Woodworking made izy

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It’s time to see the customer at the centre

History has been made, with the 7 woodworking machinery leaders coming together for the first time and teaming up to put the interest of their customers at the forefront.

Woodworking made izy is not about individual success, it is about each company’s ability to work for the greater achievement of an efficient ecosystem, whereby they each provide skills and know how, from technical, engineering to marketing, interacting for the very first time in an interconnected system for the sheer beauty of offering a solution needed by their customers.

For the 7 companies, such a ground-breaking decision to team up and put aside each individual’s competitive standpoint, was led by providing a joint solution to their customers and by vastly improving manufacturing processes.

Digitalization makes everybody’s job easier, we really had to set in place unique and efficient standards so we all now speak the same language.

E. Esslinger
Director of Systems Project Execution Edge Processing at HOMAG

Member Companies

Biesse Group is a global leader in technologies for processing wood, glass, stone, advanced material and metal. It designs, manufactures and distributes machines, integrated systems and software for manufacturers of furniture, door/window frames and components for the construction, ship-building and aerospace industries. It invests 4% of yearly revenue in R&D, boasting over 200 registered patents. It operates through 12 industrial sites, 39 branches and 300 agents and selected dealers, exporting 85% of its production. Its customers include some of the most prestigious names in Italian and international design. Founded in Pesaro in 1969 by Giancarlo Selci, the company has been listed on the STAR sector of Borsa Italiana since June 2001. Today it has 4000 employees worldwide.
Robert Bürkle GmbH is one of the world's leading manufacturers of presses and coating technologies. Since the foundation of the company in 1920 by Robert Bürkle in a suburb of Freudenstadt, the company has stood for customer orientation and engineering. The international orientation of the company with branches in North America, Europe, Asia and globally active sales partners in over 90 countries guarantees personal and individual support for customers from a wide range of industries.
BÜRKLE serves customers in the wood-based materials, furniture, flooring, caravan, panel, printed circuit board, plastic card, insulation, glass and photovoltaic industries in over 70 countries. Oriented to the customers' requirements, BÜRKLE's tailor-made technologies enable production with high reliability and well thought-out functionality in mass and individual production.
The HOMAG Group is the world’s leading provider of integrated solutions, with a focus on helping the woodworking industry to move forward.
As a global player, we operate 15 production sites as well as about 20 sales and service companies with about 7,000 employees worldwide. In total, we are represented by our partners in more than 100 countries.
Based on strong trust and constant dialog, we build close relationships with our customers. We are not only able to provide everything to our customers, we give them everything from a single source. The fully automated and integrated production systems, digital assistants, high-precision machines and customized components from HOMAG are used to produce home and office furniture, kitchens, parquet and laminate flooring, windows, doors, staircases and even complete prefabricated timber-frame buildings.
The IMA Schelling Group has specialized in the development and fabrication of modularized customer-specific manufacturing systems and processing solutions for the plastic, metal and wood industry. The corporation is a leading supplier of batch-size-1 workcells for a digital, fully automated networked production. IMA Schelling develops and manufactures intelligent high-end solutions which are sold through a global network of sales and service centres. The product range includes workcells for the entire process chain, ranging from storage through cutting, handling and conveying, edge banding, drilling, to sorting and stacking of panel-shaped workpieces made of wood, metal or plastic, as well as a comprehensive range of services and digitization products. Through the use of the machines, users benefit from automated sequences and more efficient manufacturing processes.
Since 1952, SCM has been a leading producer of machinery and systems, as well as service provider, for the entire woodworking industry. Our three major production centres in Italy boast a record annual production output of over 20,000 machines, supported by the largest distribution network in the industry and an excellent after-sales service.
SCM state-of-the-art woodworking technologies and applications are able to respond to all market needs, both within an industrial context and in that of the craftsman, both for machining panels and processing of solid wood.
SCM is the reference brand in the field of woodworking machinery and is a Division of ScmGroup, a technological world leader in processing a wide variety of materials: wood, plastic, glass, stone, metal, advanced materials, and industrial components. The Group employs 4,000 workers and operates in all five continents with over 20 direct branches.
Hans Weber Maschinenfabrik, based in Kronach in Upper Franconia in Germany, has stood for perfection in mechanical engineering for almost 100 years and has won over customers from more than 60 countries. In addition to sanding machines in the woodworking sector, the portfolio of the Franconian machine manufacturer also includes grinding machines in the metal sector as well as systems for plastic extrusion, solutions for automation and additive manufacturing.
The WEINIG Group is the leading technology provider worldwide for solid wood and panel processing. Both divisions are globally represented by the well-known brands WEINIG & HOLZHER. Together with its daughter companies, WEINIG covers the entire range of solid wood processing. HOLZ-HER, on the other side, is the expert on all things panel processing. The WEINIG Group has more than 100 years of experience in its fields of expertise and is the reliable partner for the industry.

With Woodworking made izy, an exciting project has started that will have a great impact on the future. All members are behind the common goal and therefore work together effectively. In addition to the product, this project also creates new networks and leads to an exchange with the largest machine and system manufacturers in our sector.

C. Geiger
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
IMA SCHELLING

About

Seven world leaders in woodworking machinery industry, BIESSE, BÜRKLE, HOMAG, IMA SCHELLING, SCM, WEBER AND WEINIG, have worked together as a team in defining a standardized interface to connect all their woodworking machines, machine to machine, and machines to the customers’ Manufacturing Execution Systems. This means no individual interfaces need to be programmed and an overall control of the production process is readily put in place.

