SmartMForming is an innovative development project which will result in a Smart tool with sensors regulating the forming speed and transforming strength.
In October 2016, Orodjarna Gorenje participated in the public tender EUREKA 2016 published by the the Ministry for economic development and technology (MGRT) and SPIRIT Slovenija of the Public Agency for Entrepreneurship, Internationalization, Foreign Investments and Technology. The tender has been co-financed by the Rupublic of Slovenia and European Union from the European structural and investment funds. Company Gorenje Orodjarna, d.o.o., who is the applicant and coordinator of the project, has together with their projects partners TPV Trženja in proizvodnja opreme vozil d.o.o. and CADCAM Design Centar d.o.o., obtained co-financing of the project »Smart tools for sheet metal forming«, acronym: »SmartMForming«. The total value of the project SmartMForming is estimated at 0,925 million EUR. The expected duration of the project is 3 years.
Sheet metal forming is one of the most important processes in modern industrial production. Today many component parts in the automotive, aerospace and household appliances industry are made out of sheet metal. Sheet metal forming processes are very complex and require very careful planning. Over the last few years, this has become an even bigger problem because of more complex products, higher demands for product quality and development of new lightweight and high-strength materials. Today in the automotive industry more than 35 % of steel metal parts are made of high-strength materials and this number is constantly increasing.
The main advantage of using high-strength materials is in high-strength end product which means that the same product can be made with lower thickness and consequently lighter weight. Nowadays, there are different new methods to improve steel metal forming processes, but most of them are very expensive, so only large businesses can afford investing in such technologies.
SmartMForming is an innovative development project which will give rise to a Smart tool with sensors regulating the forming speed and transforming strength. The tool may enable fusion of two or more operations into one and therefore reduce the cycle time. This tool, which is integrated into a mechanical press, imitates the functionalities of a hydraulic press.
Idea lying behind the design of Smart tools is that all users have possibilities to improve the technologies and simplify the whole process of steel metal forming through a few clicks. The concept of Smart tools is the use of sensors and the possibility of online tools control, parameters installation, tool condition monitoring and process optimization.
The investment has been co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.
Contact person:
Ph.D. Tomaž Savšek
+ 386 7 39 18 192
