COMPANY TEMPLER
Creating Order for Productivity
Many stonemasonry companies have gradually acquired various large machines and set them up where there was space, and less often where it would make sense for the operational processes. Thanks to the help of machine manufacturers, chaotic processes can now be a thing of the past. And anyone currently thinking about investing in machinery should also consider the interlinking of the individual machine work steps with the help of their machine suppliers.
Automation and digitalization are only for the really big companies that produce kitchen worktops on an industrial scale: This attitude still prevails in the stone processing industry. Yet computer technology has long since found its way into every modern machine. And with a few simple tricks, even completely analogue systems can be integrated into a software concept that optimizes the processes in the company for the benefit of the company owner and his employees. On the one hand, automated processes controlled by a computer colleague are an answer to the acute shortage of skilled workers, and on the other, they help the company to remain competitive in the future. Several machine manufacturers have already adapted to the ongoing rationalization of production methods and offer solutions to speed up processes on their large machines. Changing frames for waterjet systems, changing tables for rotary head bridge saws, divisible work areas for wire saws and rotary tables with fully automatic suction cup positioning for CNC machining centers are such drivers of the internal workflow. In addition, there are versatile vacuum manipulators, electronically controlled storage systems, workpiece buffer storage and sophisticated conveyor belt systems.
In view of the space requirements of an automated production system, some company owners may wish to build a completely new hall. In some cases, this is not as unrealistic as it may seem at first; but with the help of manufacturers and industry specialists who provide advice, the available space can often be used surprisingly efficiently and partial expansions can be integrated profitably. Even more than the arrangement of the machines in the production process and their smooth connection to each other, the process control software is crucial for an optimized operating sequence. This should be fed with photos as soon as the goods are received, for example – including information about defects if necessary. And if each incoming panel is given a unique individual label that the system can later use to identify it, guide it to its place of use and have it processed, a good foundation has already been laid for a functioning production flow.
The example of Templer Natursteinwerk GmbH in Workerszell, Upper Bavaria, shows just how important forward-looking planning is for the success of investments made in a company that is geared towards growth. Since the company was founded in 1990 by Peter Templer senior, the family-run company has always endeavored to develop further. Templer decided to focus on the construction sector (window sills, stair coverings, etc.) and naturally started with the Jura limestone found in the Eichstätt district as a building material. This was soon overtaken by granite, and the construction business took second place to worktops. In 2015, Peter Templer senior and Peter Templer junior made the decision to give the company’s growth a long-term foundation.
Together with machine partner Burkhardt-Löffler and software specialist Gert Senel from Sekon, the company built its first automated production line for kitchen worktops made of natural stone, which was later joined by quartz composite material and then ceramics. As Thomas Straßner from Burkhardt-Löffler emphasizes, the plant was designed for possible expansion right from the start. The Templers intensified their efforts in the kitchen worktop sector, strengthened the field service team for nationwide deployment and significantly expanded the range of materials. The company has been very satisfied with the growth since then, so that the second automatic sawing system, which was already planned in terms of space when the plant was built in 2015, could be installed in summer 2021. As Peter Templer junior, who has supported his father as Managing Director since 2015, explains, the aim is to ensure the company’s success with the highest quality through continuous investment and innovation. For this reason, the decision was also made – again in close consultation with Burkhardt-Löffler and Sekon – to build a new hall measuring around 5,000 square meters with a fully automated high-bay warehouse and a new production line for ceramics and engineered stone in thicknesses from 6 to 20 millimetres.
Peter Templer junior, who is responsible for the worktops division within the company while his father looks after the construction division, definitely sees ceramics as the current trend material that is generating growth. “However, this is not guaranteed in the long term,” says the 36-year-old junior boss, who knows that “materials can change and trends can change”. That’s why he and his father rely on flexible concepts so that they can adjust at any time. Thomas Straßner, who also advised his customer back in 2015, is delighted that his company not only offers short service and support channels, but is also a perfect partner for the automation and digitalization of complex machine concepts. Born in Langenaltheim, it takes him just 20 minutes by car to get to Workerszell and, as a trained mechanical engineer, he is able to “solve problems directly on site if necessary”. The 58-year-old goes on to say that Burkhardt-Löffler attaches great importance to service in order to keep customer downtimes to a minimum. “Life after the purchase of a machine is also interesting,” says Straßner.
