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Digitize Now!
Latest News, Product Innovations, Fairs and much more
JULY 2017
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index
LANTEK LINK is the magazine of Lantek Sheet Metal Solutions
COVER Anonymous
LANTEK MARKETING TEAM Patricia Ruiz de Sabando Diana Sánchez Editors Juan José Colás Marketing Director
03
EDITORIAL
04
MAIN TOPIC
06
SOLUTIONS
08
INTERVIEWS
10
TECHNOLOGIES
11
INNOVATION
12
NEWS
PARTNERS
Climbing Steel Prices
13
Ekoinstal Holding Deploys Lantek Software
14
SERVICES
15
FACTS
A Road Map Towards Upgrading to Factory 4.0
Lantek Smart Quoting
Is Your Company Ready to Digitize Now?
Roberto Arregui CFO of Lantek
SUBSCRIPTIONS Marketing Department marketing@lanteksms.com
Expert Blanking Software in the Automotive Industry
Lantek Services Lantek Hint: Lantek Integra and Lantek Manager
Machine communication standards
Mach Tool 2017 Next Trade Shows
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editorial
I
A Road Map Towards Upgrading to Factory 4.0
s your organization still wavering, unsure whether to climb aboard the Industry 4.0 train?
Lack of knowledge, fear, and uncertainty prevent many businesses from taking the necessary step forward. However, these entry level barriers can and must be overcome, especially now that the fourth industrial revolution is here. It’s unstoppable and there’s no going back. If you resist change, you’ll be excluded from the market before you know it. This road map seen in the companies around us (suppliers, clients, and competitors) gives us an idea: • Production optimization • Loyalty • Talent If you add the value generated by these changes, you will be more competitive, more productive and, consequently, will grow. By 2030, it is estimated that Industry 4.0 will generate 14 trillion dollars worldwide, according to the Telefónica Foundation. Although recent access to technology has become democratized and has decreased in cost, in order to offer a more comprehensive, complete service, it is increasingly important to find trustworthy partners. In a world where other sectors—such as tourism, telecommunications and banking—are already submerged in this digital revolution, and where only adaptation can lead to success, it is time for industry to take the leap.
Juan José Colás
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main topic
Is Your Company Ready to Digitize Now? We keep reading about digitization in manufacturing. But are we there yet? We might be closer than you think. Success now relies on efficiency and productivity to drive down operational costs. Companies that will be successful now, and in the future, understand the role digitization plays in optimizing efficiency and are transforming their businesses right now.
Connected Intelligence Digitization leads to connectivity. Connectivity leads to enhanced intelligence. With globallyconnected factories, company leaders have vision into the entire operation like they’ve never had before. This vision includes better (and realtime) data on costs, resources, delays, etc. for better productivity and efficiencies.
The conditions for digitizing have never been better to invest in making the transition. Besides decreasing costs for many of the digital tools, there are a number of reasons you need to digitize now.
Technology Integration Point Technology has reached the integration point to facilitate digitization. Automation and robots take production out of human hands resulting in fewer errors. Sensors and software make data
easier and cheaper to collect and analyze. This data helps companies keep their machines in better working order. Best of all, the prices on these tools are decreasing making them more accessible. Skills and Data Big data can now guide companies to make better decisions to make global improvements. Software will be the key selling point for the machines to show how they solve customers’ needs. People are the big barrier to getting productivity out of the technology. Your workers need coding skills to program the machines. Companies need to train current workers and hire for the skills they can’t train quickly. Competition Your competitors are making the move to digitization. By waiting, you risk falling behind instead of gaining advantages. That can cost you in potential customers, and in attracting new employees. Plus, intelligence continues to grow giving bigger advantages and a wider gap to those that digitize sooner. Research shows that digital laggards will be greatly affected by the digital transformation in just a few years. But, those that make the transition are already seeing the benefits. Specifically, Lantek has helped their customers: • Optimize productivity and profitability. • Become more agile to deliver rapid solutions. • Minimize material waste. • Provide personalized services. • React more quickly to unforeseen circumstances. Characteristics of a Digitized Manufacturing Company How do you know if your company is ready to digitize? Companies that have made the transition share common characteristics that make them more likely to be successful. These are traits that companies should strive to have: • Aspirational: The digital transition is a culture change with new needed skills and a change in habits. Leadership needs to be front and center championing the new vision and offering full support and motivation to get workers to buy-in.
