Digital WIDIA Knowledge That Delivers Extreme Results
WIDIA has a saying: “Extreme Challenges – Extreme Results.” Over the years, this has come to mean metalworking productivity breakthroughs for numerous shops from such well-known WIDIA names as VariMill™, VariTap™, WIDIA Victory™, and numerous others. In the future of what some have coined Industry 4.0 extreme opportunities exist in the digital integration of tooling data and knowledge to the shop floor. Extreme results are possible through integrating accurate, complete tool data, rules, and application knowledge digitally to dramatically rethink and shorten process planning, adding real value to CAD/CAM, CNC machine control, presetting, inventory management, and more. This is what WIDIA envisions with their launch of their new NOVO™ desktop and tablet application – on demand cutting edge delivery of cutting tool data and expertise for reduced product development and manufacturing lead times.
“NOVO™ data represents real WIDIA tools and how they fit, function, and perform over a variety of machining scenarios,” says Bernie McConnell, vice president, WIDIA Products Group and Services. “Importing NOVO™ makes CAD/CAM programs more functional and valuable because the tools fit and move as designed. Implementing NOVO™ makes estimating and process planning a breeze because it supplies entire assemblies and spare parts lists with “best fit” functionality that otherwise takes hours of time finding in catalogs and product literature. NOVO™ empowers inventory management, purchasing and other vital shop processes because it is real expertise based on decades of development experience. It truly empowers shops to take on extreme challenges with extreme results.”
Thinking Like a Process Planner
“NOVO™ thinks like a process planner,” explains Thomas Long, head of the newly formed Virtual Machining RDE department at WIDIA. “It works from the feature back to the tooling strategy. In addition, each order number is tied to application data gleaned from hundreds of subject matter experts and decades of WIDIA experience. Request a part number and you also get pictures, assemblies, spare parts lists, as well as inserts that fit. Not only does it accomplish in minutes what formerly took hours, it yields an optimized solution, backed by WIDIA expertise, every time.”
According to Long, NOVO™ assists shop personnel in a number of intuitive ways, from “I need to make a ½” hole x 1 ½” deep in ANSI 4140” to “I need a ½” by 5xD solid-carbide drill.” In the first case, NOVO™ helps users define machining features, drilling a blind hole in this case, and then immediately reduces the product set to those that can do the job, taking into account constraint requirements such as material, tolerance, and machining sequence for both single tools and multi-tools. NOVO™ then ranks the results—based on knowledge-based rules—to best meet the challenges of the application as defined by the customer’s operating environment and user preferences, providing far more useful process knowledge than any online catalog alone, all obtained in a fraction of the time.
In the second case, when a customer already has preferred tool and grade in mind, NOVO™ smart-attribute filters not only quickly select the products available to do the job, NOVO™ also gives the options on what cutting item and adaptive item fits and also works with the selected solution. NOVO™ smart filters take the task of selecting ALL cutting tool components from hours to minutes, while providing a comprehensive and accurate list of solutions based on customer input.
In both cases, NOVO™’s Tool Configurator then provides all CAD files and graphic support for all tool components and their assembly – a major time savings for customers.
Even further, NOVO™’s Job Functionality option is a cloud-based repository linked to a user by a unique ID where tool lists can be stored for future use, editing, copying, and sharing. These can be easily downloaded into standard report formats and include tooling commercial and dimensional data and weights, speeds and feeds, and photo or CAD model images.
Seamless Connectivity, E-Commerce, and Tool Management
Customers expect continuous fast development of technology platforms to deliver more value. Since the 2013 launch of the NOVO™’s original Tool Selector, Tool Configurator, Tool Advisor, and Job functions, NOVO™ has added connectivity to E-commerce, easy ISO 13399 exports, and seamless integration to the ToolBOSS™ tool management system via the Machining Cloud™.
Specifically, NOVO™ users can request a price quote from their local WIDIA Distribution Partners by transferring their shopping cart list to them via the “Request Quote” button. The distributor will receive a notification with complete detail of the items and requestor information to respond. A new pop-up also makes it easy to add spares and other individual items to existing shopping carts. Spare parts are clearly identified as “included” or “non-included” on bills of material.
ToolBOSS™ users on the cloud with the latest software version can now use NOVO™ to see if an item proposed for a process plan is already available in their ToolBOSS™ inventory, making both plans and budgets more efficient. Customer part numbers are automatically populated in NOVO™ Tool Advisor results and Tool Availability pop-ups via the ToolBOSS™ database. “By adding ToolBOSS™ credentials to their user profile, customers easily check the inventory in their local ToolBOSS™ units with their developing process plans,” says Chris Merlin, Marketing Manager for the Virtual Machining initiative at Kennametal. “They’re better able to visualize items already in their shop.”
Mobility
Users can leverage NOVO™ via the tablet of their choice. “Mobility is no longer a luxury. With Android and Windows Tablet versions of NOVO™ now available, it brings an element of added mobility and access to your tool list no matter which device you log onto,” Merlin adds. “This also makes it easy for people working on the shop floor with tablets to collaborate with the process planners in other departments.”
