HOMAG advances automation with digital tools

 Wednesday, October 28, 2020

HOMAG brings advanced automation tools to enrich the woodworking and manufacturing industry. Automation is advancing further in woodworking shops – with innovative HOMAG tools such as intelliOptimizer Stacking, and it now takes a huge leap. Automation and smart factory concepts are very popular with wood processing businesses. In cutting, they can be implemented with the SAWTEQ B-300/B-400 flexTec robot saws and digital products from HOMAG. The options grow with the wealth of tools available.

With intelliOptimizer Stacking, a digital HOMAG product has now been added that significantly reduces the number of stacks for automated destacking and thus the work involved for the operator. In woodworking shops, the individual cutting of parts and small batch sizes are part of everyday life in production. Only businesses that can organize these activities as efficiently as possible can remain competitive over the long term. Businesses that use HOMAG robot saws such as the SAWTEQ B-300/B-400 flexTec to complete these tasks are at the forefront of progress. Up to 800 parts per shift can be produced — fully automatically with no personnel. And the trend is rising, because with an increasingly wide range of digital products, HOMAG is ensuring that the robot, which is fully integrated in the saw, can complete the cutting of parts over increasingly long lines with no interruptions and therefore more efficiently.

intelliOptimizer Stacking — the consistent further development of the HOMAG destacking algorithm

To ensure that the HOMAG SAWTEQ B-300/B-400 flexTec saws are equally suitable for robot mode as well as classic operator mode by hand, all finished parts are destacked to pallets as usual. In this process, the pallets for robot mode are located on up to five individually set up lifting tables in the working area of the robot. Controlled by an algorithm, the robot can create randomly organized stacks on the pallets fully automatically. The stacks are stable and can be optimized by commission or material as required and therefore aligned with the subsequent processing stations.

With the new intelliOptimizer Stacking, HOMAG has now developed the destacking algorithm further consistently and integrated it into a digital tool. This tool can be operated intuitively without any further knowledge and in a flash, delivers precisely tailored destacking strategies for defined objectives and optimization requests.

intelliOptimizer Stacking — the benefits at a glance

• Fewer stacks- Resulting in fewer stack changes and less use of space
• Longer intervals -The operator can make better use of the work time gained in this way for activities that create value
• Longer autonomous production-Increases the cutting performance in the daily shifts and in particular, the ghost shift, to increase cutting pre-production for the next day
• Makes configuration of the plant easier-Fewer stacks means fewer stack positions, less space used and a reduction in procurement costs
• Higher production performance-More parts per shift in robot mode due to less idle time

Tags: Automation, Covid-19, digital tools, homag, pandemic, woodworking and automation, woodworking and manufacturing, woodworking machinery