JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018 - 33

ic system for the supply of materials,
and a production control system
which continuously ensures a high
level of capacity utilization within
cell-based production.5
Manufacturing cells as
an Industry 4.0 solution
The standardized manufacturing cell
is a laser projection solution offered
by LAP GmbH Laser Applikationen
for use in cell-based production.
The system is intended in particular
for manufacturing centers that produce small to mid-size composite
parts and that require mobile manufacturing equipment to be moved or
transported to lamination stations
(fig.3).
Manufacturing cells are scalable
and offer flexible use. Depending on
capacity utilization, customer orders
can be distributed flexibly across the
cells.
The cell structure enables work processes to be organized flexibly and is
suitable for a wide range of manufacturing equipment and operational
sequences.
In addition to the lay-up procedure,
manufacturing cells can also be
used for training new employees, for
quality assurance, and for reworking.
As soon as a cell is free, one or

Fig. 4: Cell with multiple tools and workers

several new pieces of manufacturing
equipment can be introduced.
Thanks to multi-task support of the
software, employees are able to simultaneously process multiple jobs
in a single cell (fig.4).
Waiting times and bottlenecks in
production can be avoided, even if
the volume of orders fluctuates.
Laser projection is adjusted automatically, meaning that the position
and height setting of manufacturing
equipment in the cell can be freely
selected. This creates ergonomic
benefits, as it results in more space
for employees, enhancing their performance.6
Technical structure of
the manufacturing cell
The standardized manufacturing
cell consists of four CAD-PRO
laser projectors which are mounted
vibration-free on beams in the four
corners of the cell. With projection
angles of up to 80°, the laser projectors can project from all sides onto
the manufacturing equipment located in the cell's working area (fig.4).
A DTEC-PRO camera system is
mounted centered at a height of
approximately 3.5 m above the
working area. This system consists
of a camera, infrared ring flash

Fig. 5: DTEC-PRO infrared camera
with reflector targets

and a lens that is coordinated with
the overall structure. The camera
system's visual field covers the
manufacturing cell's entire working
area. The camera system detects the
targets' exact position as soon as a
piece of manufacturing equipment
with the installed laser reflector
targets enters the camera's field of
view. The infrared flash is not visible
to the human eye, which means that
it also does not distract users (fig.
5).7
The PRO-SOFT laser projection software is the system's central control
element. It is intuitive to use and it
can be configured by an administrator to meet the specific requirements
of a manufacturing process.
A typical work process
Each time a piece of manufacturing
equipment is introduced anew into
the cell, laser projection starts without requiring any manual calibration,
saving valuable process time.
The position of the manufacturing
equipment is monitored constantly
during the work process.
The PRO-SOFT control software
determines possible deviations in
position. In the event of deviations,
it initiates automatic calibration of
the laser projector, even if individual
laser reflector targets are obscured.
The projection is adjusted in size and
proportion to the new situation.
In case of several manufacturing
cells, manufacturing equipment
can be deployed in each cell - the
cell just needs a power supply and
an ethernet data connection for

N°119 March 2018

/ jec composites magazine

33
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - March 2018
