This close association has advanced the quality, reliability and scalability of Muototerä’s waterjet cutting machines, chip classifiers and industrial marking systems, reducing machine commissioning time by 30 percent and electrical build hours by 25 percent.
Today, a diverse customer-base across Europe - from global corporations with revenues exceeding €15 billion to small specialist workshops - benefits from Muototerä’s leading-edge cutting technology. Enhanced by B&R’s solutions, Muototerä machines are used to cut everything from aeroplane components and balcony glass doors to designer lamps, acoustic panels, industrial gaskets and marble kitchen tops. Yet this well-established working relationship was sparked by a chance conversation at a seminar in 2008.
Uncovering new answers for industry
Pushing the boundaries of what is possible first inspired Sakari Patjas and his son, Pekka Patjas, back in 1987 to recognize the potential of bringing waterjet cutting machines to Europe, before going on to establish Muototerä as a leader in cutting and marking solutions. It is this talent for recognizing potential that led Patjas to put his trust in B&R on the basis of a meeting at a business event. The connection evolved still further to include ABB Robotics.
Companies of many types and sizes now rely on Muototerä’s advanced cutting and marking solutions. Yet the very first client to benefit from the combined technical innovation of Muototerä and B&R was a small primary school in Riihimäki, Finland, which took delivery of a FinJet Waterjet in 2012. Fast forward to today and B&R’s entire product portfolio is featured in all Muototerä products; not only the company’s flagship waterjet cutting machines, but also a number of its chip classifiers and industrial marking systems.
The early initial connection between Muototerä, B&R, and ABB Robotics, has evolved into a fully-fledged strategic working relationship, in which the three companies undertake much of the development work together, leveraging advanced simulation capabilities. B&R’s production team is frequently looped in, with their in-depth understanding of Muototerä’s machines bringing valuable additional insights to the process.
"Our collaboration with B&R is built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to finding flexible solutions,” explains Risto Kallio, Managing Director at Muototerä. “You can feel that the B&R team truly want to support us, which makes the relationship not only effective but genuinely trustworthy."
"Our collaboration with B&R is built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to finding flexible solutions” - Risto Kallio, Managing Director at Muototerä
B&R’s innovative platform enables Muototerä to design its waterjet cutting machines from standardized, reusable modules, creating more unified and modular systems and minimizing the effort involved with commissioning a machine. Using mapp Technology, Muototerä is able to build motion, safety and HMI functions as parameterized blocks instead of custom code. All engineering - from PLC and drives to safety and visualization - is completed in one environment, Automation Studio, over a single POWERLINK network for all motion, safety and I/O.
Efficiency gains are yet another win for Muototerä, thanks to the user-friendliness of B&R’s solutions. Operators benefit from the unified HMI in production, almost halving changeover time and improving overall efficiency and uptime. The built-in flexibility of B&R’s solutions also provides greater scope for customization. This cohesive architecture makes every new machine variant faster to configure, easier to service and fully scalable, whether it is Muototerä’s compact TamCut solution or its large-scale FinJet system.
An environment for innovation
Effective collaboration is all about being prepared to try novel approaches, points out B&R Application Engineer, Markus Mustonen, who has been working with Muototerä since 2012 and is frequently found on the company’s shop floor in Tampere. He adds, “The collaborative work on the machines is very interesting from a developer's perspective. No two projects are the same, which makes for a very creative environment where we constantly push the boundaries of technology.”
This unique mix of engineering expertise and strategic creativity delivers critical benefits to manufacturers, including:
Precise motion control - Muototerä’s Finjet water cutting machines deliver exceptional precision and accuracy of movement, thanks to B&R’s compact, highly dynamic and efficient permanent-magnet servomotors.
Seamless safety - Muototerä’s solutions enable manufacturers to integrate safety processes into production processes without compromising efficiency through B&R’s integrated safety solutions for motion and I/Os.
Maximized productivity - Built-in B&R Secure Remote Maintenance solutions allow Muototerä’s customers to service plants and machinery from anywhere in the world, maximizing access and productivity.
Advanced efficiency - Integrating B&R’s Vision and Visualisation systems, VC4 and mapp View into its products enables Muototerä to ensure its solutions operate more autonomously and efficiently, with less downtime and waste.
Reduced cutting complexity - When more complex water cutting is required, Muototerä integrates ABB Robotics’ 6 axis articulated robots into its solutions for additional impact through free cutting axes. This may also include the addition of a turning table to enable safe combined human-robot operations, enhancing flexibility and speeding up production.
The secret to a successful partnership
Working collaboratively can be complex and fraught with pitfalls. So, what is the secret to the successful association between Muototerä, B&R and ABB Robotics? One key element is flexibility. For example, ABB Robotics supports Muototerä with the process of integrating its robots as and when required. ABB’s robotics and machine automation expertise also delivers added value to Muototerä and its end customers through personalized aftersales support.
The other secret to this successful working relationship? Always looking ahead. Because, as all three companies have seen in their combined one century in manufacturing, industry never stands still. Sharing ideas and knowledge means that, almost two decades on, they continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Just one example of this is a current project to deliver automatic updates for Muototerä’s machines through the Industrial Internet of Things. As this and many other ongoing initiatives demonstrate, the focus remains firmly on innovating to meet the evolving needs of businesses.
While it has its roots in a shared past, the collaboration between Muototerä, B&R and ABB is transforming the future of industry.
ABB Robotics
ABB Robotics, as one of the world’s leading robotics and machine automation suppliers, is the only company with a comprehensive and integrated portfolio covering robots, Autonomous Mobile Robots and machine automation solutions, designed and orchestrated by our value-creating software. We help companies of all sizes and sectors - from automotive to electronics and logistics – to outperform by becoming more resilient, flexible and efficient. ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation supports customers in the transition towards the connected and collaborative factory of the future, operating leaner and cleaner for a better future. The business area employs approximately 11,000 people at over 100 locations in approximately 53 countries. go.abb/robotics
B&R
B&R, a division of ABB Group, is a global leader in industrial automation headquartered in Austria. B&R combines state-of-the-art technology with advanced engineering to provide customers in virtually every industry with complete solutions for machine and factory automation, motion control, HMI and integrated safety technology. With Industrial IoT communication standards including OPC UA, POWERLINK and openSAFETY as well as its Automation Studio software, B&R is constantly redefining the future of automation engineering. The innovative spirit that keeps B&R at the forefront of industrial automation is driven by a commitment to simplifying processes and exceeding customer expectations. For more information, visit www.br-automation.com.
