacturers and jobs in Europe, the Commission needs to follow up what stakeholders have been voicing and to come up with a comprehensive action plan focusing on the strengths of our businesses” stated Mr Filip Geerts, CECIMO Director General.
The Joint-Declaration for an ambitious EU industrial strategy highlights that, while competitors from across the world put industry at the very top of their political agendas, develop and implement well-thought strategies, the EU falls behind its industrial policy targets. “There has been no better time to reaffirm Europe’s commitment to manufacturing, innovation and jobs. European associations representing 125 manufacturing sectors are ready to offer their cooperation to the European Institutions” points out Geerts.
Standards on the safety of machine tools are currently being revised by the VDW (German Machine Tool Builder Association). The VDW’s working group for Safety engineering in metal-cutting machining is especially tasked with the Type C Product Safety Standards coming first in terms of importance, e.g. ISO 16089 for grinding machines, ISO 16090 for milling machines and ISO 23125 for lathes.
They all refer to the Type-B Standard ISO 13849-1, in which what are called safety functions are given probability-referenced ratings as models for control chains. This theoretical approach intermeshes with operationally validated practice already established in the field. Despite a demonstrably high level of safety in German machine tools, however, further clarification is still needed, since the importance of safety functions is not yet perceived from a harmonized viewpoint in the above-mentioned standards, because there are technology-specific differences in interpretation. The recently expanded company participation in the VDW’s working group has increased the need for clarification still further, since besides metal-cutting processes, presses and lasering machines were also included last year. The latter have no normative stipulations at all for safety functions.
Insurers take a stance on operating modes
Another controversial issue is a machine’s operating modes, e.g. when the machining process has to be set up and meticulously observed in operation. Trouble-shooting and maintenance can be particularly problematic in this context, if safety features are deactivated for the purpose: in the case of the Golden Tongue (as a manipulatively feigned signal erroneously communicating that Guard doors are closed and locked), the accident risk, according to surveys conducted by the DGUV (German Statutory Accident Insurance Agency) is approximately 10 to 20 times higher than in undisturbed production operations. Now, in January 2017, following nationwide consultation, the DGUV announced a position paper that so far is manifestly aimed only at machinery manufacturers. It is entitled: Instructions for manufacturers on risk assessment of machines and machinery systems with reference to the aspect of measures to counteract manipulation of safety features.
Because the manipulation of safety features, however, is closely connected with operational framework conditions, involvement of the VDW is essential, so that the DGUV’s paper takes a holistic approach. The intention is to present a harmonized standard on the VDW’s Safety Day at EMO Hannover on 19 September 2017.
The “Golden Tongue” is passé
To quote Peter Steger, Head of Electrical Design at Grob-Werke in Mindelheim, “It’s the end of the line for the “Golden Tongue”, a multi-purpose key for manipulating protective features. It enabled staff operators to make the control system erroneously believe that the guard door is closed and locked.” Photo: Grob
Interview with Peter Steger, Grob-Werke, Mindelheim, Germany
In this interview with Peter Steger, a design engineer at the Grob company in Mindelheim and a member of this VDW working group, it clearly emerges how meticulously critical interactions between man and machine have to be tackled in order to master the increased risk involved. In this context, the above-mentioned Type C standards give the design engineers argumentative backing with operating modes defined in general terms (such as Service Mode) that are also regularly addressed in the working group itself. In addition, some firms are adopting their own individualized approaches, in order to avoid the universally deplored manipulation with manufacturer-specific operating modes; this means certain maintenance activities at the machine are carried out only by the company’s own service personnel.
Steger from Grob-Werke in Mindelheim explains how manufacturers are supporting users of their machines in their thrust for more occupational safety.
Peter Steger, Grob is acknowledged as a model company when it comes to occupational safety: how do you handle this issue internally with your own machine operators?
PS: For working safely with machine tools, it’s vital that the employees concerned are adequately briefed about the dangers involved in working with machine tools and about the protective measures for averting them. Apart from the operator training courses themselves, our operators accordingly receive regular briefings on the subject of health and safety.
Besides general instructions on safety-compliant behaviour, the insights gained from the relevant risk assessment of the workplace involved and the equipment used there are incorporated. In this case, for example, the hazard-related factors when working with machine tools and the protective measures that have to be complied with. The protection concept for our operators is rounded off by additional information on site (such as an operating manual for safety-compliant working with the machine tool).
And what about the instructors for the operators?
PS: We additionally send our forepersons to external seminars held by the Employers’ Liability Insurance Association, to raise their awareness of their managerial duties and remits – not least in regard to occupational safety. I am delighted to note that above all our new young forepersons are being trained by outside lecturers, and are thus learning even more about the important role played by the duty of care for employees The experience they gain in these outside seminars helps the forepersons, since they can utilise the tips in actual practice to optimum effect.
