The Hungarian firm RABACSA Metalltechnik Kft. has used AMADA V-factory and the AMADA Order Manager to network its highly-automated AMADA systems with its DMW software, to which all the company’s other departments are connected. The result is an end-to-end digital manufacturing environment that has enabled this long-established company to increase its productivity by 60 percent.
R ABACSA Metalltechnik Kft. is located in Szentgotthárd in the very west of Hungary. On the one hand, this family-run business, which was founded in 1998, concentrates on traditional wrought iron work, modern stainless steel products and designer pieces, thus continuing a family tradition going back more than a hundred years. On the other, the company also focuses on contract metal processing and thus on the manufacture of sheets, tubes and complex components manufactured in custom formats. To do this, RABACSA uses state-of-the-art AMADA technology and possesses a total of twelve AMADA systems, including AMADA press brakes, an AMADA laser-welding system, an AMADA laser-punching machine and a number of latest-generation AMADA laser-cutting machines. It is characteristic of the company that these systems are highly automated via the corresponding AMADA modules.
Valuable real-time data
To give its in-house performance capacity and manufacturing efficiency a further substantial boost, RABACSA recently introduced smart, fully-network production based on the Industry 4.0 principle and is now using the corresponding AMADA technology to take full advantage of all the possibilities and potentials of digitalization. The first step was taken in 2019 with the introduction of AMADA V-factory, which permits the real-time monitoring of the entire AMADA production environment on the desktop or a smart device. “With AMADA V-factory, we are able to monitor each individual system and see its status live, including stoppage and standby times, energy consumption and material utilization, as well as running and terminated programs,”, explains Balázs Racker, CEO of RABACSA Metalltechnik Kft. “However, thanks to AMADA V-factory, we are also always able to keep an eye on our components. We know exactly where they are and what their processing status is. This is very important for us because we not only manufacture mid-sized and large runs, but also small series and sometimes simply individual parts.”
Intelligent order handling
The company took another large step towards digital production in 2022 when it introduced the AMADA Order Manager (AOM). “We connected the AMADA Order Manager to our ERP system via our Digital Manufacturing World Software (DMW), which we developed in-house, and this allowed us to achieve fully-networked production,” stresses Racker. In the factory, production starts with the creation of the order in the DMW software. The AMADA Order Manager then prepares the manufacturing orders and transfers the data to the AMADA CAM programming system. It then releases the orders for production and feeds back the completed production data from the AMADA machines to the DMW software in real time. “We create a corresponding program for each required part and give it an item number that is stored in the AMADA Order Manager,” explains Racker. “If this part subsequently has to be manufactured again, then our DMW software automatically uploads the data and production can be resumed immediately.”
Networked company departments
The solution has another advantage: “The AMADA Order Manager also allows us to mix different orders and run them together, a feature that saves us a lot of time. This means that we can simultaneously cut various different customer orders on one and the same sheet. The parts are then sorted on the basis of the operating plan and prepared for the next machine,” continues Racker.
At RABACSA, however, it is not just the AMADA Order Manager but also all the other company departments such as Purchasing, Sales, HR, Logistics, Controlling as well as all the Production facilities that are connected to the DMW software. The result is that Purchasing, for example, automatically receives information on the required raw material, which can then be ordered with no loss of time. At the same time, the Sales department, for example, is able to clearly see the actual production costs per component.
Significant performance boost
All in all, RABACSA now possesses a fully-networked, end-to-end digital production and enterprise platform that offers the company enormous benefits. As Racker puts it: “Thanks to digitalization, we have been able to increase our productivity by 60 percent within a year. Our manufacturing operations are now faster, more efficient and, most importantly, more flexible. This ensures that we stay competitive and also that we are optimally equipped for the future.”
Images: RABACSA Metalltechnik Kft.t
