Tool Monitoring AI Solution Detects Cutting Tool Conditions and Prevents Defects!

If you install sensors and communication devices on various things connected to the internet, those things will be able to communicate with each other and exchange information through the IoT (Internet of Things). This can generate value for business and people's lives through automation and efficiency improvements. Let’s take a look at the IoT solutions that THK offers.

• Chipped cutting tools cause defects and the need for rework, leading to time losses.

• Cutting tool costs add up significantly over time, and recent tool price increases have exacerbated the problem.

In particular, we hear stories about automated machines that were left running at night, and when everyone came in the next morning, they found that defects happened due to chipping, so they had to either throw everything away or quickly assign employees to rework and inspect those products.

Even when it comes to the replacement of cutting tools, we hear from many companies that they’ve traditionally managed the process by piece count. When they experienced problems with chipping and tool damage in the past, they would set the replacement frequency with a safety buffer factored in, which would considerably shorten the tool's true service life. Even though they could have still used these tools, they had to replace them, which meant costs would pile up.

A lot of customers mention experiencing these types of struggles with their cutting tools, but one problem they also have is the fact that they haven't introduced the IoT to the equipment and devices on their production floor. These customers are concerned that IoT functionality is available on their newest equipment, but not their legacy equipment, so they can’t move forward at a unified pace.

It is estimated that there are close to one million machine tools (those with NC) in active service in Japan, and almost half of them have been in use for over 15 years.

The Tool Monitoring AI Solution is a system where a sensor can be retrofit onto existing, in-service machines, just like the OMNIedge predictive failure detection AI solution for linear and rotary components. Because the installation of this service is just a simple procedure of clamping a CT (current sensor) to each of the motor cables inside the control panel of the machine tool, the installation time is also extremely quick. As mentioned before, this system does not require a CNC connection, so not only can you feel confident about using it, but you can also curb external costs to achieve connectivity. All you have to do is install the sensor, so you can implement the system without any restrictions from the machine tool or CNC manufacturer.

The second feature of the Tool Monitoring AI Solution is that there is no complicated software configuration required. Once you register a process, you can easily obtain data just by configuring the cutting tool replacement history on a tablet. The AI will extract feature values and automatically perform an analysis based on the collected data, and you will receive a notification when it detects an irregular waveform that occurs when a cutting tool is chipped or damaged. In the previous example of automated equipment running at night, this would allow the process to stop before large volumes of defective parts are created.

The Tool Monitoring AI Solution also allows you to work on resetting the cutting tool life by monitoring the degree of wear. First, the AI rates the degree of wear. It plots the trend of wear that occurs before replacement under normal conditions, which you can compare with the degree of wear after replacement. When it seems that you can get more life out of a tool, you can confirm the quality of the products being made and raise the target number of pieces before replacement. The system will send an alert if wear becomes more severe before that point, so you can optimize the replacement timing.

Just as the name suggests, machine users that utilize machine tools are the target customer of THK’s AI Tool Monitoring System We believe this is a solution for customers who machine automotive components—especially engines, suspensions, and brake components—and would like to lower costs by optimizing cutting tool life, reduce defects caused by chipping, and reduce rework loss. In this day and age of cutting tool price increases and more and more customers dealing with intensifying cost-related problems, these customers will be able to feel the high return on investment when considering the potential losses averted. of cutting tool price increases and more and more customers dealing with intensifying cost-related problems, these customers will be able to feel the high return on investment when considering the potential losses averted.

In addition, this solution is effective for customers whose machines process the same product continuously or whose lines manufacture multiple products.

If you've struggled with cutting tools or had a problem occur in the past, please reach out to us.

These struggles aren't limited to machine users in Japan, so we plan to gradually make this solution available to factories around the world.

Website for OMNIedge Tool Monitoring AI Solution (THK website)
Website for OMNIedge IoT service for manufacturing (THK website)

* This content is based on information that was released in Japanese on May 17, 2023.