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HYDRA Tool and Resource Management
Effective Resource Management
Tools, operating facilities and other resources play an increasingly important role in many production companies. In addition to well-maintained machines and qualified staff, they guarantee products of high quality are produced on due time and according to budget.
The HYDRA-WRM module provides extensive functions for the effective management and organization of tools and other resources that are directly or indirectly involved in production processes to reduce avoidable down-times and wait times. It provides information on their current technical status as well as on availabilities. Individual parameters, such as information on the status, storage location, useful life, degree of wear, maintenance activities, etc., are monitored, recorded and presented in a transparent manner for a resource’s entire life-cycle. Functions for preventive maintenance activities complement the range of functions provided by HYDRA-WRM. These help replace tool books that need to be edited manually which is time-consuming and susceptible to errors.
HYDRA-WRM deals not only with tools but with all resources that are directly or indirectly involved in the production process.
Benefits of an Integrated Solution
In contrast to classic tool management, integrated tool and resource management provides considerable benefits for operators and tool setters as well as employees working in tool making, production control and work scheduling. If, for example, the tool number is already entered when logging the order on to the shop floor terminal, all data, such as quantities, strokes or cycles as well as production times and down-times, which are collected for the order in any event, will also be assigned to the tools being used. As a part of detailed planning in the HYDRA shop floor scheduling module and in addition to checking the machine availability, verification can be made as to whether the required operating facilities and tools are available and ready for use. If the maintenance interval of a tool was reached during order processing, HYDRA would provide notification and, if required, suggest alternative planning scenarios.
To provide for a complete proof of products and in addition to other qualityrelevant parameters, it is now also possible to include tool data in documents, such as electronic manufacturing reports.
Management of Master Data
Master data may include values that, on the one hand, characterize tools, operating facilities or measuring and test equipment as separate resource families and, on the other,
have been designed to control the special collection and pro cessing services in HYDRA. This applies, for example, to fields such as partitioning for multiple tools, storage location
or maintenance activities for preventive maintenance as well as to the current resource status (e.g., released, blocked, rejected/discarded, inactive or optimized). Multipart tools can
be planned, used and posted as a package by using the bill of material.
HYDRAWRM provides cavity management for users in injection molding or metal working. Individual cavities of multiple tools may be released or blocked. The current data from
cavity management are automatically taken into account when calculating the quantities produced using machine cycles or strokes.
Functions for maintenance and preventive maintenance of tools and resources can be used
for the production process at shop floor terminals directly.
Current Information on Tools and Resources
The resource overview is the central place where all current information on tools and resources is shown at the push of a button. This refers to important master data as well as, among other things, the status (e.g., released, blocked, if required with blocking reason), the current storage location, quantities that have already been posted and the current operation including the machine on which production is currently taking place. All this results in increased transparency, which helps plan maintenance activities in an optimum
manner and, if required, they can even be performed as preventive maintenance. The entire set of tools can be managed comprehensively and efficiently – which even applies to different locations. Searching for tools, which is very time-consuming, is now a thing of the past. Tools that are not maintained are no longer used and, as a result, this reduces the probability that machines will break down due to broken dies or defective tools. Consequently, less scrap is produced.
Maintenance calendar
As many activities as required that have to be performed as part of preventive maintenance can be defined for tools and other resources in the maintenance calendar. Maintenance intervals are defined based on cycles or strokes, the number of operating hours or fixed periods. Different colors indicate the current status of maintenance activities or rather, if they are overdue. Consequently, users can immediately see which resources require maintenance activities and which activities need to be performed. Maintenance orders may be generated from these activities directly. These orders can also be planned in HYDRA shop floor scheduling and assigned times in HYDRA shop floor data collection. Users are automatically notified if a maintenance interval is exceeded. A corresponding message can, for example, be sent by SMS or e-mail if HYDRA escalation management is in use.
Analyses, Reports and Evaluations
HYDRA-WRM provides numerous reports allowing for analysis of the recorded data. The use of resources, for example, lists all quantities and times pertaining to specific tools that have been posted during the selected period of time. However, the resource history, a life cycle for tools, records all relevant events. The electronic tool book also plays a special
role. It documents all data chronologically and allows for them to be output in configurable, printable reports.
Current overview of tools and resources where data about tools, such as storage locations or the current status, may also be entered.
The maintenance calendar as an ideal tool for plant maintenance – at the push of a button maintenance orders can be directly
generated for upcoming maintenance activities.
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