WAFIOS iQsmartbend Solution is Awarded the INDUSTRIEPREIS 2016 in the Production Technology and Mechanical Engineering Category

Fig. 1: The proud and happy awardees in Hannover, from left to right: Christoph Widmann, Dr. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, Julian Pandtle, Klaus Wurster

Since 2006, Huber Verlag für Neue Medien GmbH once a year honors the most innovative industry products and solutions with the industry award INDUSTRIEPREIS. An independent jury professionals, including professors, scientists, experts from the industry and journalists, evaluates all submitted products and solutions. The INDUSTRIEPREIS is awarded once a year at the HANNOVER MESSE which this year takes place from April 25 - 29.

Dr. Uwe-Peter Weigmann (Member of the WAFIOS Executive Board responsible for Technology), Klaus Wurster (R&D Division Manager) as well as Christoph Widmann and Julian Pandtle (Development Engineers) accepted the award at the fair. It was presented by Rainer Kölmel (Managing Director) in the presence of Beate Heider (Editor-in-Chief).

The bending of long-legged workpieces is frequently limited by vibrations of the wire which result in unwanted deformations that affect the quality and output of parts. Based on extensive mathematical models, the presented WAFIOS solution iQsmartbend automatically optimizes the motion profiles of the tools to reduce the vibrations of the wire during the bending process. An online interface to a WAFIOS computer cluster in Reutlingen provides the required high computing capacity. The result is a NC program which reduces the vibration of the wire and thus increases the output.

On receiving the award, Dr. Weigmann said that after six years of development work, this award is an honor to the entire WAFIOS team and spurs future developments. Beside the positive feedback we received from many customers, we are especially proud to have the value of our project confirmed by an independent jury of specialists. In the future, we plan to transfer the iQsmartbend technology from single-head to multiple-head bending machines and to open new fields of applications by incorporating this technology in tube bending machines.