The four-part Templer production hall currently houses the raw slab warehouse, solid surface worktop production, building products production and the solid surface ceramics line in one hall bay each. While the modular solid production line currently only extends from panel cutting to edge processing and the thin ceramic production is not yet perfectly optimized, all the stops are to be pulled out in the new hall to create a fully automated worktop production process in which all work steps from the delivery of raw panels to the delivery of the finished kitchen worktops are optimized and interlinked.
The biggest challenge is to build series production in which every single end product can be different and usually is. This is referred to as batch size 1 production. The integration of waterjet cutting machines into the manufacturing process alone is no child’s play, as most systems are not designed for automatic loading and unloading. Burkhardt-Löffler has circumvented this problem by building shuttle table machines. The same applies, albeit not to the same extent, to CNC machining centers. Here, the rotary table machines with fully automatic suction cup positioning from Burkhardt-Löffler provide a remedy. However, when manual work comes into play – which is still unavoidable even in the production of kitchen worktops – things get serious: because then the completion of a work step is no longer the responsibility of the machine control system, but of the individual employee.
Not to mention the closely interlinked software control of the entire production process. Fortunately, two people and their respective companies have dedicated themselves to precisely this endeavor, namely developing software systems specifically for stone processing companies. At Templer, Bernd Dietrich’s ERP system DIESTEIN (Enterprise Resource Planning) ensures that the company always knows which materials are available where and when; the software takes care of material requirements planning and generally ensures the timely and needs-based planning and control of all operational processes through to production. This is where SePPS, the production, planning and control system from Sekon, takes over.
Mechanical engineer Gert Senel developed this complete software solution with the aim of being able to produce kitchen worktops or other panel-shaped materials automatically. “We are extremely satisfied with the saw control system in the old hall,” explains Peter Templer junior, “so there was no question of commissioning someone else with the software control of the new production system.”
Only the electronic management of the new high-bay warehouse is a “black box” for the other software systems, explains Thomas Straßner. Here, Templer relies on the expertise of the software company 3Tec automation, which has extensive experience in the electronic control of buffer storage systems – especially for batch size 1 production. 3Tec supplies the internal control system, but SePPS remains the control system. If, for example, SePPS requests a specific raw panel from the warehouse for cutting to one of the many outlets, 3Tec manages internally how the panel gets there. 3Tec and Sekon have developed a comprehensive interface for data exchange. In order to be able to temporarily store and pick not only raw panels, but also partially finished workpieces, the Templers opted for horizontal storage – in contrast to other automated storage systems used in the industry, where the raw panels are always stored upright.
Templer’s computer system already knows in advance which block a sheet comes from, where it can be found in the warehouse and what condition it is in. The raw slabs are photographed immediately after delivery and any defects are marked and labeled. In the case of natural stone slabs, both the block and each individual slab are given a consecutive number that is stored in the ERP system. When an order is due, the required slabs are transported by overhead crane from the warehouse (with vertical storage) to the staging area on a rotating gantry manipulator, which lifts the slabs from a vertical to a horizontal position onto the downstream conveyor system.
In the hall aisle with the current ceramic line for six-millimeter material, there are three more waterjet systems – two of which are equipped with two collecting basins each – at the start of processing. Here too, Templer works with Löffler table edge grinding machines, as these offer the advantage, particularly with thin ceramics, that the workpieces are clamped and the machine runs along the material and not the other way round as with a belt edge grinding machine. The result is perfectly even edge processing, even over long workpiece distances.
At peak times, 400 worktop commissions already leave the Templer plant every week. With the new hall and additional production system, the aim is to double this figure. Once this fully automated production facility – which is also designed for potential growth – has started operation, we will report on it again in STEIN.