Built to last

World renowned Swiss-built accuracy isn’t just confined to its watch manufacture. As Mike Richardson discovers, this rich tapestry of quality can be found within Zünd’s range of flatbed cutting machines too. You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate when something has been designed and manufactured properly. The attention to detail, and the care and attention to even the smallest detail simply oozes quality. With this in mind, Zünd recently unveiled its automation solutions for the composites market with the launch of a production package that combines its Zünd G3 M-1600 flatbed cutting system and a collaborative Universal Robots (UR) robot. As a modular digital cutting system designed for increased productivity and performance, the Swiss flatbed cutting manufacturer believes that maximum productivity and reliability, along with simple integration in an automated production workflow, are critical competitive advantages in the composites market. In combination with the UR robot, Zünd’s G3 M-1600 cutting system is said to offer a seamless automation solution for cutting and off-loading prepreg materials. The UR robot doesn’t require caging or other protected workspaces and relieves the operator of the repetitive, non-value adding task of sorting and unloading. The cut parts are automatically stacked and can be removed any time without any interruptions to the production process. Described as perfectly coordinated system components working together in a fully integrated digital workflow, I begin by asking the company’s product manager, Peter Hohl, what originally set Zünd off in this particular direction? “The composites manufacturing market is driven by the aerospace sector and as a consequence the aerospace kitting business is growing too,” he states. “Meanwhile, the automotive market growing and it’s no secret that both these industries are trying to drive down the price of the material per item, as well as reduce part cycle times. “This means we need to find efficient automated solutions. Humans and biological robots can work collaboratively in some form of production line and Zünd has already realised some automated material cutting projects for ThyssenKrupp, the German aerospace institute DLR and BMW. We’re now working on new projects with different turnkey solution providers moving in the same direction.” The connected world Zünd used the recent JEC World, Paris event to showcase Zünd G3 M-1600 digital cutting system. With a cutting area of 1,330mm by 1,600mm, the G3 M-1600 can handle prepreg materials, dry weave and core materials, and even finished laminates. The G3 cutting system’s modular design enables it to be tailored to the specific needs and dynamics of the composites market: either as a standalone solution in a semi-automated configuration for custom or shorter-run production or integrated in a fully-automated industrial production workflow. “We satisfy many different customer demands. Firstly, we have the R&D, institutes and laboratory customers who they really appreciate our modular design concept and the fact they can use our cutting systems as one tool for several different materials and applications. We have customers in the leisure and sports industry. They comprise mainly SME companies that manually process different kinds of materials, i.e. both dry and wet fabrics, as well as core materials too. “They also like this modular concept and the different options and machine sizes we offer. We also have our aerospace customers who want every component individually labelled with part number information, for example. They have higher requirements in terms of quality and regulatory needs, so they often place more specific demands upon us. Finally, we have our automotive industry customers and their demands for automated solutions, short cycle times, high output and the use of new materials, such as thermoplastics. This forces us to further develop our tool settings, so it really is a connected world.” Hohl adds that Zünd’s business also comprises project work, which often requires some kind of total turnkey solution. And it may not always require an automated solution; it can be a solution integrated into the ERP software environment of the customer too. “We are the world’s leading manufacturer of digital flatbed cutters in terms of produced and installed numbers, so we have a very proven system with high levels of service and ‘off the shelf’ parts available from our support centres located around the world. And whilst standard products form our core business, we also have to take on increasingly more project work and cooperate with different partners for production-related activities, like raw material feeding and handling. We tend to partner with strong industrial turnkey solution providers to fulfil any cutting requirement in the most efficient way. Customers like the fact that our cutting machines offer highly reproducible results. If you send a command to our firmware, it always reacts in exactly the same way.” A cut above the rest Powered by the Cut Center’s open interface, Zünd’s G3 cutters can be quickly integrated in any type of production environment. Users can select their language of choice for the user interface, whilst CAD/CAM software options support all aspects of the production process, for example, material utilisation through automatic nesting. “The Zünd Cut Center software is easy to operate and enables the customer to use our machines for different purposes. Cut Center streamlines the process of getting the job ready. The user first accesses the material database to select the material type and then the relevant cutting contour. A material nesting process then takes place and once complete, the job process can be optimised to remove any areas where it’s no longer necessary to perform double line cutting with the blade. We also provide options to measure blade tip position together with the modular tool head, which can be individually setup with different tool settings. “It makes the operator’s life easier – they don’t even need a separate tool to replace the blades – anyone can do it. This is really important, as it helps reduce the number of errors and flaws that can sometimes be introduced by the operator. And because of the machine’s modularity, they can install a range of tool settings to allow them to cut different materials, starting from dry fabrics, prepregs, core materials – even cured final laminates. This helps increase the utilisation of the flatbed machine.” There’s no denying that Zünd’s flatbed cutting machines are built to last, and the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ springs to mind. “Although our machines can be expensive, the customer really does get more quality,” Hohl concludes. “If you look at the design, the ergonomics and the way we manufacture our machines, they exude Swiss-built quality and accuracy. Ultimately, if you pay a little more for your machine tool investment, the quality always pays off in the long run. This isn’t just a marketing pitch – it’s something we’ve learnt from our long experience of working with our customers.” www.zund.com Captions/images: Zünd’s Power Rotary Tool is designed for cutting challenging fibrous materials inexpensively and reliably The G3 M-1600 flatbed cutting system works collaboratively with a UR robot Zünd’s product manager, Peter Hohl