The conditions for digitizing have never been better to invest in making the transition
• Customer-Centric: Every decision should consider how it impacts your customers. Faster production, enhanced customization, personalized services and fewer delays are examples of what will make your customers happy. • Innovative: New improvements and tools are coming faster than ever. You need to always be looking for ways to improve your efficiency and productivity because your competitors are. • Data Driven: Data is at the core of everything you will do in the digital world. Data needs to drive your decisions. • Collaborative: Globally-connected factories open up opportunities for better collaboration. New points of view can spur innovations that wouldn’t have been possible before. Connected tools (ERP, CRM, MES, CAD/CAM etc.) allow digital sharing of files that employees can access anywhere, including real time updates. • Continually Learning: As technology continues to improve, workers also need to be continually learning. You need to be able to learn new systems, adapt processes and keep up with new tools. • Agile: As new opportunities arise and competitors make pivots, company leaders need to be able to make quick decisions and react to changes. Using the data will help you make better choices. You may not have all of the traits above. If that’s the case, make it part of your overall digital strategy to acquire and grow these characteristics. The window is open wide for digital opportunities. Make the leap now before it closes and leaves you behind.
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solutions Simpler, Quicker, and More Objective Quotes with Lantek Smart Quoting
One of most difficult processes when managing new manufacturing is, undoubtedly, the quoting process. Subcontractors produce many quotes for a single act of manufacturing, transforming it into a costly, complicated process which requires the participation of different professionals. Even so, an objective cost estimate is very difficult to obtain. Quoting is a key element in many businesses’ day-to-day work and producing a high-quality
quote is essential for developing new products and projects. The most rational process currently involves a total simulation, including nesting, but this presents several disadvantages: • It’s very slow. Clients need a quotation process to be agile and quick and may become impatient when this is not the case, leading to canceled orders or incorrect quote production. • This requires a salesperson with adequate
A high-quality quote is essential for developing new products and projects technical skills, which is not particularly common in companies. If s/he does not possess these skills, a technical engineer will have to be included in the quotation process. • Price consistency is very debatable, since final price will depend on the geometry of the parts included in the quote, which is not always representative of the real manufacturing which will later take place. • All of these circumstances result in a subjective cost estimate. These and other setbacks lead to the feeling in many companies that the quotes produced do not exactly match up with reality. With over 30 years of experience in CAD/CAM products for the metal industry and a product portfolio produced through process engineering, Lantek offers a quick quotation system, which allows for preparation of more reliable quotes. Lantek Smart Quoting is a highly reliable estimate system, which combines expert CAM system algorithms with real analysis of manufacturing history. This Lantek solution provides a consistent framework for calculating each part, using the following inputs for the tool: part geometry, historical ratio of material optimization, and the required per-part machining time. Similarly, it facilitates a series of parameterizations relating to machine costs, materials, employees, or consumable goods. Added to this is an advanced pricing system, which allows for an ABC analysis of clients and service types. The margin by cost unit can, therefore, be specifically and individually defined for each case, leaving negotiation of the final price to the salesperson, through a possible commercial discount and with full awareness of margin limits. This entire
process makes it possible to obtain a catalog of margins on costs and clients. Using Lantek Smart Quoting allows for a significant increase in profitability and efficiency control for users, as it completely changes the quoting process, optimizing it and increasing its reliability. This solution guarantees greater speed when creating quotes, enables salespeople to almost entirely carry out this process without a technical engineer needing to intervene, ensures consistent prices because it always uses the same criteria for each line of the quote, deems a CAM license unnecessary for quoting and, furthermore, reinforces objective cost estimates. All of these advantages define this Lantek solution as a next-generation tool, which
This solution guarantees greater speed when creating quotes, enables salespeople to almost entirely carry out this process without a technical engineer needing to intervene significantly optimizes one of the most complicated processes in the manufacturing industry. It is a much more professional method which sets subjectivity aside in favor of a calculation being made based on analysis of historical data, which is closer to true costs, leaving less space for a possible subsequent adjustment. At the same time, it entails clear efficiency of resources, releasing engineers and more technical staff from a process which the company’s salesperson can undertake unaided. The savings in terms of time and money are evident and the quality of the process benefits greatly.
