Smart Factory Solutions Demonstrated During ZOLLER Inc. Open House and Innovation Days

ZOLLER Inc. welcomed over 150 visitors to its premier two-day Open House & Innovations Days event which took place on June 19th and June 20th at their brand new North American Headquarters and Industry 4.0 Tech Center, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Apart from offering customers, partners, suppliers and the press the opportunity to tour the new state of the art building, the key focus over the two days was demonstrating ZOLLER’s ‘Smart Factory” Solutions. The solutions, including tool presetting and measuring, tool inspection, software and automation solutions, offer seamless connectivity at each stage of the production process. ZOLLER’s innovative, Industry 4.0 solutions allow significant time and cost savings for companies of all sizes in diverse industries.
Among the highlights was the ZOLLER »smileCompact«, a fully manual table-top tool presetter suited to a production environment that requires easy, quick measurements of standard tool parameters. In just seconds, the »smileCompact« ensures your tools are measured correctly and are therefore of the right quality to create accurate and quality parts prior to machining.

The ZOLLER »venturion« tool presetter was demonstrated during the event as well. The »venturion« is made from the finest components to ensure ZOLLER users have a reliable machine to preset and measure all their tools for years to come. With ZOLLER’s A.C.E (All Clamping Elements) spindle, users enjoy a changeover accuracy of just 1 micron, ensuring consistent measurement results regardless of who is operating the presetter and ZOLLER’s intuitive pilot 3.0 software makes measuring even the most complex tool geometries a simple task. The new »eQ« one-hand control handle allows for ergonomic, comfortable maneuvering of the optics carrier. The ZOLLER
»venturion« provides faster tool measurement, greater flexibility, safer processes and the connectivity to prepare companies for Industry 4.0. This was a popular feature throughout both days of the event.

Another machine highlight was the ZOLLER »redomatic« universal presetting, measuring and heat-shrinking machine, a popular solution for companies in the automotive industry in particular. Users benefit from remarkable time savings because with the »redomatic«, the cycletime for shrinking and cooling a tool in total is less than 1 minute. With its unique »asza« automatic length adjustment, the »redomatic« offers precise heat-shrinking to nominal length accurate to =+/- 10µ. Yet another way that ZOLLER looks to cover any industry challenge and help maximize efficiency in your production process.

ZOLLER »Smart Cabinets« were also a focus for the event and were demonstrated live several times over both days. Paired with ZOLLER TMS Tool Management Solutions software, the range of manual or automated cabinets allow for advanced inventory control to efficiently manage tools and accessories, including storage location, stock levels, tool assemblies, individual components and article characteristics.

Alexander Zoller, President of ZOLLER Inc., said: “As well as best-in- class tool presetting and measuring machines to suit all budgets, we specialize in providing total tool management solutions – our whole focus is on giving suppliers and manufacturers the power to make products better, faster and less expensively and to be seen as a critical solution provider and conduit in that process.

“We achieved our aims for this debut event through securing quality attendance, developing open opportunities and conveying new technologies to delegates.

“Visitors were very receptive to our innovative solutions and, thanks to the hard work of our employees, we’re delighted to be able to say the two days were a huge success.”

Technical Breakout Sessions

Alongside the keynote presentation from General Manager Dietmar Moll, which focused on “Making Smart Factory a reality”, and live machine demonstrations, the event also featured technical breakout sessions as follows:

Solutions for Tool Inspection: Werner Lueken, ZOLLER’s product manager for tool inspection, gave presentations regarding the full range of ZOLLER’s tool inspection product line including: »pomBasic«, »pomSkpGo«, »Genius 3s«, »smartCheck«,
»hobCheck« and more.

»pomBasic«: Michael Stepke, ZOLLER Inc.’s Product Specialist for tool inspection was on hand to discuss the ZOLLER »pomBasic« and offer live demonstrations. The process oriented measurement machine’s recent technological and hardware advancements were discussed at length.

Open Lab – TMS: Business Development Manager Michael Luksic offered visitors a unique chance to have hands on experience learning the basics of ZOLLER TMS Tool Management Solutions software. During the session, users were able to experience how TMS helps track tool assemblies, single components, store article characteristics and 3D models, and build setup sheets – all from a single source database!

Art to Part Demonstration: Industry 4.0 Tech Center Manager Matt Brothers and In-house Technical Support Engineer Anthony Westfall guided visitors on ZOLLER’s Art to Part demonstration. The goal was for visitors to gain a better understand of how all ZOLLER solutions tie together to offer more efficiency, higher quality and greater process reliability at each stage of the production process.
ZOLLER Smart Cabinets combine hardware with TMS Tool Management Solutions Software to help maximizre effiency in your manufacturing process

Starting with interfaces to CAM software, Brothers and Westfall showcased a ZOLLER CAM interface in action, utilized ZOLLER TMS and Smart Cabinets to pull tool assemblies, showed the presetting phase on the ZOLLER »venturion« and finally loaded the tools into the Fanuc Robodrill and machined a part. The full range of ZOLLER solutions to take you from art to part.

The event was a great opportunity for customers, partners and press to get a live look into the world of ZOLLER and gain a deeper understanding of how ZOLLER can help bring manufacturing companies up to the ever increasing demands of higher efficiency and accuracy in Industry 4.0.With such success in its debut, the ZOLLER Innovations Days event will be back in 2019 to continue to give customers, partners suppliers and press a look into the ever-changing world of ZOLLER!

About ZOLLER Inc.

ZOLLER Inc. currently employs 111 employees at its USA facility in Ann Arbor and looks forward to further expansion in the future to meet market demands for its products and technology. ZOLLER offers everything for efficient and process-reliable cutting tool handling in the manufacturing process. An international network of subsidiaries and agents ensures the highest level of service quality with personal customer care.