Flexible machines using distributed intelligent drives

Up until now, the machinery construction sector (OEMs) focused on manufacturing highly-effective production machines. This resulted in mechanical masterpieces, which guaranteed the required functionality by the interaction of many individual components. Increasing faster innovation cycles continuously demand new, modified and further developed products. What is cutting edge technology today is tomorrow already out-of-date and can no longer be marketed. The OEM sector must also adapt itself to this situation. Today, mechanical dinosaurs are no longer in demand, but instead, highly-productive and highly-flexible machines, which permit various product versions to be effectively manufactured and which permit fast response to changing market demands. Only then can manufacturers respond quickly and even produce small batch quantities, with short delivery times. The solution to the problem involves replacing mechanical components by electrical components. Specifically, this means that the complex mechanical system of a machine is broken-down into individual sections which are each equipped with their own drive. The motto is, put simply-away from a central drive to single-motor drives. By using single-motor drives and eliminating mechanical coupling elements, this means that the previous motion coordination, implemented mechanically, must now be realized electronically. The individual drives are controlled and their sequence coordinated using electronic synchronous-, gearbox-, cam disk- and positioning functions. The functionality, which was originally defined by the mechanical design of a machine, is now essentially implemented by the software. This allows the required level of flexibility to be achieved.