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interviews
Roberto Arregui CFO of Lantek
Lantek’s Digital Transformation Does Digital Transformation of a company imply adaptation or substantial change?
ecosystem, etc. It improves company business volume and reduces costs.
Digital Transformation is a revolution which, undoubtedly, requires substantial change within an organization. The time that it takes for new technologies to mature and disseminate is getting shorter, making assimilation both much more complicated and much more necessary. Resistance to change is the first obstacle and the first entry level barriers to overcome.
From a more practical point of view, it unifies processes and data, improves our analytical abilities, and supports decision-making. It allows, in turn, for better understanding of and interaction with the client and, in short, transforms the business model, etc. Therefore, it is also a question of competitiveness.
Does a company’s digitization result from a strategic plan or from following market trends? Digitization is not just the consequence of a company’s strategic plan but must also be a strategic plan of its own. Technology must be another input when we envision the strategy, as a method for enabling and transforming. Those who believe it to be just a phase or trend are mistaken and their reaction will come too late. Digitization is a great opportunity for companies; but, not embracing it really is not an option. It’s a challenge and those who refuse to accept it are unlikely to survive. Can we talk about the “Digital Transformation” of a company’s human resources?
Drawing on figures, our productivity has improved 15%–25% in the areas affected by digitization, and therefore also our profitability, in terms of ROCE, EBITDA, etc. What entry level barriers has Lantek come across in this digital transformation process? Not very many. We have been greatly helped by the fact that we are a technology company and by our strategic mission to provide our clients with solutions for their digital transformations.
We have evolved from a multinational, multi-local company to a global business
This revolution requires people to transform; it is betting on change and the acquisition of skills. For this to happen, current employees must be trained and educated and new employees with the necessary digital skills must be hired. How does a company’s Digital Transformation affect its finances? From a broad perspective, Digital Transformation improves efficiency and productivity, which equates to profitability. It develops business models which support the company’s growth and profit. It places the spotlight on the client, connects employees, objects, and processes, works together with the
If I must pinpoint a barrier, it could be the acquisition of new knowledge and technologies derived from this transformation, not so much as users, but more as inhouse developers of our own solutions.
The costs generated by transformation are also significant. It really helps to think of it as a strategic investment. What tools has Lantek used in its Digital Transformation? Lantek has a Department 4.0 and a Plan 4.0 to lead the company’s Digital Transformation, which goes to show how seriously we are taking all of this. From a technological perspective, in some areas we depend on multiple tools and technologies to find solutions for all of our needs: collaborative tools, Agile Project Management, Business Analytics, Inbound Marketing, the use of cloud platforms, and infrastructure and service virtualization to widen the boundaries of our current business.
Can we say that Lantek has been digitally transformed? Lantek has been significantly digitized but still has work to do if it wants to comply with all the transformation characteristics involved in Industry 4.0. The journey continues and the foundations for achieving our goals at the pace set by the revolution are firmly in place. How is this digitization applied in the different Lantek offices? We have evolved from a multinational, multi-local company to a global business. We have addressed the challenge of granting autonomy to our offices, based on centralized guidelines, systems, and processes, which provides us with a simultaneously local and global vision. How has Lantek’s digitization been beneficial for the company? As part of our solutions and for many years, we have been offering and proposing concepts which are now fully incorporated into “Industry 4.0.” Internally, the first steps were taken years ago and, as our first milestone, we can highlight the Business Intelligence and Analytics section of our Finance area. It was an in-house development, supported by Microsoft tools, which provided us with a platform to analyze and manage all our accounting, finance, and liquid assets information. This tool, aside from saving considerable time in manual work, contributes quality, visibility, reliability, dynamism, analysis, etc. It’s an example of what we are rolling out across all Lantek areas. Do you think that digital transformation is a one-way street? Absolutely. Clients and markets are changing their consumer habits because of the revolution driven by Internet services, mobile connectivity, cloud platforms, etc. which materialize as digital information, automation, and connectivity and are now widely used in e-commerce, the Internet of Things, entertainment, big/smart data, digital relations, etc.
