Increasing production with automation solutions

Produktion steigern mit Automationslösungen

Automation technologies are an important factor in creating efficient production processes. With suitable material handling systems, for example, the utilization and, as a result, the output of a processing machine can be maximized.

MicroStep automation solutions

Die MasterCut Compact Baureihe

MSLoad, MSTower and MSSort

Solutions for loading, unloading and storing of sheets or sorting of cut parts: With the technologies MSLoad, MSTower, MSSort from MicroStep you will automate your cutting systems and get the absolute maximum out of your machine.

MSLoad, MSTower and MSSort
Die MG Baureihe

MSLoop

MSLoop is a shuttle table system consisting of three cutting grids, which significantly increases the throughput of CNC cutting machines, as the system allows simultaneous loading, cutting and unloading.

MSLoop
Die DRM Baureihe

MSFeed

MicroStep offers the MSFeed technology for various series for pipe, profile and beam processing: A system that completely automates the loading and unloading of a cutting machine.

MSFeed

Advantages of automation solutions

  • Reduction of heavy physical or monotonous work for the employees
  • Time saving during loading and unloading
  • Increase in machine utilization and higher output capacity
  • Increase of the production quantity
  • Reduction of unit costs e.g. by saving on personnel costs
  • Homogenization and, if necessary, improvement of the product quality

 

 

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Automation at MicroStep

Origins of MicroStep in the fields of control and automation have been organically present in its activities and helped shape the product portfolio already since the early days, when the company was designing its first CNC system. The idea of minimizing and automating material manipulation via multifunctionality and integration of handling equipment into the cutting machines was understood as a logical step towards cost reduction and saving of production time. In line with these requirements, MicroStep developed and implemented a number of automation solutions and machine-to-machine interfaces, integrating several cutting machines and automated material handling units into larger production systems, especially in large-scale production. The universal and modular nature of MicroStep's products lays groundwork for future industrial interoperability.

 

In essence, MicroStep offers a modular solution concept for the processing of metals (cutting/drilling/marking) as well as for material handling. This is customized to the actual space conditions of the customer and integrated into his production workflow. Cutting systems can be extended by various options for material loading as well as technologies for automatic unloading of large and small components and precise sorting of the latter.

 

Available options include shuttle tables, fork feed systems, chain and belt conveyors, cutting tables with built-in rollers or cutting tables combined with load manipulators that transport material using vacuum or magnetic lifters. These solutions are developed and manufactured in-house at MicroStep. Our engineers work closely with the departments of our customers to achieve the best possible optimization of the system functions, the control software and the production flow.

 

In addition, many customers rely on MicroStep's expertise and wealth of experience in networking cutting systems with handling technology and third-party storage solutions (automatic cranes, sorting manipulators, storage towers). MicroStep owes this to a unique selling point: the development and design of machines, control systems and CAM software are all under one roof. This means that special solutions can be implemented more efficiently - our own teams of specialists design the tailor-made systems regarding modularity, interoperability and integration requirements.

 

MicroStep recognized the trend towards automation and digitalization early on and can rely on great expertise in both areas. Find out more about some of our numerous reference projects below:

 

References

 

BRÜGGEN Oberflächen- und Systemlieferant GmbH from Germany relies on a fully automatic shuttle table for loading and unloading its plasma cutting system with a working area of 3,000 x 3,000 mm. A MicroStep waterjet cutting system is loaded and unloaded by a robot. The Romanian SC Mondial SA, a subsidiary of the German Villeroy & Boch AG, a world-renowned manufacturer of sanitary technology, relies on this solution, which is offered as a package by MicroStep. A production line in which two cutting systems are connected with an automated pallet changing system and a sheet metal rack storage system: This configuration enables 24/7 operation at the Dutch shipyard Neptune Shipyards. Hongxun Elevator Machinery in China invested in a plasma cutting system of the ProfileCut series for profile and beam processing with a length of up to 12,000 mm including automatic material handling to and from the system. A MicroStep fiber laser of the MSF series with MSLoad in use in a cutting center. The system with a 6 x 2.5 m shuttle table and a laser rotator is loaded and unloaded using the MicroStep handling technology MSLoad. The Italian contract cutter Acciai di Qualità S.p.A. relies among other things on an MSF Max laser system from MicroStep, in which the material is not fed into the cutting cabin by means of a shuttle table, but in which a cabin of variable size travels over a table that extremely large for laser cutting, with a length of 18,000 mm and a width of 3,000 mm. The Belgian market leader for truck lifts has invested in the DS series from MicroStep - a highly efficient, automated process line that can, among other things, provide flat material up to a size of 6,000 mm x 2,000 mm with drillings, plasma bevel cuts and markings and enables automated unloading of processed parts. Together with the Finnish cooperation partner Pemanek Oy, MicroStep supplies the cutting technology for fully automated production lines for panel processing in shipbuilding. In this highly efficient solution for a Chinese group, in which MicroStep software plays a central role, among other things, eight cutting machines are fed automatically via a DEMAG process crane. Ikarus, a Hungarian manufacturer of buses and trolleybuses, relies on a fiber laser solution from MicroStep for the cutting process. The MSF series has both a shuttle table system for sheet metal processing and an automatic feeder for cutting pipes and profiles. Let a laser system work largely autonomously in multi-shift operation? That this works can be experienced live in the MicroStep Technology Center in Bratislava, among other places. There, a multifunctional laser cutting system of the MSF series is networked with the handling system MSLoad and the storage system MSTower. A solution that was turned into reality for one of the leading suppliers of heating, industrial and cooling systems: the combination of the fully automatic loading system MSLoad including an additional conveyor belt with a laser cutting system of the MSF series. Well equipped for particularly large sheets: Two shuttle tables, each 12 m long and 3 m wide, are in operation at Acciai di Qualità S.p.A. in Italy. The 6 kW laser is equipped, among other things, with a rotator for weld edge preparation up to 45°.

"With the new solution we can meet the high demands of the market both in terms of the quantity of parts ordered and their quality. (...) Apart from these great advantages, there are others such as lower costs for the production unit, better use of raw materials, higher safety of our employees and less manual work."

Ing. Mgr. Kristína Koláriková Kulichová

Ing. Mgr. Kristína Koláriková Kulichová
Managing Director
Hykemont spol. s r.o.

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