Successful trade fair start: Komax wins the productronica Innovation Award

The first day of productronica in Munich ended successfully for the Komax Group: it received the productronica Innovation Award in the Cables, Coils & Hybrids category for one of its latest innovations, the Adaptive Incision Control (AIC) quality monitoring system yesterday evening. The award is presented by productronica, the world's leading trade fair for electronics development and production, in cooperation with the trade journal productronic.

Constant high quality and process reliability
Adaptive incision control is used in both Komax's fully automatic crimp-to-crimp machines and Schleuniger's semi-automatic strip series machines. During production, the system continuously compares the defined maximum incision notch depth with the actual cut on the wire, automatically adjusts the incision diameter, and compensates for wire tolerances. Wire ends that exceed the permissible notch depth are immediately detected and reliably sorted out. Wires with a cross-section of 0.13 to 6 square millimeters can be processed, and a wide range of automotive and industrial applications are supported.

After the ceremony for the productronica Innovation Award, we asked Chris Schnellmann, Senior Product Manager Line and Product Management, how AIC works exactly, what advantages the quality monitoring system offers customers, and how this innovation came about.

Chris Schnellmann, what was the catalyst that led to the development of AIC?
Today, the wire processing process requires manual adjustment and, in some cases, modifications during production due to wire tolerances. These adjustments are time-consuming, error-prone, and, in combination with the previous ACD (Automatic Conductor Detector) incision monitoring system, have led to high scrap rates in some cases. Adjusting the process parameters requires considerable effort and a great deal of experience, which leads to increased training costs and greater operational complexity. A lack of expertise thus has a direct impact on product quality.

The complex process of wire programming has even led some of our customers to deactivate the ACD incision monitoring system. For others, it poses a challenge that results in longer production times and higher operating costs. With AIC, we wanted to address all of these challenges in our customers' production processes. Our goal was to provide a user-independent system that supports a wide range of applications and ensures excellent stripping results in real time during production. We also have patented AIC's innovative technology.

What advantages does AIC offer customers?
AIC significantly reduces the need for manual operator intervention and requires only minimal setup. This has a positive effect on training costs, frees up valuable resources, and streamlines workflows. AIC's adaptive regulation and the sorting out of flawed wire ends ensure consistently high production quality, significantly reduce scrap and unplanned downtime, and maximize efficiency.

How exactly does AIC work?
The measuring principle of AIC is based on a highly sensitive current or capacity measurement developed by ACD. It has been supplemented with real-time adaptive control of the blade axis. A sophisticated algorithm ensures that the blade axis reacts to the slightest contact from the start of production and that indentations of a few hundredths of a millimeter are never exceeded. If the strand diameter changes due to wire tolerances, the software algorithm takes this into account and adjusts the movement of the stripping blades.

Each time production restarts, the incision diameter is verified for plausibility, and a warning message is displayed if there are excessive deviations. If, despite adaptive control, the specified incision notch depth is exceeded during production, the flawed wire end is reliably cut off and discarded. Depending on the wire type, wire quality, and stripping blade used, the scrap rate can be reduced to 0.2 percent, for example.

Can AIC be retrofitted on fully automatic crimp-to-crimp machines and semi-automatic stripping machines?
On the latest crimp-to-crimp machines from Komax, AIC can be updated via license and a new software version. Previous versions require a retrofit kit. For Schleuniger's semi-automatic stripping machines, we recommend that our customers order the configuration with AIC, which can also be equipped with ACD at a later date thanks to a simple software update. For technical reasons, however, we have decided not to offer retrofitting for previous machines.

You have influenced the development of AIC within the Komax Group. What does the productronica Innovation Award mean to you?
I am proud to have received this award on behalf of the Komax Group. It is the result of efficient collaboration between dedicated development engineers, service employees, and the management. It takes a lot of resources and effort to make something like this possible.