So it’s also a tip that customers should take on board?
PS: Definitely. What’s important for our people counts just as much for our customers.
And how does Grob train its customers?
PS: When we sell extensive production lines, we offer our customers training courses specifically tailored to the requirements of the customer concerned. For multi-purpose machines, we have a range of complementary training modules: these include for example, process-compliant programming, helical interpolation and geometrical calibration. We also, of course, always talk about how to handle the machines safely and provide examples from actual practice.
Could you cite a typical example for us?
PS: When our customers are already working with one of our machining centres, we show them ways and options for increasing their productivity. Thanks to our training courses, they become even more familiarized with our machines and learn how to operate them safely. New customers, too, benefit from our training courses, which contribute towards proactive safety and demonstrate efficient working practices. Various measures are presented for reducing the stress on machines and tools, shortening the make-ready times and ensuring full capacity utilization at the machine. This in its turn contributes towards upgrading quality levels. Working with machine tools, after all, stands and falls with the quality of the control system.
How can it contribute towards occupational safety?
PS: As far as I’m concerned, this primarily includes malfunction and error messages on the consoles of the machines’ control systems, which tell the operators the reasons for a machine standstill, for example.
How else do you support users in terms of occupational safety?
PS: We make sure that no hazards can be created by the machine when separating safety guards are opened, and that it can be operated without manipulating any protective features.
This applies primarily to make-ready mode: what regulations have to be complied with in this situation so typical for production operations?
PS: The important ones are Operating 2 and 3 as EN 12417, plus in the future MSO 2 and 3 in accordance with FDIS ISO 16090 Safety of Milling Machines. MSO stands for Mode of Safe Operation and FDIS for Final Draft International Standard. In these safe operating modes, the staff can safely operate a machine in very many functions even when the door is open, using a portable device. They can try out movements in the machine, for instance, without manipulating the production line in any way.
How do you proceed in your own production operations?
PS: For our own highly qualified personnel, we have internally defined the Grob operating mode, which goes beyond the functions of the normative operating modes MSO 2 and 3 that I’ve already mentioned. These operating modes restrict operations by imposing limits, regarding the speed, for example. For everyday work in test runs, however, these limits are not very helpful. With the Grob operating mode, you can overcome these limits without manipulating the machine.
So you’re offering safety without any loss in speed, meaning without any impairment of productivity: wouldn’t this function be of interest to customers as well?
PS: For them, there are already the normative operating modes MSO 2 and 3 that I’ve already mentioned. We do, of course, get asked, to enable the Grob operating mode for customers’ maintenance staff as well. But given the ongoing standards situation, this is not permissible without appropriate measures and processes to be put in place by the customer concerned.
What do you think about the use of electronic safety switches of Type 4 as defined in ISO 14119 “Safety of interlocking devices”, which protect the machine against manipulation using radio technology, for example – keyword RFID?
PS: Without a doubt, there is an interesting new trend towards highly encoded safety switches designed to preclude the possibility of manipulation. This signifies the end of the line for the Golden Tongue, a multi-purpose key for manipulating protective features. You see, it enabled staff operators to make the control system erroneously believe that the guard door is closed and locked.
What topics can visitors to the Grob stand at EMO Hannover 2017 learn more about in terms of occupational safety?
PS: Visitors to our stand at EMO Hannover 2017 will learn more about occupational safety, ergonomics and the relevant courses available. Our customer training team will be there on the spot and presenting courses designed to provide our customers with valuable tips on how to handle our machines.”
Peter Steger, thank you for talking to us.
The interview was conducted by Nikolaus Fecht, specialist journalist from Gelsenkirchen.
It would be the ideal Who-Wants-to-be-a Millionaire quiz question: where do machinery manufacturers, architects, construction engineers and electrical engineers all work together under the same roof? The answer is: in the ETA factory of Darmstadt University of Applied Science. Together with private companies, it is tackling a keynote topic of EMO Hannover 2017, the world’s premier trade fair for the metalworking sector, live and in colour. How can machine tools’ appetite for energy be downsized in interactive coordination with all systems, and how can firms actually put this expertise into practice?
To quote Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eberhard Abele, Director of the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW), at Darmstadt University of Applied Science, “in conjunction with machinery manufacturers, construction engineers and architects, we are aiming to analyze and optimize on a cross-disciplinary basis machine components, production machines, the process chain, a building’s technical equipment and its envelope and envelope from the viewpoint of energyefficiency.” Photo: Press Agency Fecht
In Hanover, the first specific solutions for the energy-efficient production operations of tomorrow will be unveiled, not least by Bosch Rexroth. The company is working closely together with the researchers in Darmstadt.
