Welding robot

By using external sensors that measure alongside the controller. ZARGES retrofitted its robot lines for welding and punching with Peakboard Edge: two light barriers detect the products one after the other and feed the data into the system. Because the PLC remains untouched, no new CE certification is required and the robot manufacturer's warranty stays valid. The solution was implemented within a few days and runs entirely on the local network.

Sensors count every finished part, and the software calculates cycle and takt times from this and displays them on dashboards. At ZARGES, the displays refresh every two to ten seconds, while further screens show SAP order and logistics data. The values are also written to an SQL database and can be analysed in BI systems. Downtime becomes visible immediately, and robot utilisation has become noticeably more balanced.

Through a central data infrastructure that processes events from all machines and welding robots in near real time. KRONE built its plant in Ibbenbüren on an event-driven architecture: as a local event broker, Cybus Connectware unifies the data from the welding robots and other equipment. Orders are handled as data objects, which the machines execute before reporting completion. This also makes it possible to integrate automated guided vehicles that were previously not connected.

Yes, KRONE uses automated pollutant monitoring for welding work in its smart factory in Ibbenbüren. Data-based monitoring of ambient conditions and pollutants improves occupational safety. It relies on the same data infrastructure that captures machine events in real time and shares them across system boundaries. KRONE also analyses energy consumption in real time to promote energy efficiency and meet ESG guidelines.