它被称为工业革命的下一个阶段——“工业4”.0,” or, for metalcasters, “铸造4.0.” Using data analysis, 连接, 自动化和更多, metalcasting facilities are growing smarter and smarter. 但是“4”是什么.0” technology, and how are foundries implementing it? 以下是铸造厂及其供应商将这些新机会整合到其流程中的三个例子.

Robotics and Automation

When AFS Corporate Member Waupaca铸造 (Waupaca, 威斯康星州)大约一年前开设了一家新的机加工车间，为重型卡车市场完成铸件, it did so with one eye on the future—and one on its present.

“这个设施代表了我们在自动化方面所做的一切,萨拉·蒂姆说, Waupaca’s marketing and communications manager. “But the machining facility is very progressive.”

在沃帕卡的七个铸造厂和两个加工设施中，大约有135个机器人帮助制造公司的灰色, 韧性, 等温淬火球墨铸铁, and compacted graphite iron castings.

“We use 机器人 and 自动化 in every department, 差不多, from the core room to the mill room to packaging,杰罗德·奥斯本说, vice president of 制造业 and engineering at Waupaca. “我们在自动化方面所经历的是，代工的重复性工作正在减少, as well as better ergonomics and safety, and making it a more desirable job.”

In the new machining facility at its headquarters in Wisconsin, a robot unloads raw castings and places them on a conveyer, while automated guided vehicles transfer parts to machining cells, where CNC lathes produce tight-tolerance components. Even stacking parts onto pallets is automated. This is representative of the Foundry 4.0 movement transforming metalcasting plants across the world.

“铸造4.0, 在我眼中, 是一个完全互联的工作空间，其中设备和机器连接在一起，并根据数据而不是人工交互做出决策,奥斯本说. “The machining cells are the decision-makers. They request parts and tell it when the parts are complete.”

At Waupaca’s machining facility, 人力投入主要以质量控制和机器维护的形式出现. 当然，自动化并不意味着缺少员工——该工厂大约有15名员工. But employees use different skills than they otherwise would have. This has led to an overall shift in Waupaca’s workforce. 

蒂姆说:“它正在改变我们今天的工作性质。. “工作正变得更有技巧性，重复性更低，体力要求更低. We’re increasing those jobs and those wages.”

As 机器人 and 自动化 complement the workforce, they attract a new kind of employee, 据奥斯本说. They also reveal a different side of foundry work.

“We develop the 自动化 and 机器人 internally, so we have a good group of technical people,奥斯本说. “By having that set of tasks or jobs, it entices the younger crowds. Many people don’t look at the foundry as a high-tech workplace, 但一旦他们看到我们拥有的技术和我们前进的方向, it sheds a new light on opportunities.”

机器学习

铸模师在看到问题时就知道问题所在——缺陷、失败或其他问题. But those problems are relatively rare. How much do they know about their successful castings?

“You’re making 96% or 97% good parts, 但你不会去看它们，因为你只关注问题,亚当·科普尔说, AFS公司成员Mercury Marine(丰都拉克)工程项目经理, 威斯康辛州). “Are we knowledgeable on when things are good? 我们是否利用这些数据来帮助我们识别事情不好的时候? I felt 就像 the answer was no.”

This realization is part of what spurred Kopper, a PhD candidate in materials science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to dive headlong into machine learning, 人工智能的一个子集，它使用数据分析来允许计算机识别模式并做出决策.

With machine learning, 小山说, 铸造厂可以在潜在问题出现之前识别出细微的异常, 说, 温度, that might otherwise be ignored. 这是无数机会中的一个，其中一些机会已经在发挥作用, 其他主要是理论上的——制造商将利用机器学习的发展.

“所有 the equipment talking to each other, 工程师或分析师能够获得这些数据——关键是你正在做出数据驱动的决策,Kopper说. “我们如何获取这些知识，并最终让机器做出这些决定? 这是长远的观点.”

