• Exchanging experiences: Increasing the efficiency of injection moulding with the Arburg host system
• New ALS modules: Arburg experts provide an insight into current and future developments
• Award: “Quality Excellence Partner Network” for ARBURG

 

Lossburg, 05/12/2017

On 23 November 2017, around 100 German-speaking users of the Arburg ALS host computer system met in Lossburg to discuss experiences. The programme for the third ALS User Meeting included practical presentations by customers and partners, for example on how they had introduced ALS in their own companies and the acquisition and evaluation of energy data. The experts engaged in intensive discussions on how the master computer system can be used to increase productivity in injection moulding as efficiently as possible. In addition, Arburg experts presented new ALS functions and led workshops on possible development topics.

 

“Our host computer customers are the focus of our activities at the ALS User Meeting, which our development and support experts from the ALS team have now organised for the third time here in Lossburg. Like ourselves, all of our guests made extensive use of the day for meetings, discussions and the intensive exchange of experience and played an active role in the event,” said Axel Kinting, Team Manager for Control Technology, referring to the successful event, which attracted about 100 participants.

 

New ALS features

The meeting on 23 November 2017 kicked off with the Arburg development experts presenting new ALS functions and modules. Among other things, these included the new ALS Mobile front end with a responsive design as well as the “Mobile Reporting” report client and the new “Mobile Maintenance” module, which makes it possible to execute, acknowledge and comment maintenance orders via mobile devices. The experts also provided tips, for example on monitoring quality with the help of control boards and checking capacity for peripheral devices during production planning.

 

Key topic: Energy management

When it comes to energy data acquisition via the ALS, Arburg concentrates on all production technology, i.e. on injection moulding machines including peripherals such as cooling and temperature control units. The recorded energy consumption values can also be integrated into order- and item-specific ALS reports. Knud Clausen from Econ Solutions presented the flexible multi-function meter (econ sens3) for energy data acquisition, which is suitable for this application. It can also be integrated into existing systems to temporarily record energy, power, current and voltage data, and to analyse and evaluate it via the built-in software.

 

Users have their say

Konzelmann’s success story “ALS Introduction from 0 to Live“, presented in a practical and competent manner by Frank Schömer, Head of Project and Process Management, and his IT colleague Eda Yayla, also met with great interest. The two discussed the requirements that had to be met by the going live stage, how ALS was connected to the existing ERP system and the benefits and added value provided by the host computer. What this shows is that ALS is not only used for detailed production planning of the injection moulding machines including connected Kiki systems, but also plays an essential role in tool management and the maintenance of peripherals.

 

Workshops on further developments

“In order to gather ideas and opinions from real life and to be able to respond with precision to the needs of our customers in the event of possible future developments, we offered two workshops at the User Meeting for the first time,” explains Axel Kinting. The participants broke into four groups to elaborate their facets and ideas on the topics “Digital Shift Book” and “Smart User Interface”, and the support team presented the knowledge gained to the entire auditorium.

The User Meeting then came to an official end with an outlook from Arburg on the medium and long-term activities for the further development of the host computer system. Key topics that the experts are intensively working on include connectivity, batch reporting, predictive maintenance and Industry 4.0.

 

Partner Award from CAQ

Arburg partner CAQ AG Factory Systems, Rheinböllen, had a little surprise up its sleeve: Chief Operating Officer (COO) Carsten Strebel presented the “Quality Excellence Partner Network” award to Axel Kinting and the entire ALS team. Since 1994, this award has been awarded to companies for whom quality management and quality assurance are of particular importance.

Press release from ARBURG