Batch Process Manager

Batch Process Manager:
Plan the production sequence

The TNC 640 provides a number of powerful functions for pallet machining and for the serial production of workpieces. One of these functions is the Batch Process Manager (Option 154), which allows you to plan the production process in advance.

Organize shifts for days, nights, and weekends

Organize shifts for days, nights and weekends

With the Batch Process Manager, you can organize your pending jobs with speed, ease, and process reliability. First, you create a jobs list. Simply enter the planned jobs for the upcoming night shift, entire day, or weekend. The Batch Process Manager then analyzes the jobs and provides critical information about the anticipated production sequence, including the following:

How long will the machines be in use?
When will manual interventions be needed?

Detect critical machining factors in advance

The control automatically determines whether all of the requirements for smooth execution of the entered jobs are fulfilled:

Is a preset entered at the pallet, program, or fixture level?
Does the NC program run in the simulation without an error message?
Which tools are still needed, and which ones lack sufficient service life?

Green checkmark = everything is okay

The Batch Process Manager displays the results of these analyses in a clear and intuitive graphical overview, with green checkmarks appearing when everything is in order. You immediately receive an overview of whether all of the programs will execute without errors and where and when you must manually intervene.

If the control detects a problem (such as a tool with insufficient service life for the planned machining operation), then the Batch Process Manager will display the anticipated point in time for the required manual intervention. Option 93, Extended Tool Management, is required for all analyses involving tools.

Seeing how long your jobs will take

The Batch Process Manager shows you at a glance how long your jobs list will take to complete. The Batch Process Manager repeats its analyses cyclically so that updated data is regularly displayed.

The Batch Process Manager will inform you in advance about the following:

The machining sequence
The time of the next manual intervention
Program duration and run time
Status information regarding the preset, tool, and NC program

This is how it works

The Batch Process Manager is based on the pallet management function of the TNC 640—or, to be more precise, it interprets the pallet file in the background. All of the entries you make into the Batch Process Manager are stored in this pallet file by the TNC control.

The following process elements are available to you for entry:

Pallet
Fixture
Program

Modelling the actual situation

Based on these process elements, the Batch Process Manager models the actual situation of a machine with pallets. Each pallet is given its own entry, or, alternatively, you can define a fixture level and the appropriate NC program for the workpieces.

Easily change your entries at any time

The Batch Process Manager provides convenient editing options for entering the required data. You can copy, move, and paste individual or even entire process elements. It is also possible to add new entries during pallet management. You can thereby create a pallet list that will be executed in sequence. It is even possible to lock individual programs or even entire pallets, which will then be simply skipped over in the machining sequence.

For automation and single-part production

Although primarily designed for machine tools featuring automation, the Batch Process Manager also makes sense for use in classic single-part production. This is because the abovementioned process elements can also be used for machines without pallets.

You simply tell the Batch Process Manager how the machine should behave at the end of an NC program:

For automated production, the next pallet is loaded, and machining proceeds automatically.
For single-part production without pallets, you configure the system settings such that the machine operator can manually set up the next workpiece and start the ensuing machining operation.

The NC programs are executed either through the pallet management function or in the accustomed manner via the individual NC program in the Program Run, Full Sequence operating mode.