ABOUT FASTEMS
Gosiger is a distributor of Fastems products. Fastems flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and robot cells are for automating metal cutting CNC machine tools. Fastems products are integrated into many automation solutions.
Flexible manufacturing systems are used to automate pallet-based machining centers. Gosiger offers a wide range of Fastems systems: from the FPC that is a cost-efficient alternative to a traditional pallet pool to MLS systems that can be fully customized.
The heart of all Fastems FMS systems is a sophisticated control system that can schedule production based on the production orders, manage and transfer NC programs, and run unmanned production. The user interface runs on Microsoft Windows.
The MLS systems can store material pallets as well as machining pallets and thus manage material handling. Other advanced features include tool data management and even a central tool storage (CTS) that stores tools and transfers them to the machine tools as needed – significantly reducing the number of tools needed for production.
The robot cells are used to automate machine tools that are not pallet-based, such as lathes. Fastems robot cells can run unmanned production and are strikingly easy-to-use thanks to the FastWizard touch screen user interface.
PRODUCTS
Flexible Manufacturing Systems
Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are used to automate pallet-based machining centers. A FMS consists of loading stations, pallet storage, and integrated machine tools. The FMS automatically transfers pallets within the system, which makes it possible to load several pallets in advance and minimize setup times. Fastems offers a wide range of systems starting from a small FPC – a cost-efficient alternative to a traditional pallet pool – up to large MLS systems with all imaginable production and manufacturing control functions and simulations.
The heart of all Fastems FMS systems is sophisticated control software that can schedule production based on the production orders, manage and transfer NC programs, and run unmanned production. The user interface runs on Microsoft Windows.
The MLS systems can store material pallets as well as machining pallets and thus manage material handling. Other advanced features include tool data management and even a central tool storage (CTS) that stores tools and transfers them to the machine tools as needed – significantly reducing the number of tools needed for production and time needed to manage tools.
Robotics
The robot cells are used to automate machine tools that are not pallet-based, such as lathes. Fastems robot cells can run unmanned production and are strikingly easy to use thanks to the FastWizard touch screen user interface. Fastems has delivered more than 1500 robotics solutions for different customer needs, such as machine tending, deburring, assembly, welding, and material handling.
The Fastems 8760 Philosophy
The number 8760 represents the number of hours in a year. 365 days x 24 hours = 8760 hours. This is the working time available in a year – if you want it. Automation makes it possible to get close to the full 8760 production hours.
A study conducted in the 1970's in Europe showed that for manually operated machine tools, the actual cutting time was approximately 2%, and for NC machine tools, approximately 10% of the annually available hours. The utilization rates have improved as CNC technology has developed and machines can operate without continuous human supervision. However, according to the latest studies, only 20% of the 8760 hours were used for metal cutting in the 1990's.
The best flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) have reached over 7200 production hours a year in continuously changing batch production. 70% of this was cutting time, so the comparable cutting time ratio is 57%.
For more information on Fastems flexible manufacturing systems, contact us today.