The project has been named izy, inspired by universal languages, and it has solved a communication problem in an easy and streamlined way.

The momentous standardized interface is being developed specifically for the woodworking industry so as to avoid individual definitions and programming for every interface for each brand and technology.

Woodworking made izy promotes an Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture data exchange standard for machine-to-machine communication, with a dedicated language developed for the woodworking industry that connects the production data with the overall manufacturing management. The dedicated language, has been developed in cooperation with Umati (Universal Machine Technology Interface) offering customers an exceptional level of standardization.

Woodworking made izy is a result of great teamwork. The unified interface, offers new opportunities and certainly accelerates innovation processes throughout our industry.

D. Loddenkemper
Homag senior marketing manager

How it works

A standardized interface will connect machine to machine and machines to customers’ Manufacturing Execution Systems.

Any technology, either cutting, sizing, edgebanding, cnc machining centres, drilling, moulding up to assembling and packaging will simply be connected within the manufacturing process. In future, the same way as you connect your printer in the office world, just as easily you will connect a WEINIG automatic profiling machine to an SCM cnc machining center, and just as easily add a Bürkle surface finishing system to the process.

Once the machines have been installed, there will follow a straightforward testing of the interface together with the software developers, adjusting it to improve the level of performance.

It’s not only a matter of connecting the machines together, it’s also being able to monitor the entire production process at a glance, identifying any weak points and acting swiftly, taking decisions on the data provided by the system concerning the entire cycle.

The standardisation of data exchange via state-of-the-art media and channels and additional standardised data models support the digitalisation and the way to digital services.

M. Löffler
Head of software and electrical design at BÜRKLE

Use cases

Dedicated technical teams are developing standards to ensure the entire procedure will no longer depend on variable factors related to operators or machines, making manufacturing easier, because individual interface programming will be superseded and an overall control of the production process will be set up very efficiently.

Identification of machines

Machines from different manufacturers shall be identifiable in a standardized manner. To this end, a number of basic and static information like manufacturer name and model number are provided on the interface.

Overview of machine states

The states of machines from different manufacturers are displayed in a standardized manner.

Overview of machine messages

The machine is expected to display all current messages such as alarms, warnings and information on the interface. These errors and warnings shall be mapped to OPC UA event types accordingly.

Job management

Feature which ensures all machines involved in the production process - whether wood or metal working, tooling machines, dust extraction systems or robots, of different brands and technologies - will be harmonised. The Job Management standard will audit runtimes, technologies, parts, materials and handling required in the process.

One protocol

Different machines from different manufacturers with OPC UA will be interconnected and the ranking system of standard protocols will be reduced to simply one horizontal level.

Affiliated partners

Machinery producers have free access to technical documents and rights in using the interface promoted by BIESSE, BÜRKLE, HOMAG, IMA SCHELLING, SCM, WEBER and WEINIG, the founder members of Woodworking made izy. The project is open and aims at connecting machines to machines and to the MES by using the OPC UA Unified Architecture and the companion specification. If you would like to become an Affiliated Partner and wish to download the file of the companion specification, this is your link https://bit.ly/3R8QHvJ"

Benefits

Establish data exchange with reduced costs in a flexible way, is very much needed for the industry, particularly for small-medium sized companies.

L. Föhn
Innovation Manager BORM-INFORMATIK

Without this new standardized interface, connecting each machine to the manufacturing flow would require weeks of technical assistance to develop tailored software and interface. In future, it will be a matter of a simple click.

Beyond improving productivity, the customer will benefit from a cost effective system as the new common language will reduce work and time on the manufacturing side by not having to develop, test and check several interfaces from different suppliers and for each brand and technology. Indeed, this benefit was the very reason driving the 7 member companies towards this common project.

If at least 3 days were needed to interconnect machines, in future it will be a matter of up to 3 hours to just plug in.

With the common language, companies will have the data they need and on average they will increase productivity by 10%.

In cooperation with

Umati (Universal Machine Technology Interface) have cooperated in the process of Woodworking made izy, by bringing together machine builders and users and therefore creating a community of industries promoting universal standards across many sectors, including – with this project - that of woodworking.
With more than 3.300 members, VDMA, is the largest network organisation and voice for mechanical engineering in Germany and Europe, and has consistently provided support to the working team enforcing the strength of the community and recognising the value of the project from its earliest stages.
Acimall, promotes the knowledge of Italian technology throughout the world and provides its 140 associates qualified assistance on key business issues.
The European Federation of Woodworking Machinery Industry – it’s a non-profit organisation founded in 1960, aimed at promoting the common interest of the industry protecting its business interests and dealing with matters of relevance to its members. Eumabois members are the National Associations of machine woodworking industry and related technologies. There are 13 national association included 2 single companies from European countries representing over 800 companies in the sector. The Federation sponsors more than 20 exhibitions worldwide.

News

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Point of view - SCM
We asked the 7 member companies to talk about their approach to the project and how they teamed up.
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Woodworking made izy
Woodworking made izy was launched at the Ligna Innovation Network on Monday 27th September during an interactive talk moderated by Stephanie Wagner (LIGNA) and speakers Ernst Esslinger (HOMAG and Chairman of the Joint Group), Raphaël Prati (BIESSE and Chairman of the Marketing Group), Alexander Broos (UMATI), Michael Ober (IKEA Industry) and Luca Föhn (BORM-INFORMATIK).

Contacts

Do you want more information on izy? Contact one of the seven companies!