Software (June 01, 2007)
Canadian Plastics
Real-time monitoring and control for extrusion
Real-time monitoring and control for extrusion
Continuous processes like extrusion (sheet, profile and blown film), compounding and thermoforming can be monitored and controlled in real-time by Mattec Corporation’s new ProHelp EPM Version 7.1 software.
The same real-time shop-floor control system has been used to monitor injection molding, metal stamping and other cyclical processes for many years.
ProHelp continuously monitors every connected machine in a processing plant, and alerts users to critical changes in process conditions such as speeds, temperatures or pressures so that the process can be corrected before bad parts are produced.
Extrusion is monitored for screw RPM, melt temperature, screen pressure, line speed and other critical data that affect part quality. Version 7.1 also includes a comprehensive SPC/SQC program that provides process exception reporting, real-time voice and email alarms, linear regression analysis associating part dimensions and weights to machine process.
Available management tools include real-time schedule functions, capacity planning charts, production reporting, labour tracking, a documentation library, and a process journal that provides easy communication between shifts of workers. Version 7.1 provides additional functionality to allow the shop-floor system to communicate with the corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in real-time or other available timeframes. Inventory and WIP updates can be made in the ERP system as often as product lots are made on the shop floor. Serialized box labeling and functions are optional.
MATTEC Corporation (Loveland, Ohio);
www.mattec.com; 800-966-1301
CMS Software (Richmond Hill, Ont.);
905-224-2222