ZOLLER – From machine manufacturer to digitalization enabler

For ZOLLER, the design of digital transformation has two-fold significance: over the past decades, the company has evolved into a systems provider for fully automated tool measurement and provision. ZOLLER offers cutting and machining solutions that shorten customer-side setup cycles and minimize downtime.

Greater productivity, enhanced quality, secure processes – together, they equal efficient, future-proof manufacturing. That’s the promise ZOLLER makes to its customers. To keep that promise, the company must deliver a synthesis of machinery and software which fulfills maximum expectations regarding consistency and availability.

In the beginning, there was the interface

Today, the company’s clients can be sure they will get connected, digitally consistent data processes – from CAD/CAM system programming to tool preparation, setup and calibration and on to machine-side tool provision.

This means that clever tool data management must be one of the foundations of smart production as defined by ZOLLER. A core element of this integrated tool data management is the software “ZOLLER Tool Management Solution”, or ZOLLER TMS for short. The software offers interfaces to all major CAD/CAM systems. By integrating the tool management suite with their respective CAM systems, users gain direct and simple access to the tool data they need for programming purposes. Incoming setup and usage information from the CAM system is transmitted directly to the ZOLLER TMS and used to plan and prepare downstream digital production.

Until a few years ago, however, no interface existed between the ZOLLER TMS and CATIA software. “We know that creating an interface to CATIA V5 was a demanding goal because tool management in CAD/CAM systems is usually organized differently than tool management generally”, says Marco Windisch, Product Manager for CAM interfaces at ZOLLER, in explaining the origins of the company’s collaboration with CENIT. “That’s why we consciously went looking for a partner with CAD/CAM knowhow and an awareness of what defines intelligent tool management”. As an established CATIA partner with deep expertise in digital manufacturing, CENIT was the right choice for ZOLLER.

Because collaboration literally started from scratch, it was important to both enterprises to define the decisive cornerstones of the digital workflow they were after. This begins with the CAD/CAM system – in this case CATIA V5. As a first step, tool data for the generation of the NC programs are extracted from the ZOLLER TMS database. Once the programs have been created, all manufacturing-relevant information is collated in a tooling sheet and transmitted to the ZOLLER TMS, making the information needed for production preparation and manufacturing available.

Forward thinking benefits the customer

Looking back on how their collaboration developed, both enterprises see that the initial interface programming project has evolved into a true development collaboration: for one thing, the continual optimization and expansion efforts are planned, logical steps aimed at enhancing the performance of the software solution. For another, they derive from the development dynamic of ZOLLER’s clients, and thereby of the entire industry. “In working with our customers, we always strive to implement their integration expectations quickly and reliably. That means that we were guided by their specific requirements. But we also wanted to think ahead and create superior functionalities that give our clients the means to fully exploit the potentials of optimal data provision, within the wider context of digitalization”, says Marco Windisch.

Today, this aspect gives the development collaboration even greater significance: as global leader of the industry, ZOLLER had always based its reputation on making its clients’ production more efficient. As digitalization moves forward, the company’s sphere of activities is expanding: above and beyond optimal, integrated tool management, ZOLLER wants to assist its clients in implementing topics such as the Digital Twin or Lot Size 1. Witness a current project in which CENIT is supporting ZOLLER: Documentation of tool usage times in CATIA. Here the user first simulates the manufacturing process in CATIA. CENIT then processes the simulation results and determines tool usage times. Finally, the data is made available within the ZOLLER TMS. Such information can be used for greater precision in production planning. As Marco Windisch explains: “The expensive thing about machines is having to retrofit the tools. The more information you have on what tools have been in use for how long and which ones you will have to replace, the better you can adjust production to your orders situation. Tool planning and production setup – these are core considerations particularly for the Lot Size 1 concept.”