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technologies
Juan José Colás CSMO of Lantek
Expert Blanking Software in the Automotive Industry
Over the last several years, automotive companies have seen the need to drastically reduce the weight of vehicles and have therefore introduced materials such as aluminum, as well as new cutting and shaping technology. At the same time, advancements made in laser technology have led the automotive industry to adopt a more relevant position, both among OEMs and principal TIER1 companies in the sector. At this time, we are going to focus on the typical cutting application in the automotive industry, such as the blanking procedure. These lines consist of a decoiler which transfers the sheet from the coil to a flattener. Next, the sheet passes through feeding rollers to a press, which is typically mechanical and uses dies to cut the sheet into the desired shape. Once the blank is cut, it is automatically passed to a stacker. These lines should normally cover a high number of shapes and materials (steel/aluminum) and, increasingly, series or circulations that must be adapted to various configurations of the same car model. This increases the number of dies that need to be managed. In other words, plants must have a lot of space available for die storage. There are already lines with the ability to cut blanks using laser cutting cells instead of a press and dies.
The advantages are clear: • Lower investment • Flexibility • Maintenance (print + dies versus laser head) • In-plant lay out The introduction of laser technology allows blanks to be cut in different geometries while also allowing contours to be modified during production using offline CAD/CAM programming systems. The use of a multi-head system has to be calculated by expert software. This software will allow us to establish the relationship between better material utilization and the cycle time needed. These two elements affect the process, which can be adapted to what is needed at any given time by prioritizing one element over the other, based upon what is needed at that moment. The system can calculate a point of equilibrium based upon a series of instructions that we can define at the beginning of the process, such as date of delivery. Discussing cost, productivity, and flexibility in the management of this technology would not be possible if these processes were not controlled by the latest software. In this sense, Lantek solutions make it possible to integrate the best driver software for 2-D and 3-D cutting machines with the most upto-date manufacturing management.
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innovation
Roberto Uriarte Head of Software Development
Machine Communication Standards Everyone who has attended or seen a fair, webinar or website about Industry 4.0 will have noticed that the IoT (Internet of Things), alongside many other terms and standards surrounding it, is one of the most common, wide-spread concepts: IIoT, IoE, HTTP, REST, JSON, MQTT, OPC-UA, DDS, …and the list goes on. We all know that our goal is to achieve online connectivity between our IT systems and the real processes taking place in our factories. However, in reality, nowadays there is no single communication standard which allows us to communicate our IT solutions (ERP/MRP/MES) to any given machine from any given manufacturer and, of all these terms, it is not easy to understand which are important in each case. At Lantek, we have worked hard to help with this mix of terms, because one of the greatest challenges when needing to connect an ERP/MES with machines is, undoubtedly, connectivity and interoperability. There are a number of protocols for doing this successfully: some are proprietary and others are open standards and we focus on understanding when and where to use them. For the purposes of this discussion, it is important to group these protocols into two categories: • Client/Server protocols require the client to connect to the server and make requests. In this
model, the server contains data and answers the client’s requests. For example, the client can read data from a machine (cutting time, for instance) if s/he is familiar with the server. This model is most appropriate when devices know their infrastructure at network level (IP address and server port). • Publish/Subscribe protocols require devices to subscribe and then gather data using an intermediary process or system. For example, a device may display a piece of data from a machine every minute and then publish it once per hour. In this model, an application subscribed to the above-mentioned data flow receives a list of one-minute samples every hour. To a certain extent, this model separates the data producer from the consumer and is most appropriate when the network infrastructure is more unknown or variable. It is not clear which protocols (OPC-UA, MQTT, DDS…) will have the largest market share, but each one has pros and cons. Although choosing the protocol which best adapts to your needs is important, it is even more important to choose technological partners like Lantek, who can adapt to these protocols and allow you to distance your applications from the protocol and standard wars.
