How can you use virtual commissioning to reduce CNC machine time-to-market?

2 Why use virtual commissioning?

Virtual commissioning can help you reduce CNC machine time-to-market by enabling faster and more efficient design, validation, optimization, and troubleshooting. By using virtual commissioning, you can reduce design errors and rework by detecting and resolving issues early in the development cycle, saving time and costs that would otherwise be spent on physical prototyping and debugging. Quality and performance can be improved by optimizing the machine parameters, settings, and logic; while safety and reliability can be enhanced by verifying the compliance and robustness of the machine. Furthermore, virtual commissioning can accelerate the commissioning and ramp-up phases by transferring the validated data and settings to the real machine.

4 What are the benefits of virtual commissioning?

Virtual commissioning can bring many benefits to your manufacturing engineering projects, such as a reduced time-to-market, cost savings, improved quality and performance, safety and reliability, and flexibility and scalability. By eliminating or minimizing the need for physical prototyping, testing, and debugging, you can shorten the development cycle and launch your CNC machine faster. Additionally, you can save money by reducing the material, labor, and energy costs associated with physical prototyping. Furthermore, virtual commissioning can help optimize the design, parameters, settings, and logic of your CNC machine to enhance its functionality, safety, quality, and efficiency. Moreover, it can ensure the compliance and robustness of your CNC machine by verifying its behavior and interactions under different scenarios and conditions. Lastly, it can easily adapt and modify your CNC machine design and control system to meet changing customer needs and market demands.

5 What are the challenges of virtual commissioning?

Virtual commissioning presents certain challenges, such as data availability and quality, software compatibility and integration, a skill and knowledge gap, and validation and verification. To create a realistic and dynamic digital model, you need access to accurate and reliable data about your CNC machine components, sensors, actuators, PLCs, and CNC programs. Additionally, you must choose a software tool that can simulate and emulate your CNC machine and its control system, as well as communicate and exchange data with other software tools. It is also important to have the skill and knowledge to use the software tool effectively and efficiently, as well as interpret and apply the results. Finally, you need to validate and verify the accuracy and completeness of the simulation and emulation results to ensure they match the real machine behavior and performance.