Professor Eberhard Abele, Director of the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools at Darmstadt University of Applied Science, saw his heart’s desire granted in 2000. The cybernetics graduate, with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, was born in Waldstetten (Schwäbisch Gmünd County), and after 15 years in the industrial sector wanted to build a factory at the University of Applied Science, so as to educate students under realistic conditions. Professor Abele has meanwhile even seen his wish come true twice – in 2007, the bustling Swabian founded the Process Learning Factory (CiP) in Darmstadt, and in 2016 the Energy-Efficiency, Technology and Application Centre (ETA factory).
Training and researching energy-efficiency
His motivation was self-evident to him – while CiP serves as a competence centre for lean production and Industry 4.0, the ETA factory was tasked with training and research in the field of energy-efficiency. It is required, for instance, to serve as a learning factory, with whose aid Darmstadt University of Applied Science also aims to integrate the topic of energy-efficiency into the curricula for mechanical and construction engineers. To quote Professor Abele, “today, all first-semester mechanical engineering students are already being confronted with the potential for energy savings in production operations. In subsequent semesters, they then find an almost ideal environment for trying out their own creative approaches to improved energy-efficiency in dissertations and theses.”
The ETA factory, however, is primarily – as a large-scale research laboratory for industrial energy-efficiency, helping the German government to halve energy consumption by 2050 in comparison to 2008. In this context, the industrial sector plays a crucial role, since according to the German Federal Environmental Agency it consumes nearly a third of the total energy in Germany. Reason enough for the nation’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to subsidise the ETA factory’s construction, its entire equipment and its long years of research work with 15 million euros.
Improving the interaction of all components
It is tasked with holistically improving the coordinated interaction of all a factory’s components and systems – from the machine tools to the building’s technical equipment and envelope, so as to downsize its overall energy consumption. On the same area as a typical indoor handball court (around 800 square metres), there is not only a learning area for students and employees from the industrial sector, but also a machinery zone with machine tools and cleaning machines plus a hardening furnace – an environment in which components for pumps (to be precise: control disks for hydraulic axial piston pumps) are produced: the ETA factory covers all stages of industrial manufacture, from the blank to the finished part.
Large-scale research laboratory for industrial energy-efficiency – the ETA-factory supports the ambitious goal of halving the energy consumption in Germany by 2050 compared to 2008. Photo: PTW
The production of pump components, however, is only a means to an end, since it’s here that new concepts for energy savings are being developed under real-life conditions. The former state of the art has been that individual components are scrutinised separately, says Institute Director Professor Abele. “In conjunction with machinery manufacturers, construction engineers and architects, we are aiming to analyse and optimise on a cross-disciplinary basis machine components, production machines, the process chain, a building’s technical equipment and its envelope from the viewpoint of energy-efficiency.”
Besides design-enhancing production processes, other focuses include the coordinated interaction between the technical equipment and the machinery. The technical leitmotif here is multiple networking of the factory’s individual modules – a heat network links the machines together and to the building’s envelope using heat pipes. The façade incorporates an integrated array of very small tubes, enabling it to react to the temperatures outside, and respond accordingly, either by cooling or heating the water in the pipes. It is supported in heating the factory hall through the heat networks by the waste heat from the machines, though this is also utilized by other systems, like the hardening furnace. “Customarily, the water used for cooling the machine’s drive elements is continuously cooled down again,” says Abele. “This is simply a total waste of energy. We now no longer cool down the entire water supply, we even heat it up a bit to 80 degrees Celsius – for the downstream system that cleans the metal parts, to cite one example.” For cooling the drive elements, the machines instead use cold water from the mains.
The ETA factory also possesses a data network that links together all the areas involved, “We combine the control of energy consumption with Industry 4.0,” emphasises Abele. “In this way, the acquired and edited data, meaning big data, can be used for optimizing the energy consumption.”
The ETA factory is an international role model
But it’s not just in Germany that the new form of downsizing energy consumption with the aid of a research factory is arousing keen interest. For instance, business engineer Martin Beck, Group Leader for Eco-Compatible Production at the ETA factory, is advising a company that’s setting up an energy-efficient machine factory in Singapore. But the expert has encouraging words for small and mid-tier companies too, urging them to take advice from the ETA factory or from other existing energy-efficient factories.
