digitize your Tooling and Tool-Management with tetys

The term toolmaking refers to the area of industry in which tools, molds, and fixtures are designed, developed, and manufactured that are necessary for the production of parts and products. These tools are essential for efficient and precise series production and are primarily used in industrial manufacturing, such as the automotive and medical sectors, but also in most other technical industries.
Modern toolmaking presents numerous challenges. In general, highly complex, individual process chains must be planned, since requirements often vary and many different manufacturing technologies are employed. Optimal implementation is mainly based on experiential knowledge; digital systems must be able to map this complexity while remaining flexible enough to respond to short-term changes.

Since toolmaking has traditionally been strongly craft-oriented, the introduction of data-driven and standardized digital processes requires a fundamental rethinking at all levels of the operation. Successful change management, in particular, continuous communication of the necessity of activity-related changes and sustainable transmission of new digital skills to employees, is a key factor in the modernization of your toolmaking facilities.

Tool Management and E-Dispo

In addition to flawless work preparation for your toolmaking operations, holistic management of molds and tools is equally necessary: recording the results of general maintenance activities as well as causes and measures for specific maintenance cases, building and maintaining a complete history, tracking information on storage properties and movements of the tools (and your warehouses), all these facets must be taken into account.

The use of molds and tools is deeply embedded in the core domain of your sometimes complex value creation chain. Therefore, close networking with participants and processes on your shop floor is crucial. The part of your staff that sets up tools on machines, as well as those who operate these machines day after day, need seamless access to information and are, in turn, an important source for further tool-related notifications.

A famous "Classic” – The Tool Passport

For the longest time, and in many places still today, the typical “tool accompanying card” is the method of choice. All relevant information regarding the maintenance history is painstakingly entered here by hand, ideally with the necessary completeness. If the usage history is also to be documented to the same extent, the effort and the number of necessary participants increase dramatically. Upon closer consideration, it becomes obvious, apart from the mere effort, how risky it actually is to tie this “information capital” to such a vulnerable medium as paper form.

Tool Management and Toolmaking with tetys-MES

Tool management in tetys systems offers comprehensive functions for planning, managing, maintaining, and tracking tools within manufacturing processes. The tetys license modules for toolmaking and tool management are available web-based and can be closely integrated with other modules, such as production planning (FEKOR Plantafel) and production data acquisition (BDE).

In addition to detailed master data management (which works seamlessly in tetys even for multi-part tools comprising a master mold and various inserts), inventory master data such as storage locations and storage location types can be maintained. Tool receipts, issues, and inspections can be documented and commented on, and catalogs for tool fault types, causes, and remedial measures can be defined. All these features in turn provide the perfect foundation for data reconciliation with shop-floor production data acquisition and the low-threshold information flow that only your shop floor personnel can deliver.

From the beginning to the end of the process chain, tool and mold making is an expert field. Its success is contingent on your specialists’ knowledge and its availability. Demographic change does not stop here; but the shift to digital offers an excellent countermeasure. On the one hand, expert knowledge is safeguarded while also being decentralized. On the other hand, the introduction of contemporary tools and methodologies helps meet young professionals’ expectations to work in a modern environment.