Energy efficiency in full ‘Force’ at Sandvik Coromant

The Gimo, Sweden production facility of Sandvik Coromant, a leader in the design and manufacture of premium metal-cutting tools and machining technology, is tapping into the extensive benefits of VERICUT Force™ from CGTech. The company is using this advanced physics-based software, which analyses and optimises cutting conditions during component machining, to deliver significant savings in both cycle time and energy consumption. The results are nothing short of impressive.

Sandvik Coromant’s Gimo production plant manufactures tool bodies (holders) for indexable-insert cutters used in milling, drilling and turning operations. The facility produces a catalogue of around 15,000 standard products, as well as customised tools. However, Gimo is no ordinary plant. In 2019, the World Economic Forum recognised the factory as just one of 16 digital ‘lighthouses’ worldwide for the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). And it is clear to see why.

The Gimo site is up and running 8,760 hours per year and features extensive automation. In fact, the whole night shift is unmanned, operated by hundreds of industrial robots and automated guided vehicles (AGVs). Furthermore, a digital ‘thread’ runs throughout the factory that automates everything from customer order to despatch, with data feedback from production to the company’s systems supporting process analysis and continuous improvement.

“When a customer places an order it triggers an automated design process based on parametrics,” explains Sandvik Coromant Production Engineer Björn Ljunggren. “The next step is preparation for production, namely the automatic generation of programs for robots, measuring systems and machine tools. Machine programming includes comprehensive verification and simulation using VERICUT.”

Stable means able
VERICUT ensures stable processes, which are essential for unmanned operations. The site has been a VERICUT user for over 10 years, recording no machine crashes in that time. Now, the Gimo factory is introducing VERICUT Force for program optimisation to this part of its automated process.

At Gimo, the whole set-up simply runs by itself in the plant’s specially created automated batch mode environment. There are no design engineers or production engineers sitting in front of CADCAM stations. Instead, the system determines everything automatically, including workpiece material and lead-time requirements.

While machining optimisation using VERICUT Force serves to reduce cycle time, the Gimo site wants to leverage the benefits of this increasingly popular software to help with a bigger ambition: becoming carbon-neutral by 2035.

“Our goal is energy-efficient manufacturing - reducing energy consumption and increasing sustainability,” explains Mr Ljunggren. “That’s why we’re moving beyond simulation and verification to optimisation with VERICUT Force. Reduced production time and energy-efficient manufacturing go hand-in-hand.” 

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