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Upgrading of Plants

Plants and Machines Upgrading means a substantial morphology modification of the Machine in order to increase its performance in terms of production, extension of the product range and in terms of overall efficiency.

Upgrading of Plants

GMS as a designer and manufacturer of Foundry Plants, Machinery and Equipment, has the utmost technical knowledge, archival information, skills and the highly specialized staff to perform complete upgrading both in the Customer’s industrial premises and in its own specialized workshops.

GMS offers Engineering and Machinery projects in “turnkey” packages, or Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC), for the modernization and modification of existing plants, plants adaptation to safety criteria, industry 4.0 plants conversion, and diversification and / or production increase.

The Plant Modernization service includes a series of services.

The most important of which are:

Digitalization according to Industry 4.0 criteria
Modernization to Safety

01.

Digitalization according to Industry 4.0 criteria

According to today’s structure of any DCS (Distributed Control System), in a perspective of Industry 4.0, GMS Machines and Plants provide our Customers with all the technical and IT tools necessary to allow them to develop an industrial process control at level 3, a prerogative necessary for the recognition of the requisites for accessing the economic benefits available today. Each GMS machine is automated and guarantees a process control at level 2.

GMS, meeting the Customer’s requirements and the needs of the production process, fully develops the PLC software, and delivers its Plants ensuring the highest standards of automation and safety.

Our Machines are equipped with HMI (Human Machine Interface) or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, which offer a simple, direct and intuitive man-machine interface. In this way, the Operator has the ability to monitor the machine’s production parameters and the status of critical quantities in real time, as well as send direct control signals to the PLC.

All data relating to the production process and to the measured quantities coming from the GMS Plants are made available to the Customer. GMS arranges that the data flow coming from the Machines can be effectively communicated externally via the OPC UA protocol. The acquisition and use of such data, unless specifically requested, remain at the complete discretion and management of the Customer.

Finally, the Machines designed and manufactured by GMS are equipped with an industrial router (Ewon), which enables the remote assistance carried out by using the address dedicated to the VPN.

GMS Ewan router for remote assistance

02.

Modernization to Safety

The “Modernization to Safety” technological package includes the supply of specific Machines designed to make safer and more efficient such operations as bar scrapping and handling / collection of the pieces. The EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) philosophy – which has always been the workhorse of the Engitec Group, allows the Customer to avoid any distraction from his own industrial activity and the inevitable significant increase in costs and stress when assembling and machinery commissioning activities foresee mutual responsibilities between Customer and Supplier.

In February 2020, GMS launched a new System, designed by GMS / Engitec, for pulling and guiding the Aluminium cast bar during the start-up transient.

The general configuration of the AGA (Aladdin Guiding Arms) system for the Modernization and Safety of Large Casting Plants:

AGA includes two Movable arms (6a and 6b), equipped with motorized caterpillar. During the startup transient, each of the two arms, moves against the Aluminium cast bar (8) emerging from the crystallizing wheel (2) so that the cast bar is, at the same time, pushed against the roller way of the bar deflector (5) and pulled towards the exit of the bar deflector.

Alladin Guiding Arms (AGA) System:

1. Crystallizing machine

2. Crystallizing wheel

3. Band tensioning wheel

4a. e 4b. Band positioning wheels

5. Cast bar deflector

6a. e 6b. Movable caterpillarized arms of the AGA

7. Safety protection

8. Aluminium cast bar

9. Metallic Band

The general configuration of the AGA (Aladdin Guiding Arms) system.

The summarized work sequence frees the operators from the risky manual operations of extracting and guiding the Aluminum bar.
The AGA System, complete with bar deflector, has been conceived for the installation onto almost all existing crystallizer machines in operation worldwide.

Obviously, the motorized arms and the cast bar deflector will be tailored to the specific configuration of each crystallizer machine. The AGA System, is extremely beneficial especially for those Plants dedicated to the production of alloyed rods where, the setting procedures of crystallizing parameters for new products, might require several cycles of start and stop of casting and rolling process and the management of deeply cracked or even not formed cast bar.