TPT September 2024

TECHNOLOGY

Autonomous bending that improves productivity and competitiveness

Autonomous bending enhances the adaptability of production processes, allows companies to respond quickly to market changes and reduces operating costs. These technological advances result in an unparalleled combination of efficiency and quality that will transform steel production in the long term. At the heart of the EVO machine is the BENDtronic ® control system, which enables an autonomous bending process. This intelligent technology compensates for material fluctuations, increases independence in supplier selection and allows rapid adjustments to new product requirements. The automation of the bending process relieves operators and simplifies programming and operation.

AI Sweden, Sweden’s national centre for applied AI, states that “AI is a very powerful technology that will be able to help us optimise and make everyday tasks much more efficient”. Lars Fagerholm, executive vice president of Maillefer Group, in a recent interview, explained that: “AI plays a major role in over half of what we do in R&D here at Maillefer nowadays. It’s a powerful tool that helps us refine processes, optimise production and ultimately deliver superior results for our clients.” In essence, AI’s goal is to reproduce automatic actions by imitating human behaviour. In the metal industry, there are still plenty of tasks that can be automated. This does not necessarily mean reducing staff, but rather achieving surplus time that can be used to bring greater value to companies. Quality assurance is a domain where artificial intelligence adds big power to dramatically improve processes and products. ISEND has been working with AI since 2014, when the EDDYEyes HAEUSLER AG has introduced autonomous bending, a technology that aims to maximise productivity, reduces costs and enhance competitiveness. Companies in metalworking are faced with the necessity to increase productivity while reducing expenditure. They encounter various challenges: continuous quality optimisation is crucial to remain competitive and production times, as well as downtimes, must be minimised. Additionally, the shortage of skilled workers hampers growth and can lead to quality degradation, while high scrap levels unnecessarily increase costs and harm the environment. These factors demand innovative solutions that improve efficiency and sustainability. The innovative technology has one clear feature compared to conventional production methods: accuracy. The new

“autonomous bending” process from Haeusler AG can bend to less than 1 per cent accuracy without correction by the operator. Conventional machines can achieve no less than 5 per cent. The machine has achieved high precision and enables the metal to be bent perfectly from the very first workpiece. This accuracy means that there are no rejects and it also facilitates further processing with consistent quality.

Haeusler AG www.haeusler.com

Artificial Intelligence: not all are created equal ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is the new revolution – or maybe evolution – that is going to significantly impact our productivity at work and at home. project started: a pioneer NDT solution for steel, aluminium, copper and other metals mills combining eddy-currents, machine vision and artificial vision as powerful tools. necessary to train, but sometimes, a new defect appears in a mill. Should that be the case, EDDYeyes shows the output to the customer as a cluster and all the customer needs to do is to name said cluster.

EDDYEyes was unveiled as a system in 2018 and since then it has been in use in mills in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, Turkey, USA and Mexico. Not all AI is the same. Yes, it is a neural network, and to simplify it, it is similar to our brain, and like our brain, it needs to be taught. Training can be hard and ISEND’s EDDYeyes is presented as a solution already trained through datasets from various customers. However, if we want AI to advance and further improve our processes, specific training is needed at each mill. Training is easy thanks to the user interface and the aids that the solution offers. Although it is not strictly necessary, each customer can perceive from the beginning, the power of analysis that it brings. The concept is similar to a person who keeps expanding his or her capabilities through continuous learning and/or training. For instance: EDDYeyes has 15 different defects identified and classified. Out of the box, it’s not

Also, like our brain, AI is dependent on powerful hardware and software for its “sensory” inputs and execution of its actions. The same way that a footballer needs clear vision and strong legs. With slow and inaccurate inputs and outputs, the best AI is worth nothing. A midfielder may be strong, but if slow, he will probably never win any championship. EDDYeyes is strong, fast, clever and accurate and very easy to maintain. A spokesperson from ISEND said: “When you are considering AI to optimise your production to deliver superior results for your clients, and to improve the quality of your products without increasing your costs, just ask yourself who is behind the AI you are considering installing; what datasets have been used, what is the background of the provider and you may conclude that EDDYeyes has the answer.”

ISEND www.isend.es

26

www.read-tpt.com

SEPTEMBER 2024