All Eyes on the Gestica Control System as arburgXvision Returns
Following a summer break, Arburg went live with its eighth broadcast of arburgXvision on September 30, which focused on the Gestica control system and how it can easily be used to get to grips with even the most complex machines and processes.
The broadcast that aired last week, ‘Complex machines made easy – an overview of the Gestica control system’, captured the attention of around 500 people.
Arburg experts Jürgen Peters, Head of Software Development, and Miriam Lauble, Technical Sales Manager, gave an overview of the innovative features of the ‘Made by Arburg’ control system. Viewers received interesting and valuable practical tips during live links to the Arburg Customer Centre.
Gestica: The platform for efficient injection moulding
“Intelligent assistants are the future of mechanical engineering”, according to Miriam Lauble, explaining one of the reasons why Arburg develops and manufactures its own control systems, including software and printed circuit boards. Only by adopting this method can Arburg quickly and easily adapt every detail to process requirements and customer requirements. “Our focus has always been on a high level of functionality, optimal ease of use and efficiency”, Miriam emphasised. Swiping gestures, for example, could save up to 100,000 clicks a year. She also discussed the advantages of the plausibility check and intelligent assistance functions such as the aXw Control FillAssist. As an example, she said that the filling simulation directly on the control system can reduce setup times by more than 40%.
Control system: A machine’s ‘seal of quality’
“Standing still means going backwards, that’s why we’re constantly developing”, Jürgen Peters said, explaining the motivation behind developments and providing a comprehensive overview of the innovative features that make the Gestica intelligent.
He also explained the benefits of hardware and technology in terms of IT security and data analytics. Many people did not know that the Gestica’s computer architecture is divided into an operating unit and a control system. The operating unit is used for programming, visualisation and analysis – without influencing the running processes. Separately from this, the control system software precisely controls and regulates the machine directly. “This physical separation ensures cyclically reproducible operation and protects the machine from IT attacks. This is unique in the industry”, Jürgen emphasised.
Finally, he discussed new features of the Gestica, such as the aXw Control Cycle Assist and aXw Control EnergyAssist for optimising cycle times and energy consumption. Future topics that Arburg is working on include ‘machine learning’ and the automatic programming of robotic systems using artificial intelligence.
Presented live: Assistance functions and intuitive navigation
Two live links into the Lossburg Customer Centre showed viewers the different support and benefits that the Gestica user interface can bring to everyday injection moulding. First, Arburg process engineer Felix Beuter explained how assistance functions such as the aXw Control FillAssist and aXw Control MeltAssist can save valuable working time in everyday production. In the second part, Jochen Hirt, Team Manager for International Technical Support, presented the intuitive navigation of the Gestica user interface. Among other things, he demonstrated how short cycle times can be programmed. The two practical experts also answered lots of questions that viewers asked live in the chat during the broadcast.
Human/machine interface
Together with presenter Guido Marschall, the experts discussed key findings regarding the Gestica control system. “For us, Gestica is the central seal of quality for high-tech machines that take injection moulding to a new level”, said Jürgen by way of summing up. “The fact that we handle everything in-house, from the development to the production of the control system, makes us unique as a machine manufacturer.”
Miriam added: “I see Gestica as already having arrived at autonomous driving. This means we are at the beginning of a new era in machine construction.” This also includes the possibility of avoiding malfunctions or downtimes thanks to predictive maintenance.
Finally, Jürgen Peters took a look into the future: “The evaluation of a large quantity of data directly in the Gestica operating unit will offer further added value. We are working on ensuring that the machine continuously learns, keeps itself stable and can even optimise itself in the future.”
Next broadcast: October 28, 2021
‘Mould strategy 2.0 – new ideas for reducing costs!’ is the topic of the ninth arburgXvision broadcast. Arburg experts Christoph Blöchle, Technical Sales Manager, and Christian Homp, Team Manager Application Engineering, will provide tips on how to increase machine utilisation by strategically combining mould protection, preparation and monitoring. Two live links into Lossburg will demonstrate modern mould monitoring and wear prevention.
If you want to attend and stay up to date with the series, visit www.arburgXvision.com and complete the quick and easy one-time registration process. Registration also includes access to all events and to the media centre, where all previous episodes will be available to watch on-demand shortly after broadcast.
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