To quote Hansjörg Sannwald, Head of Sectoral Management Machine Tools at, Bosch Rexroth AG, Lohr am Main, “the software will know in advance the machines’ upcoming consumption values, and will be able to shift load peaks against each other. This, however, is absolutely conditional upon open communication standards and decentralized intelligence.” Photo: Bosch Rexroth
“It pays off for mid-tier enterprises, in particular, who won’t usually possess an energy efficiency department of their own,” says Beck. “The energy costs account for around 3 to 5 percent of the total costs, of which we can save 10 to as much as 40 percent using rigorously targeted, holistic, often state-subsidized consultancy.” The expenditure on what are called energy-intensive industries in Germany, says their Bonn-based umbrella association (EID), are particularly high: every year, they spend more than 5 percent of their turnover (around 17 billion euros) on energy.
In addition, the ETA factory (says a PTW newsletter) serves as a large-scale research device for ambitious projects. These include the Copernicus project entitled SynErgie – Synchronized and energy-adaptive production technology for flexible matching of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply currently being subsided by the government with 30 million euros. There are about 100 partners involved in this project, from the industrial sector, the research community and society as a whole (e.g. the trade union IG Metall, Friends of the Earth Germany (Bund Naturschutz BN)). Project Director Abele, who is also President of the German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP) defines the goal as follows, “we are networking wind turbines and solar modules with the production machine.” Alternative energies like wind and solar power mostly produce either too little or too much energy.
“We want to render the production facilities so flexible that they can themselves react to this fluctuating supply of energy,” says PTW Senior Engineer Stefan Seifermann. This is an important undertaking, since renewable energies in Germany were already accounting for 31 percent of the gross power consumption in 2015.
Metal-cutting research – besides a learning area for students and employees from the industrial sector, the ETA factory possesses an authentic production line for pump components. Photo: PTW
SynErgie is initially beginning with seven energy-intensive sectors, one of which is machinery and plant construction. The connected load of the individual pieces of equipment concerned is in this sector significantly lower, but conversely very many more machines and lines are used than in other branches of industry. There is keen interest from this sector, as a glance at the participants shows: under the leadership of Professor Matthias Putz from the Fraunhofer IWU in Chemnitz, firms like Bosch, Festo, Handtmann, Hirschvogel Automotive, Siemens and Volkswagen Saxony are working together on this project.
The means to the coordinatory end are highly dynamic control platforms that take due account of the fluctuating energy supply, and regulate accordingly the energy distribution between industrial processes like cleaning, hardening or metalworking. To quote Professor Abele: “Only when companies know when a lot or very little power is being generated from renewable energies, and the stock market is signalling this by low electricity prices, can they react appropriately.”
Bosch Rexroth: distributed intelligence and open interfaces Versus fluctuating power availability
Bosch Rexroth AG from Lohr am Main is participating in the SynErgie research project in order to develop open- and closed-loop control strategies designed to match the energy consumption to the fluctuating supply. For this purpose, the research project is prioritising distributed intelligence in the actuators and cross-manufacturer interfaces capable of also supporting Industry 4.0 applications.
Decentralized, intelligent control systems and drives from Bosch Rexroth will according to the company be capable in future of scheduling breaks to match the supply situation, and without any superfluous waiting time restoring readiness for production at the right juncture. This necessitates intelligent shutdown and ramp-up capabilities for the lines concerned. Rexroth will in future be equipping the drives, drive controllers and control systems with the appropriate software functions and cross-manufacturer interfaces. These interfaces support the requirements of Industry 4.0 concepts, and supplement them with a dimension of energy-efficiency.
Bosch Rexroth is also involved as a co-initiator of the ETA factory. Here, for example, under real-life situational conditions, researchers are addressing the process chain of a hydraulic component from the Rexroth plant in Elchingen, and communicating how energy can be utilized even more efficiently by using a new holistic approach and intelligent networking of the building envelope, the technical building equipment, the energy storage units and the production lines themselves.
To quote PTW Senior Engineer Stefan Seifermann, “We want to render the production facilities so flexible that they can themselves react to this fluctuating supply of energy.” Photo: PTW
Anyone interested can find out more details at EMO Hannover 2017, where Bosch Rexroth will be addressing not only the topics of networked hydraulics and Industry 4.0, but energy-efficiency as well. “Rexroth’s systematized 4EE concept (for Energy Efficiency) taps into cross-technology savings potentials in metal-cutting and forming production operations,” explains Hansjörg Sannwald, Head of Sectoral Management Machine Tools. For example, variable-speed pump drives for hydraulic systems consume up to 80 percent less power than their constant-speed counterparts.
But where do we go from here in terms of energy-efficiency? The expert is confident that networking based on Industry 4.0 will make it possible to couple all consumers in a production line or factory for optimized energy management. His vision, “the software will know in advance the machines’ upcoming consumption values, and will be able to shift load peaks against each other. This, however, is absolutely conditional upon open communication standards and decentralised intelligence.”
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