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news Climbing Steel Prices
There has been a significant increase in the price of sheet steel over the past year. Since November 2016, the increase in price has seemed limitless. The price increased by approximately 36% over the past year. This increase has had a significant impact on the profits of businesses whose competitiveness may start to suffer. Sheet steel produced in the European Union (EU) has always been more expensive than imported sheets, especially those from China. However, the tariffs that have been imposed on sheets imported from China have caused the prices of both EU and imported sheet steel to increase. China is at the epicenter of major changes in the steel industry. However, there are a variety of reasons for this, some of which are related to the Chinese steel market, while others are not. Professional steelworkers claim that the increase in price is due to protectionist measures taken by the EU to stop Chinese products from entering the market. These Chinese products flooded the EU market at unbeatable prices, which led the EU to
prepare an anti-dumping dossier. The price increase is most evident when competing in foreign markets, which has caused some prices to rise while making it very complicated to pass this cost increase on to the client. Given the different varieties of sheet steel (those used in the naval sector, automotive industry, profiles, etc.) the increase could reach 50% in just four or five months. In this volatile environment, businesses need to focus on competitive advantages beyond the price of raw materials. In this respect, digital transformation is essential. Digital transformation of organizations and improved processes create the need for personnel who are more highly qualified and efficient. Undoubtedly, people who are prepared for new digital environments will make a difference in upcoming years. Lantek wants to be your partner on this path toward Digital Transformation.
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partners Ekoinstal Holding Deploys Lantek Software The automation of monitoring order processing can significantly increase the company’s working capacity, enabling it to accept more orders. This was the lesson learned by the Ekoinstal company from Świętochłowice (Poland), which has successfully deployed a wide range of Lantek software. Ekoinstal is a leading distributor of metallurgic products in Poland. The company’s regular operation involves comprehensive supply of rolled products of Polish and foreign steel producers. The main articles are steel plates in the 0.5 mm to 150 mm range (80%). Other products include sections, angles, flat bars, ribbed and smooth rods, wire rods and pipes. During the 27-year history of the family-owned company from Świętochłowice, there have been many breakthrough moments, two of which deserve particular attention. In 2010, a new production and warehouse building was opened. The building was equipped with a Messer plasma and gas cutting line, a line for the cross-cutting of sheet metal coils and a steel preservation line. This is how Ekoinstal Stal Serwis Centrum was created, which further extended the range of its services in 2016 to include laser cutting with Trumpf equipment and precision bending on an LVD bending brake. The holding is still working on dynamic development, focusing on young and professional personnel on the one hand and computerization of the company and automation of processes on the other.
Following the deployment of the Lantek system, feedback from production is at the speed of light. One advantage of the system is intelligent software navigation, which enables quick checking of order status (order monitoring by, for instance, filtering of client or product). Another advantage is the fact that Lantek is supported by very high-tech building infrastructure, e.g., use of fiber-optic cables in the building, suitable ICT network, virtualization of the primary environment, etc. – thus, it is no empty claim that feedback from production is at the speed of light. Also, software mobility has contributed to the high quality of the deployment – the Lantek system was developed using web architecture, i.e., it is only installed on the server at the company, and is available through web browsers on computers, tablets and cellphones. With this solution, despite having 30 computers at our company, we only install the software in a single place, but it can be used on any available equipment. This considerably reduces the costs of deployment and maintenance – says Mr. Łukasz Marks, project manager at Lantek.
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services
If you are interested in any of these services, send us your contact info to sales@lanteksms.com and one of our sales representatives will be pleased to give you all the information you need.
Lantek Hint
Lantek Integra and Lantek Manager
Did you know that you can quickly filter by Customer Order in the Customer field? In some views, such as Production Tracking or 2D Jobs Planning, there is no quick Customer Order filter. Nevertheless, you can filter the Customer field by Customer Order.
If you would like to find out more tips, send us an email at: marketing@lanteksms.com
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facts Mach Tool 2017
The team from Lantek ´s Poland office at Mach-Tool 2017 Fair, held in Poznan, June 6th-9th.
Next Trade Shows SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2017
FABTECH 2017
BLECHEXPO 2017
METALMADRID 2017
SEPTEMBER 25-29
NOVEMBER 6-9
NOVEMBER 7-11
NOVEMBER 15-16
Dusseldorf GERMANY
Chicago USA
Stuttgart GERMANY
Madrid SPAIN
We are ready. Are you? We bring together all our sheet metal cutting machines with Lantek CAD/CAM, the most advanced in the world, even though they are from different manufacturers and have different technologies. We manage all of them from one single software system, allowing us to optimise and improve our manufacturing processes, providing us with real-time data at every step. Data that allows us to be more competitive and service our customers better. And this is just the beginning. Because Industry 4.0 is not just a concept, it is the new manufacturing ecosystem, where the most adaptable will have the advantage in a fast changing world. Will you be one of those?
www.lanteksms.com | info@lanteksms.com