Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener market

Named after the Roman god who is often depicted as having two faces – due to its ability to look to the future and to the past – the Janus Perspective is a unique feature that includes a wide cross section of global fastener business leaders, who have all contributed their retrospective of 2021 and thoughts on prospects and challenges for 2022.

Joachim Krüger, head of sales support for forming and stamping

The impact of Covid-19 and global supply chain problems, along with the shift towards eMobility, are the predominant factors for the year ahead.

Ongoing, global supply chain problems and resulting assembly line standstills at car manufacturers have led to an economic downturn throughout the Eurozone. Medium-sized automotive suppliers are facing almost insurmountable challenges, the effects of which will be felt well into next year. eMobility, BREXIT, material bottlenecks and a wave-like pandemic have to be countered by us and our customers with innovative and imaginative solutions on a near daily basis.

In connection with digitalisation, the topic of process monitoring is an innovation driver in the field of forming technology. Many fastener manufacturers are constantly pushing the topic of digitalisation and thus the complete networking of all production machines. Various interfaces such as OPC-UA are used to communicate between the different components at the production level right up to the higher-level IT management system. The evaluation of process data is rapidly gaining in importance, as new tools enable customers to carry out targeted analyses and evaluations. The combination of the evaluation of process data on the one hand, and the production or machine data on the other, represents an immense step towards realising preventive maintenance, increasing tool life and generating reproducible processes. The topic of quality assurance in the running process is indispensable for our customers and an integral part of our corporate philosophy.

The process monitoring solutions from Brankamp, which belongs to the Marposs Group, is of great interest to the manufacturing industry for several reasons. First of all, the monitoring devices provide important information about the forming processes, which can be used to optimise them and thus ensure the reliable production of fasteners. Furthermore, the process data stored in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environment can be used for evaluation and analysis and the collected operating data can be forwarded to higher-level systems. All Brankamp monitoring devices of the X-series have the above-mentioned possibilities and have established themselves as a permanent fixture with customers worldwide. Particularly noteworthy are the uniform user interface and the very flexible connection options for various sensors, such as force, acoustic and voltage signals. Various evaluation algorithms take over the analysis and evaluation of the signals in the background and, in the best case, regulate the machine, sort out parts, stop the machine or provide the machine operator with specific information about process anomalies. Linear drives offer completely new adjustment possibilities for material deviations.

With the new C-Thru MES software, we have also succeeded in offering customised solutions to customers in the field of forming technology, depending on the desired level of expansion. The documentation of process information is a rapidly growing market segment, combined with an increasing need for traceability over the production process and proof of quality checks. The provision of data for statistical evaluations is becoming another task of the process monitoring system itself. Machine condition monitoring is also becoming increasingly important and is essential for predictive maintenance.

Condition monitoring can be realised through vibration and oscillation evaluations at the relevant measuring points of the forming machines. For these special monitoring methods, we work closely with the manufacturers of the forming machines.

Exhibitions have always been a touchpoint with manufacturers, but after the pandemic, they have gained even more importance. Particularly wire® 2022 in Düsseldorf, Germany, which will most hopefully take place as planned and we expect important impulses from this leading trade fair of the industry for 2022.

Our focus in 2022 will be on driving digitalisation for our customers with a new range of devices in addition to the well proven machine and tool protection. In the future, process data will play a major role in preventive maintenance, optimal machine settings and quality assurance. The monitoring devices, in combination with data collection, are designed to anticipate production bottlenecks, tool and die damage, as well as other disturbances during the production process.