TDM Systems changes from Tool Data to Tool Lifecycle Manager

TDM Systems GmbH continues to think outside the box in Tool Data Management. The leading software provider and process consultant for tool data is strategically oriented toward Tool Lifecycle Management. This is also reflected in the just released TDM Version 4.7. New interfaces and converters improve communication with other programs.

"Tool Lifecycle Management (TLM) places the overall process at the center," explained TDM Managing Director Peter Schneck. "Tool Lifecycle Management offers advantages for the entire production cycle, from the definition of tools through their use in planning up to the seamless transfer and use on the shopfloor." It is also new "that information from the individual process steps on the shopfloor flows back and thereby enables a continuous improvement of the data" - a concrete implementation of the Industrie 4.0 concept, to plan and simulate the shopfloor in a completely virtual way. Therefore, the systems must communicate with each other and exchange data as well as graphics. TDM as a central "focal point" for tool data and management provides the "ideal prerequisite as a communications hub because already for a long time we have been adapting data and graphics to the requirements of the systems, thus making it NC-capable."

The TDM-software already covers a large number of process steps on the machine shopfloor surrounding the tool – from the data and crib management to the provision of simulation-ready 3D-data. The 2014 Release 4.7, which was released at the beginning of November, is propelling this development forward. TDM Vice President Sales, Eugen Bollinger mentions one of the most important innovations: "4.7 supplies new TDM 3D-Solid Converters for a number of CAM-systems. You adapt the 3D-tool graphics to the individual requirements of the particular CAM-system so that they can be used directly to perform, for example, simulation analyses."

New CAM-interfaces are also going in the direction of networking. Patrik Nellinger, Manager CAM-Integration: "The trend is that all systems in the CAM-process chain, from NC-programming to simulation to presetting and the machine itself have access to the same data. Moreover, efforts are increasingly being made to depict the real world in the virtual world in order to prevent problems on the machine. This requires high data quality and standardized interfaces, things on which we are working." Version 4.7 therefore also has a new mapping engine with CAM-layer between TDM and the respective target system. There are new CAM-interfaces with CAMWorks, TopSolid’Cam7, Edgecam, Vericut and GibbsCAM, and others are in the works.

Other innovations in TDM 4.7: New options for classification in the TDM Fixture Management Module and the integrated NC-Program-Manager, which enables management of NC-programs and assignment of the utilization status. Going in the direction of networking throughout the shopfloor and with it Industrie 4.0 is "TDM Global Line" for central tool data access by companies having multiple production facilities. According to Eugen Bollinger, the "Global Line Basic Toolmanager" will be available with V4.7 in the first quarter of 2015.