Earlier this summer, the fourth Art in Manufacturing series took place at various locations near Blackburn, an event that involved embedding artists into working industrial environments. By way of example, the repetitive beats created by the machines that make giant steel saw blades at the 80-year-old Lancashire Saw Company inspired resident artist Jacqueline Donachie.

Jacqueline Donachie is an award-winning Scottish artist based in Glasgow. She has forged an international reputation for a socially-engaged art practice and was the recipient of the inaugural Freelands Award. Responding to her residency at Lancashire Saw Company, Donachie presented IMPERIAL. Inspired by the evocative sounds of the factory’s machinery and its canal location, the new film work amalgamates the combination of fast beats, slow canals and the repetition of industry.

The original soundtrack makes a connection to the underground dance scene of the late 1980s that was particularly prevalent and influential in Blackburn and East Lancashire. This Art in Manufacturing commission was in partnership with Super Slow Way’s Pennine Lancashire Linear Park pilot project. The film’s premiere took place at the Mill on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, inviting audiences to experience the canal and rediscover it as a place of cultural activity.

Elena Jackson, co-director of the National Festival of Making and curator of Art in Manufacturing, says: “This was the first time we presented work from resident artists after two years of festival cancellation. In that time, our factory partners have maintained their commitment to the programme and the artists in residence with them, working through the most challenging of periods to realise the artistic outcomes that we saw over the festival weekend.”
For further information www.festivalofmaking.co.uk

KastoApp facilitates the remote visualisation of Kasto sawing machines on the shop floor. The app displays the operational status of all networked machines equipped with the manufacturer’s proprietary SmartControl, AdvancedControl, ProControl or ExpertControl systems. Users can see the name, machine number and type of saw at a glance. If a machine is running in automated mode, KastoApp can also access the information stored in the program that is running. It provides users with exact information on relevant parameters such as the item, cut length, target and actual quantities, band feed rate, and cutting speed. If a fault occurs, the app displays a graphic of the relevant error message, enabling users to visualise the problem and react immediately to minimise downtimes.

Kasto also has a solution, KastoSort robot link, to automate production processes upstream and downstream of the sawing process and integrate them into a uniformly controlled material flow. Industrial robots can not only remove sawn parts independently, but may also perform additional tasks such as deburring, chamfering, centring, threading, marking, printing, sorting, stacking and picking.

This robotic solution can be further integrated with a container management or driverless transport system. Depending on the customer’s requirements, Kasto can integrate the robot control into either the saw’s CNC system, or its own KastoLogic WMS, or an existing ERP system, enabling users to monitor and control the process with a single interface.

Thanks to customised interfaces ranging from SAP, Infor and Microsoft Dynamics to customer-specific software solutions, the KastoLogic WMS can be easily connected to a higher-level host system within the company, as can individual Kasto sawing machine controls. The resulting communication structure significantly increases transparency.

For further information
www.kasto.com

Meba has implemented one of the most complex projects in its company history: the sawing system at Günther + Schramm GmbH, a system service provider for steel, stainless steel and aluminium in southern Germany. In a tight planning phase of under one year, the two companies jointly developed and implemented a fully automated and digitised sawing system with roller conveyors, high-bay warehouse connection, short parts disposal and ground-breaking machinery innovations.

The starting point for the project was two outdated saw mills, a circular saw and a bandsaw, which were due for replacement. The very clear target from the customer’s side was: in principle, the process should remain the same as before, but output must significantly increase.

The high degree of automation and digitisation provided a clearly measurable increase in productivity possible for the steel distributor. In phase one, Meba evaluated the output quantity of the existing machines for two years: the new plant would be able to produce almost twice as much.

For Meba, the special features of this intensive project included the fully automatic system in conjunction with a high-bay warehouse, as well as the implementation of short parts disposal. The basis for the complete sawing system centres on two MebaMat 330 automatic machines. Both are technically identical, but arranged in a mirror image, left and right to each other. Orders generate automatically by work preparation via an SAP interface. Via networking and an interface, cutting values are also generated automatically, after which the integration of conveyor systems to the rack warehouse takes place.

Meba has complete access to all controllers, so that Günther + Schramm can be supported via modem in diagnostics and operation.

For further information
www.meba-saw.com

Established more than 60 years ago, Phillips Tool was initially founded by Ted Phillips in 1959 as a tool and die manufacturing business serving local customers in the Frankfort, Indiana area. In 1962, the company started sharpening saw blades and welding bandsaw blades, and after more than 20 years of saw blade servicing playing a greater role in the business, the next generation of the family changed the company name to Phillips Saw and Tool (PSAWS). Soon afterwards, the company invested in grinding technology from Vollmer and it has not looked back since.

“Our first Vollmer in 1995 [a CHC025] blossomed and our saw shop today looks like a Vollmer showroom,” states PSAWS president Jeff Chynoweth.

While many machines at PSAWS already provide automated loading/unloading, the company never stands still.

“We changed the automation system on our Vollmer CHD270 machine from the ND230 to the larger capacity ND360, which really takes automation to the next level,” says vice president Jordan Chynoweth.

The ND360 handling system takes the previous three-station system up to six stations, providing the capacity for up to 550 circular saw blades to be loaded automatically. Not only has the ND360 increased automation capacity from 250 to 550 saws and the maximum diameter capacity from 630 to 840mm diameter, it also permits the integration of up to three grinding centres.

Regardless of the pandemic, business has remained relatively strong for PSAWS and the company has reaffirmed its commitment to customer service, ordering an additional two Vollmer machines that arrived in 2021.

“We ordered a CHD271 machine that was incorporated into the existing CHF270, CHD270 and ND360 cell to deliver complete automated production autonomy,” says Jordan Chynoweth. “We also took a CHF1300.”

For further information
www.vollmer-group.com

Saws UK has struck up a partnership with Italian machine manufacturer Meber, to distribute its industrial cutting products in the UK. The 60-year-old family-run company manufactures a range of bandsaw machines for cutting wood, steel, aluminium, cast iron and plastic. To that extent, Meber has created customised machinery in order to cut materials requested by customers. According to the company, investing in a Meber product guarantees a sawing machine that will last a very long time, thanks to its robust design, reliability and expert build quality.

“We are extremely pleased to be the only company supplying Meber products to the UK market,” says a Saws UK spokesperson. “As a result, we’re looking forward to a productive business relationship. In fact, the first delivery of Meber machines has already arrived on the shop floor of our Crowborough showroom in East Sussex.”

In terms of products, Meber offers a range of manual and semi-automatic machines, including double-mitre, fully-automatic CNC machines. The type of companies that can benefit vary from one-man workshops and small steel fabrication companies, to steel stockholders and large industrial environments, such as the automotive sector and other heavy industries, as well as production engineering firms.

Meber can also manufacture customised in-feed and out-feed material handling systems equipped with different material end stops to suit individual company requirements.

“We’re not only delighted with the quality of the products, but happy to say that we can offer a very short lead time to deliver the majority of items in the Meber range,” says Saws UK.

For further information
www.sawsuk.com