In a metalcasting facility, 机器学习可能涉及很多事情——实时监测压力以寻找意想不到的偏差, or watching a machine’s amp draw to anticipate equipment failure. The latter is becoming commonplace, 小山说.

“制造商现在所做的是从预防性维护转向预测性维护, which is putting monitors, 流量传感器, amp米, whatever you can measure, 在那台机器上, so you know what it looks 就像 when it’s running well,他说.

最终, although machine learning is about looking toward the future, some of it can be used to preserve today’s knowledge and put it to use.

“I think a key issue in our industry, and in a lot of 制造业, is that we’re losing expertise,Kopper说. 机器学习解决了这个问题，他继续说道，“我们如何获取这些知识? How do we turn tribal knowledge into data? What data describes that tribal knowledge?”

增强现实

增强现实技术似乎更可能出现在硅谷的初创企业，而不是金属铸造厂, but for AFS Corporate Member LAEMPE REICH, using augmented reality in foundries makes perfect sense.

的Trussville, 总部位于阿拉巴马州的核心机器制造商向其客户提供增强现实服务订阅已有一年左右的时间, lending remote maintenance help to staff at foundries all over the world. 增强现实技术允许在眼镜或其他观看设备的帮助下，将计算机生成的图像叠加在人的真实视觉上, combining those images into a cohesive view.

“从根本上, 这是一副摇滚明星的安全眼镜，里面装着一台电脑,” LAEMPE REICH co-owner Peter Reich said. “But it’s not about the lens. It’s who’s behind the lens. It’s our technicians empowering you to fix your machine.”

铸造工人戴着增强现实镜头，将他们所看到的实时视频传输给LAEMPE REICH的技术人员, 谁在如何修理核心机器或进行预防性维护方面给出一步一步的指导. 但增强现实技术意味着这远远超出了典型的呼叫服务台. As the technician speaks instructions into an accompanying headset, 他或她还将图像直接叠加到铸造工人的视线中——任何从图表到手绘箭头指向准确的现场维护都应该执行. 戴上眼镜的工作人员可以用手滑动这些窗户.

“It’s about working together towards a common goal, and the device allows us to do that,约翰·莱茨说, who works in sales for LAEMPE REICH. “They’ve got a crescent wrench, they’ve got a multimeter, and now we want them to have a LAEMPEar device.”

When workers use augmented reality for the first time, “There’s kind of a big grin, 就像, 的男人, 这很酷!’”莱茨说.  但该公司的目标之一是使这种技术在铸造厂的使用正常化.

通过增强现实提供的服务与公司在常规现场访问中提供的服务相同, 但新技术允许它提供帮助，而无需花费旅行时间和费用, 其他好处包括. Letts said augmented reality 连接 has another kind of upside, too—workers remember more, 结果就是, 他们对自己修理和维护机器的能力有了信心. 

“Augmented reality allows you to work in your immediate environment, and when you work together using these intuitive tools, the knowledge is retained.  So, the foundry personnel is empowered and a need for training is satisfied, all of which can lead to higher retention for the foundry,让我们说. “And when our industry adapts new technologies and new tools, there is an opportunity to attract a new generation of skilled labor. 这是一场胜利.”

Although augmented reality is an emerging technology, 赖希说，它不应该恐吓那些没有高科技技能的工人——恰恰相反. In a world where machinery is growing increasingly complex, a pair of AR glasses can open up a lot of possibilities, 他说.

“我们在铸造厂有一个经验丰富的人，他拥有一代人修理和操作机器所需的所有技能, 但大多数情况下, 当一台具有新功能的新机器进入他的工厂时，他落在了后面. Rather than embrace that, sometimes fear and defeat enter,” Reich said. “[Augmented reality] changes that. Rather than have our technician doing the repair, 这使他能够在我们的监视下解决问题, 很多时候，输入更好的文档和集中的指导，而不是我们在那里.”