Smart Works Cells at the Heart of Wittmann’s Exhibit

Under the theme of “It's All Wittmann,” the supplier of injection molding machines, automation and auxiliary equipment is showing NPE attendees what comes with true connectivity. “What does it really mean to buy all of the equipment and have it communicate together seamlessly,” says Jason Long, VP of sales Wittmann USA. “Especially now as injection molding plants move more into Industry 4.0.”

Wittmann’s booth has five injection molding machine work cells in a new red color showcasing its latest molding, robotic and auxiliary technologies. Every cell will feature the company’s 4.0 technologies, including Plug and Produce, Wittmann Digital, all new Control Room, Remote Access, and OPC UA communication and data collection. Energy is recovered in the SmartPower and EcoPower molding machines, thanks to kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) technology. On the process side, Wittmann’s HiQ Flow program is deployed to minimize scrap and improve part quality.

There are two freestanding robot cells showcasing the new Control Room, which debuts at NPE2024. Wittmann says Control Room can be used to view and control several Wittmann auxiliary products within its work cell, operating on the R9 robot pendant as well as a PC. Long offers a use-case scenario where that robot pendant now becomes the nerve center for the molding cell.

“For the robots that have the Control Room teach box — which allows that 4.0 technology — the TCUs, dryers and other compatible equipment will connect back through the Wittmann robot controller,” Long says. “The molder will be able to control and change the parameters of each piece of equipment on the robot’s teach pendant through its HMI.”

Long points out another shopfloor scenario that could benefit from Control Room — a piece of auxiliary equipment such as a TCU is not readily accessible, situated behind the press or in a guarded area. From the front of the molding machine and on the R9 teach pendant, molders could now pull up the TCU control.

Wittmann is also showing how its equipment can easily communicate beyond the work cell, including with plantwide MES systems. Long says Wittmann is showing this feature in two ways, including a ready connection with “an industry standard MES.”

“It’s an MES a lot of our customers use,” Long says, “and we're going to show how all the equipment can connect to it.” In addition, the company is also showing how easily its equipment can connect to Wittmann’s in-house MES system: TEMI+.

Beyond the Control Room display, Wittmann is also highlighting the acceleration and speed of its new ultrahigh speed Sonic 131 robot, designed for cycle times of 4 seconds or less. “In that cell, we're actually showing how fast the in/out vertical stroke of the robot is,” Long says. “The acceleration is about 6G, which is more than what most roller coasters actually advertise for G forces.”

To help demonstrate that rapid acceleration, a Sonic robot is picking up a ball, rising and then dropping the ball. As the ball drops, the Sonic speeds downward to grab it before it hits the ground. Another portion of the display highlights Sonic’s ability to follow an object. “We’re showing how that ball can be dropped and follow a track,” Long says. “The robot can drop the ball, then move all three axes over and down to meet that ball when it arrives at the end of the track.”

Wittmann is also using its WX142 robot with R9 controller to demonstrate the latest QuickNew Teach Program generator, which Wittmann says makes programming complex injection work quicker and easier. “The R9 controls have been out for a while, and we’ve been sharpening the new programming model,” Long says. “We have what we call the Quick New Wizard or Quick New Programming.” These follow prompts with the operator answering questions based on a typical molding cycle. “Based on how that operator answers those questions,” Long says, “that allows the robot to write all the logic of the programming.”

Previous iterations of Quick New were developed for simple pick-and-place applications, but Long says Wittmann has advanced the software to go further to include a range of common but more complicated activities, including routines for QC, reject, degating, insert molding and more.

To display these abilities, the booth has a hands-on demo enabling attendees to engage with the programming software and answer the series of questions. “Let's say they typically do a QC routine or a reject routine,” Long says. “They can answer those questions and they can see how fast the robot writes that program for them.”