Aurrenak company was founded in 1974 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) and is dedicated to the manufacture of moulds for the foundry sector (mainly for engine parts such as blocks, cylinder heads, gearboxes). Aurrenak business is oriented toward an international market. Aurrenak factory is equipped with the latest simulation and design software and the most advanced machining centres currently available. At present Aurrenak owns 18 milling machines dedicated to the mould manufacturing.
For the purpose of the PROGRAMS project, the machines’ components that have been monitored are part of two FIDIA G996 milling centres. Both machines belong to the High Speed Milling type: this means that they grant high dynamics with stability, combining stock removal (which typically is the first machine stage for a mould) with high precision surface finishing. For this reason each machine is a production pilot line on its own, unless a final CMM measurement for quality check is required.
Aurrenak pilot lines represents the typical application of predictive maintenance in a production environment: the company aims at reducing the cost of associated to maintenance activities, both direct (cost of the spare parts, maintenance intervention, collateral damages) and indirect (loss of production due to machine tool stop, penalties due to deadline infringement). PROGRAMS allows to achieve these objectives through a number of its solutions.