[step-manufacturing] IMTS 2018 trip report

[Martin Hardwick]

Digital Twin Machining at IMTS 2018

Overview
Manufacturing becomes faster, more flexible and more accurate when 
digital models are used as the language for controlling manufacturing 
machines. Five years ago, the digital thread was proposed as a way to 
deliver the necessary data from CAD and CAM systems. Now new controls 
are becoming available to manage this data on the machine by building 
digital twins of the manufacturing process.

Meeting Summary
At IMTS 2018, ISO and OMAC helped DMG and Hyundai demonstrate the first 
commercially available digital twinning software at their booths. The 
two vendors took turns to rough and finish a five-axis aerospace part 
that was developed by airbus with tolerances added by Boeing. The team 
showed how digital twins make on demand measurement simple by showing 
green, yellow and red colors to indicate which faces on the part are 
meeting their tolerances and which are not conforming (Fig.1). They 
showed how to make manufacturing more adaptive by modifying twins for 
new schedules, new tooling and new workpieces, and they showed how to 
make manufacturing safer by using twins to perform real time collision 
detection and on-demand path planning.

Key takeaways
• Large manufacturing enterprises will benefit considerably from the 
more efficient supply chain communication enabled by the digital thread.
• Machine tool builders will benefit considerably from the increased 
functionality enabled by digital twins.
• These two groups should now collaborate to deploy digital twins and 
the digital thread across manufacturing starting with the aerospace 
sector because it has the most variability between parts.

Strategic follow on actions
Develop a "Digital Manufacturing Implementor's Forum (DM-IF)" with a 
mission to deploy the digital thread by:

1. Helping machine tool builders process digital thread data on their 
machines by using pilot projects to make digital twin machining test cases.
2. Helping CAD and CAM vendors read and write digital thread data by 
sorting out communication difficulties and misunderstandings.
3. Helping software developers make applications that deliver the 
benefits by giving them low cost access to the test cases and the 
CAD/CAM translators.

Help please

  * Work with us to develop detailed plans for the DM-IF by attending
    the kickoff meeting on Thursday November 8th at the DMDII in Chicago.
  * Encourage key aerospace executives to sponsor the pilot projects
    that will make the DM-IF viable.

*Fig. 1 Digital Twin machining gives immediate feedback on the quality 
of a CATIA part
*

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